Sabrina Ionescu on the WNBA's Rise: "We're at an Inflection Point"

The WNBA is making significant strides. The 2024 women's basketball season was the most-watched on ESPN platforms ever. A match between Indiana Fever and the Washington Mystics held in September of that year set a new single-game attendance record and was one of three games to draw at least 20,000 fans in the season. Compared to 2023, total attendance was up 48%. Merchandise increased by 601%.

“It's definitely been crazy,” says Sabrina Ionescu, guard for the New York Liberty, with a huge smile, and a surprisingly flummoxed gaze, as I enumerate these facts. Despite describing the rise as “gradual” – “nothing has happened overnight, you've been able to see every year there's been an increase in everything, from attendance to viewership to young girls wanting to play basketball because they're able to come to the games or able to watch [on television]” – she is still evidently astonished by the jump in popularity.

We're speaking in a plush hotel room in the Opéra district of Paris, where the 27-year-old is fulfilling her ambassadorial role for the watch brand Tissot. It's the day before the city's annual NBA games, and she is sporting the WNBA-themed Seastar on her wrist, fitted with a basketball-textured white strap.

The Swiss watch marque has been involved in the league since 2015, and went on to announce a 10-year-extension to its WNBA/NBA partnership the day after our interview, along with an updated shot clock (it's round!) for the leagues and a brand-new NBA-branded timepiece (a black, white, red and blue Supersport!).

The last time Ionescu was in Paris she was competing in the Olympics. She tells me – with a grin only an American would dare to summon in the French capital – “it's been amazing to return”.

More priceless than winning gold at the tournament was playing alongside Diana Taurasi, the 42-year-old shooting guard of Phoenix Mercury. “Taurasi was someone who I always looked up to from a very young age,” shares Ionescu. “To be able to see who she was as a teammate, it just made me even more of a fan.”

Taurasi was the MVP of the WNBA in 2009, though her value stretches over two decades. She is the all-time leading scorer of the league, committed to her sport despite the challenges female ballers have faced, such as the gender pay gap and lack of resources.

Thankfully, Taurasi is still shooting hoops at this time of change. “I think you're able to see women's sports finally get the respect they deserve,” says Sabrina of the turning point. “New teams are rising just like ours, and not just in basketball. I know women's soccer has recently been huge here [in Europe] and in the States.”

Ionescu is, of course, aiding the positive trend in any way she can. The goal is to “continue to inspire the next generation knowing that they're going to come right after us and continue to build it to what it's going to be,” just as Taurasi did for her.

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