The WNBA is expanding. The Golden State Valkyries will be the 13th team to be added for the 2025 WNBA season. New franchises in Portland and Toronto have also been announced. However, one Cleveland Cavaliers star doesn’t think the WNBA should stop expansion there. Recently, Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell shared that he believes Cleveland would be a good spot for another addition.
“I think Cleveland definitely deserves a WNBA team,” Mitchell said following Cavs practice at IMG Academy on Friday afternoon. “It’s big time for Portland and San Francisco to add one. But Cleveland is a perfect sports city for it. The WNBA is at an all-time high, and I love the competition. Been this way for a while, and I think people are now starting to pay attention finally.”
To bring that number to 16 teams by 2028, the WNBA is expected to consider Philadelphia, Nashville, South Florida, and Denver. Even though there hasn’t been any chatter about Cleveland, Mitchell said he would spearhead those efforts in any way possible to bring the WNBA back to Cleveland.
“I would love to be part of that [franchise in Cleveland] for sure if that ever happens,” Mitchell said. “It’s been great basketball. It’s become more national. I feel like us as players, we’ve been there from the jump. I think it’s great that the world is finally starting to see what we all see.”
WNBA viewership and attendance have been at record levels this season. The popularity of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese plays a large role in that. With emerging talent like Paige Bueckers entering the league next season, that popularity will likely only grow. To Mitchell’s credit, the Cavs superstar might not be far off with Cleveland taking another shot at the WNBA.
The history of the Cavs and Rockers playing in Cleveland
Cleveland was home to the Cleveland Rockers from 1997 through 2003. The Rockers were one of the WNBA’s eight inaugural teams. Gordan Gund, who previously owned the Cavs, couldn’t find a buyer for the team in 2002, so the Rockers folded at the end of the 2003 WNBA season.
The Rockers’ namesake is a nod to the recently opened Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Cleveland’s name as the city of rock and roll. In their inaugural season, the Rockers went 15-13, which, like the Cavs in 1997, wasn’t good enough to make the playoffs that year. However, the Rockers and the Cavs bounced back the following season, making the playoffs in their respective leagues.
In 1998, the Rockers fared even better, going 20-10 to win the five-team Eastern Conference. However, they lost the semifinals to Phoenix, dropping a deciding third game. That year, the Rockers’ peak attendance was 10,350 fans per game. The Cavs would go 47-35, losing to the Indiana Pacers in the NBA playoffs first round.
Things bottomed out for the Rockers in 1999, as they went 7-25. Things were just as bad for the Cavs during the 1998-99 season, where Cleveland went 22-28 in a lockout-shortened season. After 1999, both the Rockers and the Cavs went in separate directions. Cleveland’s WNBA team would go on its deepest-ever playoff run, losing in the Conference Finals in 2000. The Rockers then made the playoffs in two of their final three seasons in Cleveland.
The Cavs, meanwhile, continued to bottom out until they selected LeBron James in the 2003 NBA Draft. When James’s rookie season with the Cavs began, Cleveland’s NBA fortunes would dramatically turn around. Unfortunately, the Rockers wouldn’t have the same fate with the team folding months into James’s rookie Cavs campaign.
So, Mitchell has the history to bring the Rockers back to Cleveland. More than twenty years later, could Cleveland, like Portland, get a do-over? If Mitchell stays true to his vision, it could happen sooner rather than later.
The post Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell pushing to bring WNBA back to Cleveland appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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