5 Years After Losing New York Liberty Job, Isiah Thomas Hyped Up for WNBA’s Toronto Announcement

The WNBA is headed to the Six. The official word recently came in about the city of Toronto being awarded an expansion team in the WNBA. As a standard practice, there will be a waiting period of two years before they start participating in the WNBA from 2026. With the rise of women’s basketball, this is a welcome decision by the league. Among those celebrating this moment is NBA legend Isiah Thomas who took to his social media to show support for the new team.

Zeke shared a post from Boardroom, which is about Toronto getting its team in the league, on his Instagram story. This decision to expand the league is happening at the right time because, in the past few years, women’s basketball has seen an unprecedented rise in popularity. While most of the credit for this goes to Caitlin Clark and her record-breaking stint at the collegiate level, the league is also trying all the moves to grow the brand.

Isiah Thomas is excited for Toronto getting a WNBA team pic.twitter.com/nsLaiATtV1

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Golden State will be another team that’ll be added to the WNBA next year. Besides that, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said last month that they are also in talks with Philly, Denver, Portland, and South Florida to add more teams as her goal is to take the tally to 16 teams by 2028. According to Yahoo! Sports, she said, “These can either take a very long time to negotiate or can happen pretty quickly if you find the right ownership group with the right arena situation.”

Zeke showing interest in the new team could also be a sign of him wanting to get back in the game. He has always been a staunch supporter of the women’s basketball. The NBA legend was previously associated with the New York Liberty as a part owner and the team’s president. However, his association with the NY team came to an end in 2019.

Isiah Thomas has a history with the Toronto Raptors

The WNBA team from the Six will be a great platform for Isiah to relaunch his presidential regime in the game. After all, he was one of the founders of the Toronto Raptors. During an appearance on Hoop du Jour podcast, Zeke boasted about his involvement in creating a franchise.

He said, “What people always forget, I am the co-founder of the Toronto Raptors. I am the only player that left the floor and became an owner…a president of a team and started up the Toronto Raptors.”

He took over the responsibility of the Raptors in 1994, but his tenure was short-lived as he had to leave the organization in 1998 following a dispute with the management. If the two-time NBA Champion is looking forward to sinking his teeth into something similar, the new WNBA franchise can benefit greatly from his experience.