After the most-watched, most-hyped season in WNBA history, every fan deserves a Game 5 in the WNBA Finals.
There’s no Caitlin Clark. There’s no Angel Reese . The rookies playing in this Game 5 are Jaylon Sherrod, Marquesha Davis and Leonie Fiebich for the Liberty; and Olivia Epoupa and Alissa Pili for the Lynx.
Few people outside of women’s college basketball and WNBA fans know these players.
Stilll, there are tons of high-profile, familiar faces in the mix.
Get off the sidelines and into the game
For the Lynx, head coach Cheryl Reeve just guided Team USA to a women’s basketball gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was the eighth straight gold medal in the event for the United States.
Reeve was recently awarded both Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year awards for the WNBA. Her wife, Carley Knox, is also an executive with the team. Both Reeve and Knox will be named to the 2024 Outsports Power 100 later this week.
While to some casual observers a gold medal for Team USA may have been a foregone conclusion, it was not. Just as the men’s game witnessed years ago, the rest of the world is catching up. And it took some heroics to bring home the historic gold for Reeve, her staff, players like Kahleah Copper and Team USA.
That team boasted some of the players who will take the court for Game 5, one of whom is gay.
Napheesa Collier is a gold-medalist playing for the Lynx. And Sabrina Ionescu plays for the Liberty. Both are 2024 Olympic gold medalists.
Yet the gay star of this WNBA Finals Game 5 is Breanna Stewart, who also won gold in Paris. She has won two previous WNBA titles, both with Seattle. She was the WNBA Finals MVP both seasons — 2018 and 2020 — and was the WNBA MVP for the season last year, as well as 2018.
Other LGBTQ players include, from the Lynx: CeciliaZandalasini, Courtney Williams, Natisha Hiedeman; and from the Liberty, in addition to Stewart: CourtneyVandersloot and Jonquel Jones.
There are other players reported to be LGBTQ by other media outlets. However, their reported “being out” doesn’t meet Outsports’ criteria from what we can tell.
The Lynx are aiming to win the franchise’s fifth WNBA title, while the Liberty are still seeking their first.
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