The Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty have produced the past three WNBA champions, four of the past five MVPs, two signature sneakers, and two of the best stories the league can tell about quickly built local fanbases. They clashed in the WNBA Finals in 2023 and the semifinals in 2024, creating a highlight reel of classic plays.
Yet, as WNBA legend and newly hired Amazon analyst Candace Parker pointed out last week, there’s still not enough of that rivalry on the 2025 WNBA schedule.
In an interview on the Spolitics podcast with Jemele Hill, the three-time WNBA champion was asked to pivot from all the negativity toward the league (on its broadcast deal, its oversight of players and fans, or its PR strategy) and name a positive. Parker lauded the league for taking a page from the NBA’s book and “really focusing on the stars.” Beyond the clearly popular rivalry between second-year stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, the league has another buzzy head-to-head story for fans to follow between New York and Las Vegas.
The league is also, as Parker noted, bringing young stars back to their college campuses for preseason games to bridge the gap between NCAA hoops and the W.
“Now, in terms of the notoriety and the attention, it’s matching up with what the WNBA needs to do,” Parker said. “In terms of how you are focusing on the matchups and the rivalries. I say that not just (with) Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, I say that with Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson, two of the best to ever play the game of basketball. Focusing on that New York and Aces rivalry, making sure those games are lined up with times that people are going to have eyeballs. For a long time, I felt like the stars came into the league, and then the league kind of diminished the light a little bit.”
Yet even within Parker’s compliment toward the WNBA scheduling staff, we see a missed opportunity.
Parker is correct to note that Liberty-Aces got a marquee opening-weekend slot Saturday on ABC. That game peaked at nearly 2 million viewers, a very solid number as the lead-in to another monster clash between Clark and Reese.
Beyond that? New York and Las Vegas don’t play again until July 8 — a Tuesday. They play just three times all season, with the final matchup coming Aug. 15, a Wednesday-night matchup that starts at 9:30 p.m. ET. Both games are on ESPN.
The WNBA managed to schedule the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky to play five times this season. All five games are on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. All five games are on broadcast television: either CBS, ABC or ION.
This shouldn’t be difficult. The NFL makes no secret that it prioritized a Tom Brady-Peyton Manning clash in the 2000s and 2010s, or that the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills are locked into a late-season duel on CBS each fall. Sunday Night Baseball force-feeds MLB fans Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees games they may not have asked for. We’re most likely going to get LeBron James vs. Steph Curry on Christmas Day until one of them retires.
Yet the WNBA treats Clark-Reese as its only major priority. With just 13 teams playing 40 games apiece across a four-month schedule, the WNBA should be more than able to lean into multiple top rivalries.
Parker is correct that the preseason college campus games and the Clark-Reese scheduling are good signs. Still, it shouldn’t be so hard for a relatively small league with growing revenue and a highly engaged online fan base to push multiple huge stars at once.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.