This year, the WNBA will enter its 30th season and officially turn 30 years old. 

There tends to be a stigma around entering your thirties: 

• More responsibility, less fun. Adulting with a capital “A.” 

• Inescapable aging. 

• The definitive end of youthfulness. 

This stigma is especially harsher — and more often applied — to women.

Booooo. Thanks for the lies, patriarchy, but we’re not buying it.

Most women will tell you, their thirties are actually the golden years we thought our twenties were, or “should have been.” The thirties are a REBIRTH.

We’re more confident, more self-attuned, and more intentional. We’re stronger. We’re more at peace. We have thicker skin… and we have absolutely no time for anyone else’s opinions.

A third decade around the sun means you’ve put in the time — and the work. 

Thirty means finally finding your groove. Thirty means finally living life on our own terms. 

The WNBA has undergone an incredible amount of change over the last few months — let alone over the last two decades. 

At 30, the league is bigger: eight expansion teams have joined the league in the last twenty years, with the Portland Fire returning and the Toronto Tempo debuting this season. 

The league is better: paid, that is. The historic seven-year CBA signed in March 2026 increases the player salary cap by 5x.

The league is badder: Culturesetters abound throughout the W, with players becoming superstars across sports, fashion, beauty, music, film, and TV. 

30 will be a revolutionary year for the WNBA. And if you’ve been paying attention, you know that she is just getting started.

 

MEET KAITLYN MCNAB

Kaitlyn McNab is a contributing writer for TOGETHXR.com and an award-winning culture reporter and editor. Her creative mission is to celebrate and articulate diverse experiences across all narrative mediums.

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