What to know for the WNBA's 30th season — and its first in Canada

The WNBA's 30th season tips off on Friday night. That milestone alone would be cause for celebration, but the blossoming league and its players have plenty more to be pleased about. A new labour deal is in place, superstar Caitlin Clark is healthy again, and two more expansion teams are set to begin play — including Canada's first WNBA franchise, the Toronto Tempo.

Here's a quick catchup on some key storylines around the league, including some Canadian angles.

Business is booming.

After months of contentious labour negotiations that threatened to delay the start of the season, the WNBA and its players finally agreed to a seven-year collective bargaining agreement in March that commissioner Cathy Engelbert called "transformative." The new deal raised the salary cap to $7 million US, a five-fold increase from last year, and top players can earn more than $1 million a year for the first time. The "supermax" salary is now $1.4M, the minimum is a healthy $270,000-$300,000 (depending on service time) and the average is expected to approach $600K. Not bad for a league that paid Clark a mere $76,535 in her rookie year in 2024.

WNBA owners are now willing to shell out a lot more in salaries because, after many lean years, their teams have exploded in value. According to one published estimate, the average valuation has more than tripled in just two years, to $427M, and the Golden State Valkyries are now pegged at around $1 billion after attracting more than 18,000 fans per game in their debut season.

Caitlin Clark is back.

It's probably not a coincidence that the WNBA really took off right around the time the most popular player in the history of women's college basketball came into the league. After being drafted first