Charlotte Hornets forward Grant Williams has emerged as a vocal advocate for bringing a WNBA franchise to his hometown, continuing a multiyear push to expand women’s professional basketball in North Carolina.
The campaign comes as the WNBA experiences unprecedented growth. The league reported record-breaking viewership in 2023, with regular season games averaging 505,000 viewers, up 21 percent from the previous year. Social media engagement surged 50 percent across platforms, while merchandise sales jumped 40 percent over 2022.
The league plans to add the Golden State Valkyries in 2025, followed by teams in Toronto and Portland in 2026, aiming to reach 16 teams by 2027.
“It can’t just be fleeting — it can’t be something that’s seen as a money opportunity,” Williams said. “It’s something that you have to actually care about, promote the game of women’s basketball … they deserve a lot of the same marketing and opportunities that we do.”
The WNBA’s average team valuation has doubled since 2021, reaching $40 million in 2023. Game attendance increased 16 percent last season, with multiple teams reporting sellout streaks.
Williams joins other prominent athletes pursuing WNBA ownership, including Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum for St. Louis and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes for Kansas City.
Cities including Miami, Milwaukee, Denver and Philadelphia have also expressed interest in joining the 12-team league.
Williams emphasizes proper investment and commitment from potential owners, citing recent controversies over facility access. The Connecticut Sun had to share practice space with a children’s birthday party during the WNBA Finals, which star Alyssa Thomas called “the ultimate disrespect.”
“You don’t want people that just come in and don’t really engage in the team,” Williams said. “They have to do a deep dive to make sure they bring the right partners in. That’s the number one thing.”
The Hornets forward has consistently advocated for women’s sports, recently criticizing disparate media coverage following the U.S. women’s basketball team’s Olympic victory over Australia.
“The organization of the WNBA has to get better as a whole,” Williams said. “They’ve been around for 25 years. They have some growing pains, just like we did in the first 25 years before.”
Player salaries reflect the league’s growth, with the supermax salary reaching $234,936 in 2024, up from $119,500 in 2019. The league’s new media rights deal, set to begin in 2025, is expected to triple current revenue.
Williams envisions the expansion as transformative for the league, emphasizing the need for Fortune 500-level operational standards and resource management.
“Now, this is the time to capitalize on the opportunity that’s ahead,” Williams said. “It’s just a matter of putting people in place that have a good understanding of what they’re doing, and utilizing that success to hopefully not just help the players, but help ownership as well.”
