The Golden State Warriors ownership group is finalizing plans to bring a WNBA expansion team to the Bay Area, Marcus Thompson of The Athletic reports.
Thompson says the deal is not yet complete but would see the new team play at the Chase Center, the new home of the Warriors in San Francisco that opened in 2019. The new team would be headquartered out of the Warriors’ practice facility in Oakland, Thompson adds.
In a statement provided to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Warriors said: “It would be premature to assume any potential agreement has been finalized We have no further updates at this time.”
Expansion was a hot topic in the WNBA earlier this year, with commissioner Cathy Engelbert saying in an interview with The Athletic that the league had narrowed a list of 100 cities down to 10-12.
The WNBA has 12 teams and last expanded in 2008 when the Atlanta Dream joined the league. This season the league increased the schedule to 40 games for the first time.
The WNBA Players Association has said in the past that it would prefer the league focused on other matters before adding more teams.
“I understand expansion is important, I understand growing the league, I understand growing in cities, and I do think that’s something to come,” Aces guard Kelsey Plum, who is the first vice president of the WNBA Players Association, said in July. “I don’t think that should take precedence over charter flights. I don’t think that should take precedence over salary benefits.”
Thompson reports that any deal between the Warriors and the WNBA to expand would need to be approved by the league’s Board of Governors. He adds that based on the current trajectory of negotiations, an official announcement could be made as soon as October.