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For Tina Thompson, the first draft pick in the WNBA’s history, in 1997, there was no Orange Carpet fanfare, no designer sponsorships, no morning-show press run. “We were in NBA Studios in Secaucus,” Thompson said recently at the 2026 WNBA Draft. “We had not even got WNBA jerseys printed yet, so I was holding up a practice jersey.”
Thompson was prepared to dabble in playing post-collegiate basketball briefly, then take her talents to law school. Little did she know that she’d retire as a pioneer of the game and the league’s all-time leading scorer—that is, until Diana Taurasi surpassed her record in 2017.
Thirty years after that very first draft, the WNBA has ascended to new heights, thanks to the foundation laid by the likes of Taurasi, Thompson, Maya Moore, Dawn Staley, Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, and seemingly countless others. Since 1997, WNBA players have made their indelible mark on pop culture, making cameos in television shows and commercials, while cementing a legacy of progressive activism across the women’s sports landscape.
As the 2026 season tip-off begins, rookies and veterans alike are hopeful for the new paradigm: On March 20, the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) successfully negotiated a “transformational” bargaining deal, making this year’s 2026 rookie class the highest paid in WNBA history. In 2009, the maximum salary cap was $99,500; today, the maximum is set at $7 million, nearly five times more than last season’s. A’ja Wilson and Aliyah Boston, both former players of famed coach Dawn Staley, have secured record-breaking contracts that each exceed $5 million.
The gravity of joining this league is not lost on Azzi Fudd. The 2026 No. 1 draft pick was selected by the Dallas Wings, following in the footsteps of her mother, Katie Smrcka-Duffy Fudd. In 2001, Smrcka-Duffy was drafted to the Sacramento Monarchs. Fudd grew up hearing her mother’s perspective on the league and sees it as her personal responsibility to build upon progress.
“We got a chance to have dinner and talk with some of the players who helped negotiate [the new collective bargaining agreement] and got to hear their firsthand perspectives and the reasoning behind why they wanted certain changes,” Fudd tells Teen Vogue. “It made me more excited and gave me a better understanding of how important it is to keep that momentum going. My goal is to do what everyone before me has done, and to keep building that momentum and leave the game better than I found it.”
Fudd symbolizes a new generation of women’s basketball players. She went to the University of Connecticut on the heels of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) adopting NIL, which allows athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness. Gone are the days of top players being forced to play overseas to make up for shockingly low WNBA salaries. Women in the W are now making names for themselves in fashion, with eye-catching tunnel looks and sightings at New York Fashion Week.
From Fudd’s Geico partnership to her custom draft-night look from Coach, Swoopes says this visibility is what players have always longed for. She applauds Angel Reese for how she’s been able to successfully break the glass ceiling, serving on the 2025 Met Gala committee and being name-dropped in Bronx and Banco fashion-show notes.
“[Reese is] in rooms, spaces, and places that I don't think anybody ever thought we would see,” Swoopes tells Teen Vogue. “I look at the Met Gala, Victoria's Secret [Fashion Show], and now, she's on a whole billboard. This is what we've always wanted to see, and I do believe it's only the beginning of what we're going to see with this up-and-coming talent.”
Swoopes, who was the first player ever signed to the WNBA, recalled the league’s humble beginnings in the '90s. “For us, we felt a huge responsibility,” she says, “where any place we could could get in, we wanted to get in that door, open as many eyes as we possibly could, to say, 'Look, here we are, and we're really, really good.'”
WNBA players soon became staple figures in entertainment, including the 1996 Olympic team’s guest appearance on the sitcom Martin and Nike’s iconic “Little Rascals” commercial campaign featuring Kyla Pratt. The WNBA was integral to the plot of the 2000s cult-classic film Love and Basketball. And the Disney Channel had an original movie, Double Teamed, about the origin stories of twin WNBA stars Heather and Heidi Burge. Before Reese, A'ja Wilson, or Caitlin Clark, Swoopes blazed a trail as the first woman athlete to have a signature shoe.
