The 2025 WNBA season continued to shatter television viewership and game attendance records. Both the regular season and the playoffs were the most-watched in league history. With two weeks left to spare during the regular season, the WNBA also broke its single-season attendance record.
It’s especially significant that the WNBA broke these records while many of the league’s biggest stars, including Caitlin Clark, were sidelined for much of the year with injuries.
Here are just a few of the highs and lows from a fantastic season of women’s basketball:
Season Highs
- The Indiana Fever overcoming seemingly endless injuries to make an exciting and odds-defying semi-finals appearance, which was their first since 2015.
- After a rocky start to their season, Las Vegas Aces came back with a 16-game win streak, which is the longest streak to finish a regular season in the league’s history.
- The Studbudz during All-Star Weekend. Two Minnesota Lynx players, Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, did a 72-hour Twitch live-stream during All-Star Weekend events and after parties. It was hilarious and allowed fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse of players having fun off the court.
- The overall level of impressive gameplay.
Season Lows
- Way too many player injuries. Regular watchers of the league witnessed a large number of season-ending injuries, with total injuries estimated to be 36 percent higher during the 2025 season compared to 2024. The WNBA has always been a physical league, but this year it got so bad that several coaches and players spoke out against the frequency of and lack of whistle for flagrant plays.
- Poor game officiating. The WNBA’s injury problem was often blamed, at least partially, on inconsistent officiating. Several coaches, including Cheryl Reeve (Minnesota), Stephanie White (Indiana), and Becky Hammon (Las Vegas), were fined for calling out officials for their failures to address excessive physicality.
- The league not paying players what they’re worth. The WNBA pays its players notoriously poorly, which means that many of them play in overseas leagues or alternative leagues in the U.S. during the off-season to boost their salaries. The league’s failure to make a fair deal with the WNBA player’s union is a travesty, and probably more evidence that league commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, needs to go.
