The 2025 MVP is well-known to basketball fans around the world. A 23.4 points per game average led the league. A 10.2 rebound average was second-best. While playing for a team that started the season with an underwhelming 5-6 record, this MVP did what MVPs are expected to do and took over. After dominating the second half of the season, that team now finds itself in the league finals.  

No, it’s not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s not Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets. After taking home the top player award in 2020, 2022, and 2024, A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces took home the award and continued her domination in 2025. Her fourth MVP title surpasses former stars Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Lauren Jackson, who have each won three.

“A’ja Wilson has been dominating since she came into the league, and she is still young!” declares Jason Roseman of Rialto, CA. “She is their best baller, without a doubt!”

The month of October has long been synonymous with the Fall Classic. The annual championship series between the two best teams in Major League Baseball still holds top billing during its run. The premier event of America’s pastime remains dominant. But like an underdog team, making its run to victory in the final moments of a big game, the WNBA, whose championship series also takes place in October, has proven itself a worthy challenger.

“I enjoy the good basketball the ladies are giving us,” says James Austin, of Moreno Valley, CA. “These women are really super athletes, who play good basketball.”

Austin, whose daughter Jameya Austin starred at small forward for Riverside North High School and later at Riverside City College, is an avid basketball fan.

“I came to enjoy the women’s game after watching my daughter play. The league has come far from its early beginnings.” Austin added. “I don’t think it will get as big as the men’s league, but the WNBA is going to be the next best thing.”

Wilson’s Ace’s, after finishing the regular season on a 16-game winning streak, entered the 2025 playoffs as the no. 2 seed. They toppled the Seattle Storm, winning the best-of-five  3-1. In the second round, with the series tied 2-2, they beat a solid Indiana Fever team in overtime to advance to the finals, where they will take on the Phoenix Mercury.

The Mercury are unquestionably up for the challenge. After losing star player Brittney Griner in free agency to the Atlanta Dream and league legend Diana Taurasi to retirement, they retooled their roster. A couple of key off-season trades proved to be a difference maker. After acquiring the versatile and athletic Satou Sabally from the Dallas Wings and the defensive-minded Alyssa Thomas from the Connecticut Sun, they finished the regular season with a 27-17 record, avenging their devastating 2024 first-round playoff loss, where they were swept by the Minnesota Lynx.

The 2025 WNBA season has been record-breaking. Its television ratings have grown at a 6% annual rate. ESPN, which has broadcast games since 1997, is seeing record viewership numbers in its 2025 playoff coverage. The semi-final series between the Aces and Fever saw more than 1.1 million viewers tune in, shattering numbers from previous seasons. 

This past September, the league announced a historic 11-year deal with Versant, a new media spin-off of NBC/Universal. Beginning with the 2026 season, Versant’s USA Network is set to broadcast nationally at least 50 games and take over playoff coverage. Along with its coverage on the ION network, which began broadcasting games in 2023, the league is positioning itself to meet its unprecedented growth, defying the odds that naysayers claim it can’t overcome.

Los Angeles County educator and long-time basketball official Michael Prudhomme of Bellflower, CA, sees the growth, but still considers the league young, existing in the NBA’s shadow.

“Though the popularity is improving, I do not think that it will challenge men’s professional sports,” says Prudhomme. “However, they are less than 30 years old. The NBA caught a stronghold at around its 30-year mark with the emergence of Magic and Bird.”

The aura, atmosphere, and increased exposure of the league say otherwise. Attendance numbers at arenas have increased significantly. For the 2025 season, a record 2.5 million fans filled seats through August, a notable rebound from the COVID-19 shutdown years. And like their NBA counterparts, many of the league’s stars have become household names, having transitioned from their college-era NIL deals to signing major marketing and endorsement contracts. 

Caitlyn Clark, who earned the Rookie of the Year honor in 2024, spearheaded the present jump in endorsements, with reported annual earnings of 11.1 million. Angel Reese, her NCAA and now pro rival, has a signature shoe deal with Reebok and is featured in ads for PlayStation and Beats by Dre, among others.

“Phee Collier of the Lynx is a player to watch,” added Roseman. “On the court, she has that Kobelike killer mentality.”

Napheesa “Phee” Collier, who was runner-up in the voting for the 2025 MVP award and the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, signed a lucrative marketing deal with the Jordan Brand this past May. After signing Maya Moore in 2011, Jordan Brand has signed more than half a dozen WNBA stars to its roster of professional athletes.

The 2025 season saw the WNBA expand to 14 teams, with the Golden State Valkyries beginning play in California’s Bay Area. Next season, franchises in Toronto and Portland will make their debuts. By 2030, the league is expected to have 18 teams, further exemplifying its growth. 

Wilson, who also shared the 2025 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year with Alanna Smith of the Minnesota Lynx, is a South Carolina native. After receiving offers from colleges around the country, she stayed home to play for the University of South Carolina. In 2015, she was named the SEC Freshman of the Year. By the end of her college career, she had become the Gamecocks’ all-time leading scorer, a three-time SEC Player of the Year, and named the team MVP, after leading the 2017 South Carolina team to its first-ever NCAA Championship title. 

The WNBA Finals will begin on Friday, October 3, with the Aces hosting the Mercury. With the league playoff and championship series moving to a new network in 2026, ESPN and its ABC affiliate are expecting increased viewership numbers. So too are the league’s players, who feel the momentum will lead to future revenue and salary increases to match.