Should the WNBA Lower the Rim!?

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[@khkartc]

The best argument for lowering the rims in women’s basketball is…women’s _volleyball._ I think not in terms of how good women’s basketball would be with lower rims, but how bad women’s volleyball would be with a higher net.

[@320jay]

The ball is smaller, 3pt line is closer, make the rim lower. 9'5". Womens volleyball net is lower than men's. It's not rocket science lmao

[@gaffle-411]

They’re entitled and They don’t think logically.

[@EvanNagao]

Shaq is right. I’d watch the WNBA if dunks were more prevalent

[@thebosslashley]

The WNBA already knows the answer they are just to proud to make the decision

[@richardcheese9152]

Yyyyyyep. Think about how many people would tune in if they made the rim say 8 3/4'

[@Lbyt21]

They already have smaller balls and shorter threes. Lowering the rim won’t bring in more viewers.

[@thebosslashley]

@@JustADudeGamer yeah but they miss more layups and open shots and can't dunk when i can do more of all those things without been a pro player so i can't give a shot about WNBA when as a amateur i feel like a can play with her

[@richardcheese9152]

@@JustADudeGamer I mean, maybe? I have no hops either but when I play pickup with friends on a short hoop we still poster each other and it's fun as hell...

[@Justice4some]

I would definitely tune in to be women posterize each other. We men y'all not lower it no judgement from me

[@TheTyronecus]

I dont understand how these big companies and employees of companies dont listen to their target audience. It reminds me of the blizzard executive said "you think you want that but you don't" The casual fans love dunks, you rarely see dunks when watching WNBA. Therefore when a casual tries watching a WNBA game they find it boring and dont ever watch again.

[@dj.sobxrbe]

3:31 i find it hilarious that lowering the rim makes y’all upset but a smaller basketball and closer three point line didn’t offend u already

[@jerrettbarkley456]

The ball is a different size..

[@marcuspope3387]

Shaq is right they should lower the rims to about 9 feet 3 inches just like volleyball these women don't realize it's not for dunking it's for tips blocks simply playing closer to the rims

[@wisethabrain1100]

If they lower the rim imagine how much money they would make for the first ever WNBA dunk contest smh just saying no to💰

[@ICavalcadeI]

The fact of the matter is that revenue is driven by casual support. The WNBA will always have hardcore fans who just love basketball in it's purity. Those people can only buy so many jerseys and buy so many tickets. I understand the suggestion to lower the rim might seem demeaning, but a suggestion made to increase exciting highlights for the game is the only way to increase interest.

[@dog19143]

If there’s an option for more dunks there are more offensive threats which makes the game more competitive

[@mrlmejor]

They’d definitely need it to be 9 feet at most. I’ve gone to a few wnba games and the amount of missed layups was crazy. People Are already showing support but to show REAL support aka money takes more than just feeling sorry. I have a family

[@i.p.freely5974]

Lower the rim!!!!

[@jessemartin6414]

if there was a 9 foot hoop around more in highschool, both the girls and guys would love it

[@bracebrooks967]

They had a very good, reasonable discussion, but at least for the WNBA allstar game they could have the rim lowered to 9 1/2 ft. high. I honestly do believe more Wnba dunks would increase viewership.

[@TooLazyToHoop]

They know it would increase viewership

[@grahamstrouse1165]

I don’t think it would have that much difference. And considering the fact that the standard rim height for women’s hoops is 10 feet at every level in every country in the world all this would do is make the WNBA look like a Special Needs Pro Sports League. I love dunks as much as the next guy but fact is even the men’s game has gotten about as high as it’s going to go, vertically speaking. There’s a reason why the dunk contest is (usually) the least interesting part of All-Star Weekend: We’ve already seen all the dunks. Stupid novelty dunks aside there just isn’t that much room for improvement. The NBA was struggling in the very early 2000s when thug-ball was the dominant style in the Post-Jordan era. Fans were tuning out on 84-76 games, ISO ball & guys like Rasheed Wallace racking up 25 or 30 techs per season. I don’t know if y’all remember The Malice at The Palace but this was a bleak time for the NBA. Fans started to pick up interest again, however, when the NBA tweaked the rules to open the game up. They eliminated hand-checking, got rid of illegal defenses & instituted the defensive three-second rule. This was also conveniently right around the same time that the Suns introduced their Seven-Seconds-or-Less Offense. One of the other big changes to the game in the back half of the ‘00s was the influx of European big men like Dirk & the Gasol bros. Unlike American bigs, European centers & power forwards didn’t grow up playing iso ball. They could play with their back to the basket but they could also face up, handle the rock, shoot & pass at an elite level. Then in the 2010s teams started to key in on the fact that threes are worth more than twos. The three-point revolution may have gone a little bit too far but that’s a different debate for a different time. My point is that theWNBA doesn’t need to worry about its lack of dunks. What the WNBA needs is to make the game faster paced & more exciting, less of a grind and more of a mobile, skill-based experience. The WNBA isn’t going to succeed by looking for a female Shaq or a female Bron. I loved Shaq, I love Bron, but if the WNBA is looking for a more exciting style of play the Shaq-Kobe Lakers & Miami Big Three era aren’t the kinds of metas I’d look to replicate. It just won’t work. The Steph-Klay-Dray Warriors, on the other hand-not that’s a lot more doable. I rarely root for the Warriors (I did say I was a Bron fan!) but I do dig their style of play. I also think it’s much more attainable for women who aren’t as a big, aren’t as strong & aren’t as explosive as male basketball players. Position-less basketball suits women’s hoops anyway because there just isn’t as much variation in size amongst the best female players as their is amongst men. Outliers exist, of course, but the vast majority of the best WNBA players range in height from about 5-10 to 6-4 or 6-5. There are outliers, of course, but the WNBA is not like the NBA, a league in which height variation amongst elite players (though shrinking) is more like 10-12 inches than 6-7 inches.

