The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1995, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA). League play started in 1997; the regular season is currently played from June to September with the Finals in October.
Many WNBA teams have NBA counterparts and play in the same arena. The Connecticut Sun, Seattle Storm, and Tulsa Shock are the only current teams to play without sharing the market with an NBA team (although the Storm shared a market with the Seattle SuperSonics before that team's relocation). In addition to those three teams, the Chicago Sky is the only other team that does not share an arena with an NBA counterpart. The four aforementioned franchises, along with the Atlanta Dream and the Los Angeles Sparks are all independently owned. This independent ownership is important to the WNBA's growth; at one time, all teams in the league were owned by the NBA.
Read more about Women's National Basketball Association: Teams, The WNBA Draft, Regular Season, The WNBA Playoffs, The WNBA Finals, Players and Coaches, Rules and Regulations, Media Coverage, All-Time Franchise History
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