WNBA Finals: Bruises, Bravado, and the Bill Coming Due
By Craig T. Greenlee Welcome to the WNBA Finals—otherwise known as the only basketball series where the pregame warm-ups might need referees. The league keeps bragging about being “the most physical in the sport,” and now it’s staring down at the ugly bill for that slogan. When your brand is basically “basketball with body slams,” don’t be shocked when stars limp off and your marquee event looks more like a hospital ward than a championship showcase. Just about anything and everything goes The league's love affair with brutish play isn't about passion or hustle. It’s about punishment. Clutch, grab, elbow, poke an eye, collide. The league markets it as toughness, but the product ends up looking more like survival than skill. And so the 2025 Finals give us Phoenix Mercury vs. Las Vegas Aces , Exhibit A in the demolition-derby experiment. (Game 1 tips off Friday night at 8, Eastern time zone). Vegas trots out four-time MVP A’ja Wilson, the league’s golden child and whistle m...