Evil Empires: The Rise of WNBA Super Teams

The Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty have gone all-in on elite talent, and have provided the game of women’s professional basketball more intrigue than it has ever had before

If I told you that a professional basketball team in one off-season added two four-time All-Stars (one of which was once named league MVP) via free agency, traded for another four-time All-Star and league MVP while retaining the league’s best young player who is also an All-Star would you believe it? What if I told you in that same off-season, that the reigning champions would add a two-time league MVP and seven-time All-Star to a team with two All-Stars in their prime (one of which is a two-time league MVP)? It sounds unbelievable, but it happened this month in the WNBA.

The New York Liberty added Breanna Stewart, Courtney Vandersloot, and Jonquel Jones to play with young phenom Sabrina Ionescu. The Las Vegas Aces, last year’s WNBA champions, have added WNBA legend, Candace Parker to a stacked roster that features Kelsey Plum and A’ja Wilson. These two teams are loaded with talent and seem to be on a collision course to meet in the WNBA Finals this fall. The super team concept is not a new idea in the NBA but is a bit foreign in the WNBA game which has seen 4 different teams win the league title in the last four years. And for a league that struggles financially, this…