The 2023 WNBA season tipped off last night — and the league isn’t playing around. During her first official WNBA game since returning to the US, Brittney Griner had 18 points, six rebounds, and four blocks in 25 minutes. While the Washington Mystics scored a surprisingly easy win over the New York Liberty. Expect plenty more action as the league’s 12 teams each play a record 40 games over the next few months. To learn more about the hoopla, we spoke to Sabreena Merchant, a women’s basketball staff writer at The Athletic. Here’s what she had to say...

Q: What will be some of the biggest storylines this season?

Now that the investigation into the [defending champions] Las Vegas Aces has been resolved, I imagine most of the conversation will revert to their chances for a second consecutive title. A team hasn’t repeated as champions since 2002 and this might be the best chance any team has had since then, other than the 2017 Minnesota Lynx. I think that quest for a second consecutive title will be the dominant storyline, especially now that the Aces have added Candace Parker and Alysha Clark. Also, the continued rivalry between A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart. They’ve won three of the last five MVP awards and they’re easily the top two players in the league. So I expect to see the two of them continue to bring out the best in each other. And there’s the return of Brittney Griner, which is going to be of great interest — not just to fans in Phoenix, but also around the country.

Q: Speaking of Griner, her detainment in Russia highlighted the fact that many players head overseas during the off-season to supplement their WNBA salary. Has the league made any changes since then?

The current collective bargaining agreement runs until 2027 and the players association doesn’t have the opportunity to opt out until 2025. So it’s unlikely that salaries are going to change for at least the next three years. I do think that the league has put in more effort to create off-season opportunities for players that are stateside ... [but] they’re fairly limited ... Also, just having the ability to play basketball year-round is hard for a lot of players to pass up because the league only has 12 teams. So there’s only so many minutes to go around. And if you’re trying to develop yourself as a young player, it’s really hard to do that when you’re not getting the time on the court ... I think players will continue to go overseas so long as there are limited opportunities to play in the WNBA.

Q: Are there any other players that fans should keep an eye on?

We’ve got the number one pick, Aliyah Boston, fresh off of a collegiate career where she only lost nine games. Now, it’s quite possible she’ll lose more than that during her first season with the Indiana Fever, but Indiana has so much young talent — Grace Berger, Lexi Hull, Taylor Mikesell, Kelsey Mitchell. That’ll be a really interesting team to watch ... I also think Atlanta is a team to watch [with] last year’s rookie of the year, Rhyne Howard. The team also just brought in Allisha Gray, who’s been underrated for the bulk of her career. And it has two incredible rookies, Haley Jones and Laeticia Amihere.

Q: The WNBA’s 2022 season was its most watched in 14 years. What does its growing popularity mean for the league and women’s basketball?

The future of women’s basketball in this country is the WNBA. It’s great that college basketball is achieving new heights, but players are maxed out at four years. Whereas careers in the WNBA can span 15 or 20 years. So for women’s basketball to have a permanent foothold in the sports landscape, it needs to be in the WNBA. And in order for basketball not to get lapped by soccer or volleyball or other sports young girls are gravitating towards, there needs to be an example to strive towards. There needs to be something that little girls can grow up dreaming of achieving. That means continuing to make the WNBA as attractive as possible — pouring more money into the league, expanding to more than 12 markets across the country, and making it easier for people to actually follow teams.