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Background: Prior studies in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) reported worse player performance after Achilles tendon rupture (ATR). Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to compare time to return to play (RTP) and performance after ATR between NBA and WNBA athletes. It was hypothesized that there would be no relative difference between the NBA and WNBA players. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: ATRs in the NBA between 1987 and 2017 and WNBA between 2006 and 2017 were identified through a rigorous online search of articles. Included athletes had no prior leg injuries and had played ≥3 seasons before and after ATR. Sex, age, position, body mass index, height, years of experience, time to RTP, and player efficiency rating (PER) were recorded. Relative performance was measured by matching injured athletes to uninjured controls in the same league in a 1:2 ratio. Relative differences were compared between leagues, with adjustment for baseline features. Multiple regression analysis was employed to identify variables correlating with RTP and PER. Results: Included were 102 professional basketball players, of whom 34 sustained ATR (21 male, 13 female). Sex/league correlated with differences in RTP (P <.001). There was a significant difference between the WNBA and NBA in PER when comparing 1 year pre- and 1 year postinjury (1.49 ± 0.25 vs 3.87 ± 0.43, respectively; mean ± SD P <.001). Compared with intraleague controls, the relative difference in PER postinjury was 0.81 ± 0.11 (WNBA) and 3.9 ± 0.89 (NBA) (P <.001). Multiple regression analysis indicated that when controlling for years of experience, player position, and age, NBA players took 126 days longer than WNBA players to RTP (P <.001) and NBA players had 9.96 times increased odds of taking >200 days to RTP compared with WNBA players (P =.006). Conclusion: Sex/league was a significant predictor of RTP after ATR. When compared with their respective controls, NBA players saw a greater decrease in postinjury performance than WNBA players. NBA players took longer to RTP than WNBA players. ATRs appear to more negatively affect NBA players than WNBA players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study focused on comparing performance between the WNBA and the Euroleague Women, identifying key variables to optimize key strategies in women's basketball. Objective: To establish a comparison between the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the Euroleague Women (WEL) in different phases of the season (regular season and playoffs). In addition, to obtain the main differentiating variables between these competitions and the "best teams" (those qualified for the playoffs) of each league. Methodology: Data were collected from the 2018/2019 season in the WNBA and 2019 for the WEL, collected from official statistics. Using Discriminant Analysis, the most relevant variables related to victory during the regular season were obtained. Results: Differences in play were observed between the two competitions (in 12 of the 19 variables during the regular season; and in 10 in the playoff sample). The results showed differences between the number of possessions per team, blocks and points between the leagues. Discussion: The comparison between the best teams showed differences in points, total rebounds and defensive rebounds. Only the WNBA teams had a higher percentage of 3-point success. Conclusions: The results of this research could be considered valuable information for coaches in these leagues in order to develop appropriate game strategies considering the importance of each variable in achieving victory. Thus, this work could contribute with new information related to women's basketball to the study of performance, due to the lack of specific research in this area.

