A raucous roller-coaster history of the WNBA, from celebrated start-up to lean years, and on to the recent boom, from a passionate sports journalist
The history of the WNBA is an epic one, and in The W, journalist Tamryn Spruill tells the full thrilling story. This is a three-decade tale of tenacious athletes, devoted fans, and a vibrant, diverse league that struggled for years to find a firm footing in the wider sports culture.
When the WNBA launched to much fanfare in 1996, the nascent league was treated like a kid sister with a lot of potential. Eight teams collectively owned by the NBA played a short schedule during the men's offseason. Fans flocked to arenas to see stars Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Rebecca Lobo, and the Houston Comets won their first of four consecutive championships.
But television broadcasts were hard to find, the conversation around the league was often blatantly sexist, and less than a decade after their "four peat," the dynastic Comets had been disbanded and ceased to exist.
Social media helped players upend that dynamic, be their authentic selves, and engender change inside the league and beyond it. College stars became pros, legends broke records, and the women of the WNBA became undeniable. Thirty years after its founding, the time has more than come for this comprehensive account of the league, and the women whose drive, on-court and off, built the W.
Praise
“A passionate history . . . Filled with smart analyses and vivid game recaps, this is a much-needed account of a league on the rise.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Spruill mixes deep reportage with a focus on the range of human experience of the W’s players and coaches, and gives due attention to the on-court accomplishments that have not received the same deference as their NBA counterparts. The W reaches rarified air in its depiction of how the players continuously overcame societal misogyny, racism, and homophobia, while also contending with often-chaotic league administration that saw all but a few of its original franchises either fold or unceremoniously move cities. While star power abounds throughout, from pioneers Lisa Leslie and Rebecca Lobo to current headliners Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson, Spruill equally showcases the less-lauded athletes who have shaped the incredible past, present, and future of a league whose highlight reel has only just begun.”
—BOOKLIST, starred review
“History is not just what happened long ago. It is what we choose to recognize now. Just as early Black basketball was once widely covered yet is often overlooked today, making it seem less significant than it was, Tamryn Spruill’s The W shows how limited media visibility shapes the value of modern women’s basketball and calls for the attention the game deserves this moment, not someday. The W is a thoughtful and important work.”
—CLAUDE JOHNSON, author if The Black Fives: The Epic Story of Basketball’s Forgotten Era
“There is no one better suited to tell the story of the W than Tamryn Spruill. Her unique experience shines through while highlighting what’s been missing from traditional coverage of women’s sports and the W specifically. The league is a complex ecosystem with a lot of nuance. This book depicts and defines that with care and conscience. It is the comprehensive history of a visionary league packed into four quarters of fast-paced action, written with intentionality.”
—ABBY CHIN, NBC Sports’ Boston Celtics sideline reporter
“Tamryn Spruill’s care, passion, love, and reverence for the WNBA, the players, coaches, legendary teams, and its history are on full display within these pages. For those of us that have been fans of the W since opening night back in 1997, this is the exact book we’ve all been waiting for to commemorate thirty seasons of women’s professional basketball in North America.”
—DART ADAMS, journalist, historian, and author
