Both men's and women's USA basketball will compete for gold medals in the Olympics this weekend. However, Charlotte Hornets forward Grant Williams is displeased with how much media attention the men get compared to the women.
Grant called for a change on Friday, via his social media.
“If we really want to move the W game forward it’s not just up to fans it’s also the coverage they receive,” Grant said. “Being behind the scenes here at Olympics the difference between men’s vs women’s postgame is disrespectful and the women deserve better. Internationally and domestically!”
Although Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and others in the 2024 WNBA draft class have helped push the game forward, the women's game still lags behind the men's in popularity. Although the ratings aren't out yet for the Olympic hoops matches, Williams has had the inside track on the media coverage of both genders' games as a contributor for Olympics.com.
Many fans weren't convinced by Williams' claim, though. @90SilverShadow expressed as much in the replies on X, formerly known as “Twitter.”
“You can't force media companies and private businesses to give people attention because you feel it's unfair because of gender roles,” the user said. “The W needs to improve the product, and the rest will follow.”
Does the user have a point, or is Williams on the money?
The Olympics are following NBA and WNBA trends
Team USA's men's and women's Olympic teams are tied directly to the NBA and WNBA, as all of their players come from those leagues. The NBA, however, is a far larger and more established operation than its female counterpart, via gettysburgian.com's David Goldman.
“The NBA was founded back in 1946 in New York City as the Basketball Association of America (BAA) before changing its name in 1949 after a merge with the National Basketball League (NBL),” Goldman wrote. “About 50 years later, the WNBA was approved to begin play in June of 1997. Since then, the leagues have expanded into what they are today, with the NBA full of 30 teams across the US and Canada and the WNBA with 12 teams. This is one of the factors that accounts for the gap in viewership between the leagues.”
While sexism and bias against women's sports are undoubtedly prevalent in society, the WNBA was always going to lag when the NBA had such a large head start.
“With the NBA consisting of more teams from more cities, there is a greater chance of building fan bases across the country,” Goldman continued. “For example, people in the northeast have the opportunity to support the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers from the NBA. On the other hand, a fan of women’s basketball in the same region is only able to support the New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun from the WNBA. This certainly affects viewership, and in fact, in 2023, the NBA Finals had an average viewership of 11.6 million, whereas the WNBA Finals averaged 728,000 viewers.”
Clark, Reese, and fellow rookies like Cameron Brink have all helped the game grow recently, but none of those players were called up to Team USA. Brink was scheduled to play on the 3×3 squad but dropped out due to a torn ACL.
As the star rookies continue to rise and develop, though, expect the women's squad to close the gap as time passes. The NBA's old guard of LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant will get phased out, opening up an even bigger runway for Clark and company to dominate the mainstream hoops conversation.
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