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The WNBA began in 1997 and has featured extremely expert ladies’s basketball gamers within the quarter of a century since its inception. Identical to the lads within the NBA, the very best ladies’s basketball gamers elevate the WNBA to new heights, growing reputation and serving to all feminine athletes garner respect worldwide. The 22 greatest WNBA gamers ever shoot, rebound, and defend with supreme expertise!
1. Diana Taurasi
Diana Taurasi’s signature pull-up jumper and regular offensive abilities make her probably the most recognizable star in ladies’s basketball historical past. After a historic profession at UConn, Taurasi has spent twenty years main the Phoenix Mercury to 3 WNBA championships. Taurasi not solely shoots higher than her rivals, however she additionally handles the ball and passes like a degree guard. Her offensive arsenal stands above all others.
2. Maya Moore
Maya Moore’s quick profession (solely eight seasons) holds her again from the highest spot on the record, however her prime won’t ever go unnoticed in basketball lore. Moore led the Minnesota Lynx to 4 titles by all the time making the best play, whether or not it was scoring, passing, or boxing out the competitors. Moore retired to give attention to ending social injustices in america.
3. Lisa Leslie
Lisa Leslie pioneered the significance of a middle in ladies’s basketball. Standing at 6’5’’, Leslie led the Los Angeles Sparks to 2 WNBA titles within the early 2000s. Her assortment of put up strikes helped her tower above others at her place and popularized ladies’s skilled basketball in Los Angeles.
4. Tamika Catchings
Tamika Catchings locked down her competitors, successful 5 Defensive Participant of the Yr awards for her skills on the less-popular facet of the court docket. Catchings made up for her lack of scoring in comparison with others by specializing in passing, rebounding, and stepping into passing lanes.
5. Sheryl Swoopes
Sheryl Swoopes helped construct the WNBA from its inaugural season onward with incomparable expertise on offense and protection. Swoopes performed for the unique ladies’s basketball dynasty, the Houston Comets, successful 4 consecutive championships alongside Cynthia Cooper and Tina Thompson.
6. Cynthia Cooper
Cynthia Cooper got here to the WNBA in the course of the latter years of her profession, however that didn’t cease her from obliterating her friends. Coopers gained 4 WNBA Finals MVPs whereas main the Houston Comets to the highest of the league. Cooper averaged over 21 factors per sport for the primary three years of her WNBA profession.
7. Candace Parker
Candace Parker’s longevity and broadcasting work with the NBA turned her into some of the well-known gamers within the WNBA. She stands as the one lady ever to win three WNBA titles with as many franchises. Even within the twilight of her profession, Parker does no matter her staff must safe victory.
8. Lauren Jackson
Lauren Jackson fully outclassed the WNBA and made the Seattle Storm a dynasty. The Australian let her sport do the speaking, and he or she fashioned a legendary duo with Sue Chook. Jackson’s physicality and contact created an ideal juxtaposition of abilities.
9. Sue Chook
Sue Chook introduced consolation to the court docket for the Seattle Storm for 20 years. Followers knew when the sensible level guard had the ball, good issues have been sure to occur. Chook navigated defenses with intelligence and knew when to go and when to take over, successful 4 titles throughout her time within the Pacific Northwest.
10. Breanna Stewart
Breanna Stewart stays firmly in her prime at solely 29 years previous. After a number of Finals MVPs and titles in Seattle, the behemoth scorer moved to New York and gained an MVP with the Liberty in 2023. Stewart will possible climb into the highest 5 of most rankings when her profession finishes.
11. Elena Delle Donne
Elena Delle Donne resembles Kevin Durant or Dirk Nowitzki from the lads’s sport. Her peak and capturing abilities make it practically unimaginable for defenders to place a hand in her face, and her capturing percentages show her accuracy. Delle Donne lastly took house a championship with the Washington Mystics in 2019, and her sport has aged gracefully since then.
12. Sylvia Fowles
Sylvia Fowles was by no means the very best scorer on the ground, however she made up for her offensive shortcomings with shot blocking and intimidating rim safety. Fowles blocked practically two pictures per sport all through her profession with the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky. Her inside presence ushered in a brand new period of Minnesota basketball.
13. Katie Smith
Katie Smith was by no means the flashiest or the most well-liked participant within the WNBA, however her constant scoring turned her into an icon. Smith toiled away with Minnesota within the adolescence of the league earlier than bolstering Detroit’s title groups in 2006 and 2008.
14. Yolanda Griffith
Yolanda Griffith was the unique defensive genius within the WNBA. Choosing and selecting when to dam a shot and when to steal the ball, Griffith carried the Sacramento Monarchs in the course of the early years of the franchise. Sadly, the Monarchs folded shortly after Griffith left for Seattle.
15. Tina Thompson
Tina Thompson slotted in subsequent to Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes to make the Houston Comets unbeatable within the late Nineteen Nineties. Thompson’s signature purple lipstick gave her some of the well-known aesthetics within the league and turned her right into a marketable star.
16. Angel McCoughtry
Angel McCoughtry was a tricky bucket-getter in the course of the late 2000s and early 2010s with the Atlanta Dream. McCoughtry appeared to take pleasure in making pictures harder than they wanted to be, however followers admired her creativity and jaw-dropping playmaking.
17. Seimone Augustus
Seimone Augustus began her profession in Minnesota as a high-volume scorer earlier than taking a backseat to Maya Moore throughout their championship years. Augustus gained the 2011 WNBA Finals MVP and was usually elevated into one of many franchise’s clutch choices in the course of the playoffs.
18. Tina Charles
Tina Charles spent a lot of the 2010s main the WNBA in a number of key statistical classes. From scoring titles to rebounding crowns, Charles’ manufacturing indicated a powerful want to win. Sadly, Charles by no means gained a title with the Connecticut Solar or the New York Liberty.
19. Brittney Griner
Brittney Griner was the very best WNBA draft prospect ever popping out of Baylor. As soon as drafted to the Phoenix Mercury, Griner slowly advanced into an offensive powerhouse whereas blocking pictures at a price by no means earlier than completed by a girl within the WNBA. Her unjust arrest in Russia truncated her prime, however she’s again in Phoenix and enjoying at a excessive stage once more!
20. Becky Hammon
Becky Hammon is so ingrained within the teaching world now that individuals neglect how nice she was on the court docket. Hammon’s small, however mighty level guard play introduced relevance to the San Antonio Silver Stars. She imitated the very best flooring generals from the NBA, corresponding to John Stockton and Steve Nash, whereas additionally fearlessly overcoming her scouts doubting her.
21. Cappie Pondexter
Cappie Pondexter starred subsequent to Diana Taurasi in Phoenix for a lot of her prime, and he or she deserves a ton of credit score for serving to the Mercury to their titles in 2007 and 2009. Pondexter flourished for Turkish groups in the course of the offseason, too.
22. Lindsay Whalen
Lindsay Whalen operated from the background in Minnesota behind Maya Moore, Sylvia Fowles, and Seimone Augustus. Whalen’s humility and willingness to work as a second or third possibility vitally blended Minnesota’s proficient group right into a cohesive complete.
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