THE W

Overcoming numerous obstacles, women’s pro basketball is here to stay.

Shortcomings aside, this expansive book belongs on any discerning list of important titles about the WNBA. Spruill, known for her powerful reporting on Russia’s unjust 2022 imprisonment of hoop star Brittney Griner, has gathered every imaginable fact about the “mostly Black, somewhat gay” league’s first 30 years. She meticulously chronicles WNBA leadership’s shortsighted approach to pay and quality-of-life concerns. Minimum salaries were once near the poverty line, compelling WNBA talent to play part of the year overseas, far from loved ones and recuperative treatment. Black players have been subjected to overt bigotry in arenas and on the airwaves, and the author flags lesser-known instances when white players were more strenuously promoted than Black superstars. She also demonstrates how an embrace of “feminine heteronormative beauty standards” has harmed gay players and fans. But her commitment to comprehensiveness results in periodic tedium. Season by season, she formulaically names players selected in annual drafts, all-star game picks, and winners of major and minor awards. This is noteworthy information, but it’s clumsily presented. A more user-friendly book might’ve put these details in fact boxes accompanying the narrative. Meanwhile, her game accounts cite myriad statistics but seldom include descriptive language that enables a reader to, say, visualize a player slashing to the basket or scoring over a defender’s outstretched fingers. Meanwhile, she oversimplifies the reasons for the league’s relative lack of popularity with certain relevant groups. When NBA Commissioner Adam Silver says the WNBA needs to attract more young fans, Spruill declines to dig into the relevant numbers—instead offering categorical denunciations of league promotional efforts: “The only problem was that the WNBA still resisted marketing players as their true selves even as social trends evinced consumers’ weariness with artifice.”

An uneven yet essential record of the WNBA’s first three decades.