[@TheTyronecus]

​@@grahamstrouse1165 dunk compilation videos get millions upwards of hundreds of millions of views. The reason the current version of the all star events suck is because the big stars don't participate like they did previously. If we had the best of players participating and competing for say a million dollars, it would gain views again. Dunking definitely would have people watching. The casual fan(the ones you need to be profitable) love dunks. That's just a fact.

[@jharp08]

@@grahamstrouse1165i think the should have both but lowering the rims would increase lay ups so there's that

[@rlh12345]

6 inches isn't enough. 1 foot would be required. the total vertical touch difference is more than a foot for certain.

[@tenohira8454]

The irony of saying that lowering an adjustable rim is elitist but not using smaller balls or having a shorter 3 point line or having less than half the games of a standard NBA season ISN’T also elitist is crazy. Most full size courts in this country have multiple sized rims. Almost none of them have that shorter 3 point line. The dunk is too synonymous with basketball to exclude it from the WNBA the way it is. Y’all be on this show rocking shoes where the logo is literally a man dunking the ball 😂 and y’all completely miss the irony of advocating against more dunking in a sport that exploded in popularity because of it. Every man in this comment section wants to see the WNBA succeed but you can’t argue against changing one thing and ignore the other 3 major changes the WNBA has made already. This whole never-ending debate just seems like it’s more about pride than about selling a product to consumers. I mean imagine watching women’s MMA but the fighters weren’t allowed to use elbows and knees. Nobody would watch that shit. Not as long as there was a product just like it only with more tools to make the fights more dynamic. I really hope this new era of hoopers comes in and changes this mentality cause right now the OG’s are shooting themselves in the foot and trapping themselves in this weird traditionalist mindset that’s only holding the sport back. It wouldn’t hurt anyone at all to literally try lowering the rim for a single season JUST TO SEE if viewership goes up. Let go of the pride and realize that old school mindset is gonna kill this league before it really has a chance to fly. all love regardless

[@TryOnKicks]

Thats why they gone stay in the same position they in & get worse. Wants help & viewership but are to prideful.

[@zblackness2510]

The WNBA can start by incorporating a dunk contest on an 8 ft rim, I’d watch that

[@qmoorman]

They'd get more money if they lowered the rim. Period.

[@Joker1Bravo]

Imagine the other 50% of the market telling you what they want and yet refusing a way of reaching them as customers....thats WNBA.

[@mikDubb]

Move the 3pt line back to the NBA range then. If you want the real NBA experience. Leave the rim where it is. Let's make it really interesting!

[@seanhogue6410]

Cmon Ladies you all know it’s about BUTTS in the seats , that’s why the WNBA relies on the NBA to stay afloat

[@alreadycanceledsocialclub7673]

Never was a problem till the blaming men for the pay gap, when she personally knows the league makes no money. Delusion ran me from the league!

[@xaviergardner8001]

When it comes to female sports, I think the individual sports have a better chance of becoming as big as the men. Sports like tennis, track and field and MMA, there are many elite female athletes who are just as big or even bigger and make more money than their male counterparts. However, the team sports are different. Women's soccer, basketball, rugby, softball or hockey pale in comparison to the men's game in terms of popularity thus makes far less money and I think the reason is that they just aren't as entertaining. It sounds bad but I think its true. In some sports women are just as if not more entertaining to watch than men but in the team sports, the quality, athleticism and skill is just not on the sane level as the men. I don't think it's that men are sexist and refuse to watch women's sports. I'm jamaican and follow women's track just as much as the men's. But I'm also a soccer fan and the women's game is just not as entertaining as the men's. It's that simple.

