The WNBA laboratories will be fascinating — Lynne Roberts talks Los Angeles Sparks

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“For both of them, the experiences that they had as a head coach is what I’m going to covet the most,” Reeve said. “They have been in this seat. You know, I said some of the most valuable experiences you learn along the way is what not to do in life. I think your most valuable experiences are what not to do.”

For Reeve, this current WNBA moment, which has produced unprecedented turnover in the coaching ranks in the league, means adding head coaching experience to her ranks, even though she’s held the head coaching position since 2009 and no other team’s head coach was hired prior to 2021. She’s doubling down on experience.

But even within the hires of Thibault and Whalen, there are divergent routes to Minnesota. Eric, of course, grew up around the game, learning from his father, Mike, and spent the past 12 years with the Washington Mystics, first as an assistant, then a head coach. Whalen, I won’t insult you by explaining how she got here, but her head coaching experience comes from the collegiate level.

Even their focuses and areas of expertise vary — Thibault, as Reeve pointed out, just coached against the Lynx, while Whalen brings her time as a player on the court (and, frankly, as another coach on the floor as a point guard) to the staff as well.

But the larger point is that nothing which just took place in the WNBA season led to franchises moving in one direction. Whalen and Thibault differ from one another just as surely as the hiring of the head coaches to date come from different buckets of experience, even strategy, as well.

In Natalie Nakase, Golden State’s hire, the Valkyries have joined with the Chicago Sky, who hired Tyler Marsh, for a head coach with some WNBA assistant experience, along with ample time in the men’s pro game. The Indiana Fever have opted for primarily WNBA experience in Stephanie White. Washington and Dallas, you are on the clock.

The Los Angeles Sparks and Atlanta Dream, both near the bottom of the WNBA in offensive efficiency, have utilized the college ranks to bring two of the most innovative offensive thinkers of their generation in Lynne Roberts and Karl Smesko. Here, courtesy of CBBAnalytics.com, please enjoy these ridiculous shot charts. First, Lynne Roberts’ Utah team from last season:

And now, last season’s Florida Gulf Coast University chart under Smesko:

It is safe to say that both the rapidly changing economics of the head coaching positions — in years as well as salary — helped open this path for the first time in league history.

As for the Connecticut Sun? They’ve hired Rachid Meziane, who has succeeded at both the European club level with Villeneuve d’Ascq and as the Belgian national team coach. In theory, there is precedent for this in, for instance, Australian national team coach Sandy Brondello, but Sandy was very much a product of the WNBA as well, having played here.

Different personalities, bigger stages, the very best players — all within a laboratory the likes of which we’ve never seen in the WNBA, and maybe any league ever. Truly: which pro sports league has experienced a moment in which the overwhelming majority of its players will be free to sign with any team, the rules of the road are changing thanks to a new collective bargaining agreement currently being negotiated, there’s more money than there’s ever been and the league is experiencing the most attention it ever has?

The closest parallel I can come up with from any league is when the Federal League folded and the National and American League reached its current state of operational unity in the late 1910s baseball scene. The closest non-sports comparison I can find is the Rapture.

In much the same way I suggested that some of the shortcomings of the WNBA itself in 2024 came as a result of attempting to move quickly to take advantage of opportunities on the ground — precisely what you’d hope for from a league that has so often failed in the past due to limitations of ambition — there will be some high-profile explosions on the launchpad.

But I don’t think we’ve ever seen a moment in the league where so many different intellectual and creative approaches to playing the game were happening simultaneously, the WNBA so often, as with any other sport, serving as a copycat league of whichever approach won most recently. Instead, we’re about to see some new paths forged. It’s hard not to get excited about that.

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This week in women’s basketball

Paulina Paris played high school ball in Jersey.

Here’s Cassandra Negley’s takeaways from the WNBA schedule release.

Particularly good, even by Alexa Philippou’s standards.

Katie Collins is legit.

The Big 5 Classic is a very big deal, indeed.

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Five at The IX: Lynne Roberts, Los Angeles Sparks

Locked On Women’s Basketball: Lynne Roberts on her jump to the WNBA

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