WNBA returns, Observing 25th anniversary season

It turned out to be a busy offseason for the longest running women's professional sports group which will tip off its 25th year Friday night.

There was lots of player movement in the offseason, headlined by Candace Parker heading home to Chicago after enjoying with the first 13 decades of her career in Los Angeles.

Defending champion Seattle will attempt to become the primary WNBA team to win successive titles because Los Angeles did it in 2001 and 2002. The Storm nevertheless have a powerful nucleus with Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd directing the way.

They included veteran Candice Dupree, but will need to find replacements for Natasha Howard, who travelled into New York and Alysha Clark, who travelled to Washington.

The Storm is going to have a great deal of rivalry up top. Las Vegas, that dropped to Seattle from the WNBA Finals this past year, was chosen from the league's GMs to acquire the title. The Aces were No. 1 in the preseason AP WNBA electricity survey. League MVP A'ja Wilson will have a Great Deal of help this year with the yields of Liz Cambage and Kelsey Plum, and also the inclusion of Chelsea Gray.

The league is going to have a virtually glamorized break for the Olympics in July and early August before resuming using the inaugural Commissioner's Cup championship match on Aug. 12. That match will be played in Phoenix.

Listed below are a few other items to look out for this year:

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu yields after playing just 2 1/2 matches last year until spraining her ankle and missing the rest of the season. The No. 1 choice from the 2020 draft will attempt to assist the Liberty enhance on the league's worst record last season.

Almost a dozen other gamers who missed last year due to injury or picking out due to the coronavirus are set to reunite.

The WNBA will probably be playing in house cities this year after the whole 2020 effort was held at IMG Academy in Florida due to the coronavirus pandemic. While attendance will be limited to initiate the year, the team expects to be in a position to get more fans from the arenas since the year progresses.

Seimone Augustus retired Thursday following an illustrious career. After 14 years together with the Lynx, she performed with her final season with the Los Angeles Sparks final year. She'll grow to be an assistant trainer for Los Angeles this year.

"It is an honor to continue to serve the game which has given me ," Augustus said in an announcement. "I am eager to combine the Sparks team and anticipate growing in this new job."

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While the team will soon be welcoming back lots of its celebrities who missed last year, two have suffered season-ending injuries.

Las Vegas' Angel McCoughtry tore the ACL in her right knee and Connecticut's Alyssa Thomas hurt her Achilles tendon playing abroad and can be out for this year.

The WNBA will have 100 of its own games on nationwide television this year, in addition to heaps of matches on Twitter, Facebook and Amazon.