[@thekarnimac]

another team sport, volleyball, women's is much more popular than men's. yes, the net is lower in women's but its not my point and i dont think thats the reason why its more popular. It's about the gameplay, having very athletic players makes volleyball kinda unwatchable. It's so fast you sometimes can't even see the ball, its almost impossible to defend or block because of the strength of the players, speed of the ball. And also again because of the speed and strength there is no rallies, you don't see the ball in play much. It's downright not entertaining to watch. But for basketball, athleticism makes the gameplay more entertaining, that's the disadvantage of the women's basketball.

[@1Flyingfist]

Exactly. I used to watch Flo Jo, Paula Radcliffe etc, when I was a kid and now I'll watch Tai Tzu Ying (badminton). But women's team sports is seriously boring, most of the time. Its not entertaining if I'm sitting there thinking I could do that.

[@OmniMale]

​@@thekarnimac that and we love seeing half naked women. 😂😂

[@jamesbingham1007]

The WNBA players KNOW that viewership would increase with a lower rim. They don't think it, they KNOW it. And yet, they are dead set against it. Let that resonate for a moment. Btw, when it became sucessful, the overseas leagues would follow suit. And if more parks had lower rimmed courts, those would be teaming with activity as well.

[@Henry_Smith_862]

Girls grow up playing with boys using the same ball, but the WNBA ball is an inch smaller. Maybe something like the Big3 could have a game with women on a shorter rim to see if it gets people interested another option is to make the length of the court a bit shorter, so that the game feels quicker.

[@SaturnFrost]

Do It!!!... Just!.. Do It!!

[@DeadPoolLilCuzin1567]

It's more about selling the product than ego. The wnba players need to understand entertainment is the most important not comparing themselves to the male players.

[@KenMamba]

amazing interview! can't wait for the next! much love RAD ❤️🙏🏻

[@wtzan]

they should raise the rim so they can miss more for more laughs

[@TravisDaBalla]

Haven’t been into 2k since u left 😢

[@kevincannon9564]

Is this a joke

[@magacop5180]

Their run should be 9’

[@jharp08]

Ppl talking about dunks, bro how about consistent lay ups😂😂😂 Also, the mlb and nfl has made changes to the games. Why is it that you guys be any different?

[@Blacklist324]

I sit and watch them miss layups and put backs over and over and it's because of one reason. THE RIM IS TO HIGH.

[@sacstar100]

LOWER THE RIM !! It’s not scaled properly for women

[@GunBlade666]

its incredible how they spin anything anyone says to something negative therefore imma a victim wah

[@dylansousa5571]

Great interview

[@rongosserandsneakersteez3566]

Don’t lower the risk and get paid a small salary. Lower the rims and get paid a higher salary. Women want men to support them on everything, men don’t support men on everything 😂. I just watch a girl blow a wide open layup… There average height in their league is 6ft

[@RodgerB13]

9ft!! Shooting range and form would improve, blocks would look nastier, the game would look more athletic and guards could dunk!! My daughter hoops, she'd have a dunk or 2 a game! From HS- WNBA fans would show... instead of just family and friends. Making the game more exciting would create more revenue to pay for adjustable hoops and encourage more girls to hoop!

[@alreadycanceledsocialclub7673]

So make your own league and create that OWNERSHIP

[@138Bellside]

There's a mens ball and a female ball should follow that throughout the whole game

[@brianburgess3801]

Then they complain about money nobody wants to come watch layups and missed shots

[@loganjackson675]

In what world would changing the hoop allow less access for women? Women still hoop at the park and use a men’s ball. Hell before I was a man who could play at the rim, me and my friends would play in driveways and lower the rim to 7-8 feet so we could dunk. It’s such a simple transition

[@138Bellside]

The people she named. Dunk on people all the time

[@schuylardiamond8438]

Seems to me the answer is to play overseas. If you have not managed to increase your value in 25 years, yet when you go to Europe the fan base as well as the compensation increases, why the hell are you wasting time and effort in the states?

[@TravisDaBalla]

9 maybe 8 1/2 but maybe start with 9 first!

[@lizardman1303]

Everyone already k ow about the wnba . Lowering the rim is just the perfect height

[@andyjoy2508]

All the courts outside or in facilities aren’t 10 feet so that argument is wrong you been adjusting your whole life

[@lkpeay]

The WNBA / girls basketball ALREADY lowers the rim / waters the sport down for women (smaller ball, three point lime is closer, the game is shorter $

[@blitzsg2097]

If it will make it more entertaining thus making it more profitable then do it. It's simple. No one wants to see highlight layups.

