Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30) is photographed during Media Day at Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
SAN FRANCISCO — Steph Curry has a few ideas for what to name the Bay Area’s new WNBA franchise. None that he’s willing to share.
“I don’t give out those ideas for free,” Curry said.
Team name ideas were flowing during Warriors practice on Thursday, happening in the practice facility below the court where officials officially announced that the franchise would be bringing a new, temporarily nameless WNBA team to San Francisco and Oakland.
“Something that resembles the characteristics of the Bay Area,” Klay Thompson said.
The team name will come. First, the Bay Area can revel in excitement. The Warriors core know best how much the Bay Area’s interest in basketball has skyrocketed since their team started dominating the NBA nearly 10 years ago. Curry and Thompson also know the strong women’s basketball culture that existed years before they came to Golden State, led by Tara Van Derveer and Stanford women’s basketball.
“It’s great timing given the level of interest in the sport here in the Bay and the level of play,” head coach Steve Kerr said.
Timing was everything, according to owner Joe Lacob, who has been trying to bring a women’s basketball team to the Bay Area ever since the American Basketball League went defunct and, with it, his San Jose Lasers. The WNBA has taken over as the premier women’s league since its inception 27 years ago, and the quality has only improved.
“The quality of play has dramatically improved over the last decade,” Kerr said.
Kerr added that he learned a lot about the women’s game during his days as the Phoenix Suns general manager in the late 2000s, where he crossed paths with three-time WNBA champion Diana Taurasi.
Thompson has been a women’s basketball fan since his childhood days in Portland, where he admired Portland Fire star Jackie Stiles for her clean shooting.
“Then I Southern California and was lucky enough to watch Lisa Leslie play and win championships,”Thompson said. “So hopefully now in my adulthood I can see some WNBA championships in the Bay…It’s a hotbed for talent and it seems like it was a long time coming”
What WNBA players best embody Thompson’s game as one of the premier shooters in NBA history? Thompson had a few answers: Walnut Creek native and New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu, for one.
“But she does much more than I do, she’s a triple-double threat every night,” Thompson said. “I love watching Caitlin Clarke play because of her ability to pull up from anywhere and score from anywhere.”
Curry has been a champion for women’s sports in the Bay Area and beyond, hosting women’s camps and tournaments for his two passions, basketball to golf, during the offseason. Curry’s godsister, Cameron Brink, is a star defender for the Stanford Cardinal entering her senior year. Brink would be eligible for the 2024 WNBA Draft, a year shy of the Golden State WNBA team’s first draft in 2025.
Unlikely chance she takes a fifth year at Stanford to play near her godbrother.
“Having seen her since she was almost a baby until now, it’s wild for her,” Curry said. “What’s important now is being locked in on her season and hopefully leading the Stanford women’s team to another championship like she did in her freshman year. The horizon looks pretty solid no matter where she ends up, WNBA or what, but it would be kinda cool to have her with this franchise.”
In any event, Curry, Thompson and Kerr are excited to have a women’s team nearby.
“It’s awesome that we have a team now,” Thompson said. “I’ll definitely be doing a lot of Bay crossings on the boat.”
Originally published at Shayna Rubin