The NBA champion Golden State Warriors are the proud owners of a new WNBA expansion team set to start play in the Bay Area in 2025. This is the first time the WNBA has expanded since 2008.
The new team will be owned and operated by Warriors co-executive chairman and CEO Joe Lacob and co-executive chairman Peter Guber. The team will play home games at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
“The Bay Area is the perfect market for a WNBA team, and we are thrilled this opportunity has finally come to fruition,” Lacob said. “We have been interested in a WNBA franchise for several years, due in part to the rich history of women’s basketball in the Bay Area, and believe now is the ideal time to execute that vision and build upon the legacy. The WNBA continues to solidify itself as the preeminent women’s professional basketball league, and we look forward to supporting the best women’s basketball players in the world and our team starting in 2025.”
The Warriors’ practice facility and front office from 1997-2019, located in Oakland, will be the WNBA team’s headquarters.
The WNBA already has some NBA ownership, including the Indiana Pacers (Indiana Fever), Minnesota Timberwolves (Minnesota Lynx), Brooklyn Nets (New York Liberty,) Phoenix Suns (Phoenix Mercury) and Washington Wizards (Washington Mystics).
The Warriors become the sixth NBA franchise to own a WNBA team.
“We are thrilled about expanding to the Bay Area and bringing the WNBA to a region with passionate basketball fans and a strong history of supporting women’s basketball,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a media release. “Joe Lacob, Peter Guber and their leadership team know how to build and operate a world-class organization, as witnessed by the immense success the Warriors’ franchise has enjoyed from both a business and basketball perspective over the last decade. Their interest in joining the WNBA family is yet another sign of the league’s growth potential.”
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