But the WNBA’s fashion sense was still outdated, largely due to the rigidity of corporate desirability politics. In a league led by Black and queer women, players combatted gender stereotypes and challenged notions of “traditional femininity.” According to 2012 WNBA Draft pick Devereaux Peters, players had to follow the league’s “very, very, very strict dress code.” The aging office-secretary aesthetic, Peters told The Athletic, made mere 22-year-olds look like “the world’s most athletic accountants.”
Now, top players are equipped with full glam teams before making their long-awaited, signature Orange Carpet debut. Professional stylists like Brittany Hampton, Kesha McLeod, and Sydnee Paige have been incorporated into athletes' preparation for the league. Sponsored by Coach, Paige styled Fudd in a glistening silver gown with a high peekaboo slit for the carpet. By the time she reached her draft table, Fudd had changed into a Retrofête dress with shimmering scales in various golden hues.
“Make sure you wear something that, when you look back in 20 years, you're gonna be proud of what you wore,” Fudd says of the principle that guided her and Paige’s vision. “It’s not just a trend or a phase. I know that both outfits I'm gonna look back and say, ‘Yeah, we made the right decision.’”
Reflecting on the stark cultural contrast between generations, Swoopes says, there were times when WNBA players had to “look a certain way,” regardless of whether they were comfortable in what they wore. The rules were the rules. Although it’s unclear whether the players spurred change or the front office just became more lenient, Swoopes has loved every second of watching this transformation occur.
“My how we have evolved! What I love is every single player in this league is doing her, whatever that means for her,” Swoopes says. “I could not be happier to see players embracing their sexuality, hair, nails, makeup, lashes, skin care.”
She continues, “I loved Olivia Miles. I loved her natural hair and natural beauty. The 'fro was giving me life. She didn't have on all the makeup. She showed the world, ‘This is who I am, and I love me,’ and I think it's so important for little girls to see that. I would think that every single player that got drafted, for all the young girls out there who watched, there was someone they could identify with.”
With Coach sponsoring the Orange Carpet and other brands like Mielle and Skims partnering with the WNBA at large, there has been a marked shift in fashion’s buy-in to women’s basketball. While the league’s market popularity ebbed, flowed, and dipped in the 2010s, players remained authentic to themselves—and politically engaged. Few other American leagues are so inextricably linked to a long lineage of activism, be it proclaiming that Black Lives Matter before 2020 or ousting right-wing team ownership.
Swoopes says that the only difference between then and now is that more eyes are watching: “The W is a big sisterhood: current players, former players, future players. We're all a big family, and I think we all feel a huge responsibility to use our platform, but more importantly, to be one,” she explains. “I know the saying ‘more than an athlete,’ but I think it's important that people understand that we truly believe that. Personally, if you're coming for one of my sisters in the WNBA, I feel it's my responsibility to use my voice to speak out.”
As Fudd steps into the next phase of her career, she plans to do the same with her platform. For now, though, she’s adjusting to her new home in Dallas and reveling in Tex-Mex cuisine. Entering the WNBA in its 30th year feels surreal, she says, and Fudd is grateful to her predecessors. “I would say thank you for laying the foundation, setting the tone, paving the way for us,” she says. “We hope to continue and be role models just like them, and continue to leave the game in a better place.”
Says Swoopes, celebrating the past 30 years has instilled overflowing pride. She’s excited for the new fans “who finally jumped on this train,” confirming what WNBA players knew all along: Women can really hoop. Upon learning details of the new collective bargaining agreement, Swoopes cried tears of joy.
“It's such a remarkable time, not just to be a female athlete or a basketball player; it's just a remarkable time to be a woman,” Swoopes says. “I get so emotional when I think about where we are right now. Going back to when the league started, in 1997, we were just happy to have a place to play here in the States. You don't know what you don't know, but what I do know is we always wanted to leave the league better than we found it. Here we are, season 30.”
