When Sports Illustrated journalist Ian Thomsen asked NBA commissioner David Stern if we could see a woman in the NBA any time soon, he got a surprising answer.
It’s a definite possibility for the next decade, Stern said, according to CNN. “There’s going to be a very strong woman who has all the moves, who’s going to want to play, and she’s going to be good,” he said.
It’s a radical idea, but why not?
There are plenty of reasons to believe the game of basketball, and women athletes, are ready for the change.
The next generation of young female athletes could dream of playing not only with Diana Taurasi and Temeka Johnson of the Phoenix Mercury, but also with Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire of the Suns.
Thomsen believes the game has restructured significantly toward allowing women players. In the past 10 years, new rules have limited hand checks and become stricter on fouls. Now players with great skills but less physical strength and size, such as smaller point guards, have been given the chance to be successful.
And that means that now is the perfect time for a woman to jump in.
Coupled with this new opportunity is the fact that female players have been tremendously stepping up their game. Nets President Rod Thorn said, “I go to games, I watch games — and the athletic ability of women basketball players has made such a jump up in the last five or six years it’s unbelievable.”
And as Dallas Mavericks Assistant Coach Dwane Casey also commented, increasing numbers of NBA coaches have been coaching in the WNBA, using NBA tactics. The NBA and the women players are growing together, and the result could be an incredible breakthrough for basketball.
The first female NBA player will have plenty of role models to look up to, women who have broken into the men’s game.
In 1977, Luisa Harris was drafted by the New Orleans Jazz in the seventh round, but she never attended training, according to NBA Hoops Online.
In 1979, Ann Meyers, current manager of the Phoenix Mercury, signed a contract with the Indiana Pacers, although she was not chosen for the final team. Three years ago, Violet Palmer became the first woman to ref an NBA playoff game. And just last month, Nancy Lieberman became the first woman to coach an NBA D-league team, for the Dallas Mavericks, and some say she could go on to become the NBA’s first woman head coach, according to NBA Fanhouse.
The NBA has continued to expand to include women. The next step is for a woman to suit up and play.
Hopefully, in the next few years, one strong woman will make it to the NBA, paving the way for other women to follow. A decade ago, no one would have thought a woman could play in the big leagues of basketball, but now, the head coaches are seriously talking about it.
As time progresses and courageous people seek to break boundaries, exciting new possibilities become probable.
The times, they are a’changin’ in sports and in the world. Who knows what could come next?
Hannah wishes you lots of luck on finals week and can be reached at
hannah.wasserman@asu.edu.