When basketball star Brittney Griner was arrested in a Moscow airport in February 2022 and eventually charged with drug smuggling, media coverage was abundant, both in mainstream outlets and more explicitly ideological publications. As an outspoken Black athlete activist and out-lesbian, Griner had already emerged as a prominent cultural figure. This article uses content analysis to examine and compare mainstream and conservative media coverage of the international imbroglio, beginning in March 2022, when journalists revealed that Griner was apprehended in Russia, and ending in December 2022, when the US government secured her release in a high-profile prisoner swap with convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout. We pinpoint the predominant frames that media deployed when covering the situation and its aftermath. Also, we tabulate who journalists turned to for comment in the articles and explore how sourcing decisions affected frame emergence. Mainstream media coverage largely framed Griner's detainment as a Russia problem while, after Griner's release, conservative media used the opportunity to blast President Joseph Biden for his handling of the situation. This research spotlights how official actors and sources wield enormous influence over the framing of events, issues, and problems in the news media as mediated by sourcing selection and reliance on baseline journalistic norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by a comment Shaquille O’Neal made about the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), we ask the following question: Is consumer demand and revenue in sports driven by the entertainment spectacle of the contest or the emotional attachment derived from wins and losses? We answer this question by empirically examining gate revenue in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2000-01 to 2018-19. Utilizing a linear regression with panel corrected errors, we examined the impact on factors like dunking, three-point shooting, star power, and team wins on team gate revenue. Our findings indicate that basketball fans very much care about winning, but they are less interested in how those wins are achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to empirically investigate the interrelationships between push and pull factors associated with the consumption of women’s professional basketball games. Multiple factors pertaining to sport consumers’ internal needs, identified as “push” factors, contain various intangible socio-psychological motivations representing an individual’s intrinsic desires that drive consumers toward certain goal-driven behaviors. On the other hand, “pull” factors, related to the supply side, refer to the different aspects of sport products the management of sport teams provides. It is imperative to obtain a better understanding of the push– pull interaction so that sport marketers can design their products to satisfy spectators’ expectations with different needs. Spectators (N = 628) attending WNBA games responded to an on-site survey. CFA was conducted to ensure the psychometric properties of the scales, which showed that the overall model fit the data well. A canonical correlation analysis was performed, and two significant functions were revealed by the dimension reduction analysis. The first function [F(40,2,683) = 4.49, p < 0.001]: I-Want-Everything-Consumer suggests that the market segment comprises individuals with multiple needs (ranged from 0.55 to 0.85) and expectations (ranged from 0.55 to 0.89), both of which need to be met simultaneously. Thus, sports marketers can satisfy WNBA consumers’ needs by enhancing the quality of tangible pull factors. The second function [F(28,2,222) = 2.38, p < 0.001]: Achievement Seekers revealed that the consumers motivated by vicarious achievement (–0.59) expect game promotion (–0.55) rather than the quality of the opposing team (0.42), indicating that sport marketers should provide tailored promotional strategies to satisfy this segment of consumers. Specifically, the findings of this study can be used to segment consumers based upon fan motives (i.e., push factors) and position products accordingly by managing the controllable aspects of sport products (i.e., pull factors). This study provides empirical evidence of the relationship between WNBA consumers’ multiple needs and attributes associated with the WNBA core product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Knee injuries are the most common type of injury seen in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). However, there are sparse epidemiologic data regarding these injuries over the past 20 years. Purpose/Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence, return to play (RTP) rate/length, and mechanism of knee injuries in the WNBA. We hypothesized that anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears would have the highest prevalence and longest RTP times. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: Publicly available WNBA injury reports were used to find WNBA athletes who sustained knee injuries. The RTP length was determined by calculating the number of days between the date of the injury and the date of the first game they played after returning. The RTP rate was determined by calculating the number of players who returned to play from each injury compared with the total number of each injury. Incidence of knee injuries, frequency, and time to RTP were calculated for each injury. Available videos were analyzed to determine the mechanism and body position at the time of injury. Results: Overall, 99 WNBA players were identified as having sustained a knee injury during the study period resulting in loss of play. ACL tears (n = 37; 37%) were the most devastating injury, resulting in the longest time before RTP (n = 375 days; 70%). The position with the highest incidence of knee injuries was guard, accounting for 53% of knee injuries. Video analysis conducted on 12 knee injuries revealed that such injuries were most commonly noncontact (83%).The mechanisms of injury were most commonly planting (58%) and landing from a jump (33%) with the knee flexed in the valgus position (100%). Conclusion: Study findings indicated that ACL tears are the most common clinically significant knee injuries sustained in the WNBA, accounting for 37% of total knee injuries with a mean RTP rate of 375 days. The most common mechanism of injury was planting the foot or landing from a jump with a flexed knee in the valgus position. Knee injuries had a high RTP rate in WNBA players but resulted in them missing a significant amount of playing time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]