[@MrJazz1352]

I mean men and women are gifted different physically. So why not make the ball AND the rim different. It’s biology 🤷🏿‍♂️

[@DaDon000]

Lol it’s jealousy the players now won’t make the millions the players in 5 or 10 years will make. S players now are refusing to push the entertainment factor instead the rather go unnoticed

[@ronnietyson3416]

All that don't matter if you can't put people in the seats. Sometimes change is good. Lower the rims other women sports have made changes

[@thetimsalaproject]

I used to agree with wnba lowering the rim to make the game more exciting until i saw Caitlin Clark play. She can make the game exciting with her ridiculous 3s!

[@ricardourrutia7566]

women hoopers cant do business thinking with your feelings , they have to make smart, hard business decision because nobody watches WNBA on tv or at the arenas. so they are willing to end up with no league but with their feelings intact.

[@eugenegardnerjr1815]

Lower the rim!!!! 9ft!!!! WNBA is missing the dunk!!!!

[@killshots27]

In volleyball girls practice and train with guys but still lower the net after

[@jgreed5]

Did she say wnba today 👀

[@mhc_isme]

Do what your audience wants and lower the rim. Who cares what any players think and if they don't like it they can go play in Europe permanently.

[@peteywheat]

Lower the rim or keep complaining about lower pay. We TELLING YOU WHAT WE WANT TO PAY FOR!!!

[@Magproductions98]

They don’t wanna hear it People want to lie themselves now a days The revenue would increase by 80% if they lowered the rim

[@138Bellside]

Lower the rim. So the girls cam dunk om each other like the mend game

[@jgreed5]

If I’m trying to make more money I’d be open to all kinda suggestions

[@Puyax01]

Stop the EGO , EEEEVERYONE is telling you how you will endup being PAID more. Lower a woman league. If I’m a Billionaire I would create a women league with lower rims. They will generate so much money the WnBA well the NBA will end up buying the league

[@ReekBReacts]

Rachel should be on a wnba platform

[@Skittleboys]

✨️🙌

[@evanseekins517]

I mean..... If they need a host for a wnba show who better than Rach?

[@nathanp2007]

It's a very interesting topic. Personally I find some sports that women play to be equally if not more interesting/entertaining than mens. It has nothing to do with outfits (skin showing) or anything sexual, but I don't know why exactly it is. Gymnastics? Womens easy. Soccer? Often womens. Tennis? womens. So on and so forth. But the opposite is true, there are sports in which I have no interest in spending my 1 life watching. WNBA is on that list. I didn't grow up on basketball and I am not all that interested in mens basketball tbh. But mens minus the physical dominance, minus the dunking and so on just isn't it. It's still a game that requires insane skill, athleticism and should be respected but in terms of ENTERTAINMENT (why sports get TV deals), it just isn't there for me. I get what you're saying about lowing the hoop and how it could hurt the game but tbh if they did that it would spark my interest and I'd check out some games to see how it changed the game. Would I stick around? Maybe, if it made it more fun to watch. Cause again, it's all about entertainment. Sure, the WNBA needs more exposure but it's actively competing against a superior entertainment product, the NBA. And the WNBA isn't as fast, isn't as strong, and doesn't play 100% of the game the men do (cause of dunking). As for equality or equal pay, equal pay is insane but equality isn't. I thought what Sue Bird said made sense: www.insider.com/sue-bird-wnba-nba-equal-pay-2020-10. The WNBA should get a fair shot in terms of promotion, investment and exposure. At least once there should be a big push to raise exposure through promotion.

[@LegendaryQuinn301]

Hi Rachel another amazing interview Rachel another amazing interview ❤️❤️🙂

[@MyPigletFarts]

Average height for wnba is 6 foot vs nba average height is 6'6 foot. I do recommend lowering it to 9 foot. Not to disrespect woman in anyway but it would make the game more appealing when a girl dunks another player. Especially during a close game vs a layup. Its the reason why most watch street ball because of the crazy dunks. I think its fair at 9 foot considering i personally cannot even dunk at 9 foot rim since i am only 5'6 at best. I like dunking on 7 foot rim personally with friends makes the game more interesting yet still competitive. Altho may take abit to adjust the shots but pro ballers should be able to adjust alot more faster than average joe or jane

[@TheAdidasKnifer]

Great interview as always Rachel

[@benaiahknox7759]

A good interview Rachel 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@dj.sobxrbe]

3:11 this is so delusional i’m not sexist at all but do these wnba players not undertand that nobodies gonna watch a wnba today and when i say that obviously someone will but not enough to keep it going at the same rate as nba today. they should be doing eveyrhting they can to support themselves and lowering the rim is one of them they literally have never in there existence made a profit from a wnba season everyhting is supported by the nba if u want big money make it fun to watch and lower them rims

[@ttime411bmw]

I appreciate and watch the wnba, it gets slow at times. The presentation of the game just isn’t appealing to a lot.

[@Puyax01]

I tried to watch a WNBA game. It was really boring. Like volleyball you should lower the rim like the net height. Stop the ego nonsense

[@loulewis1307]

All we heard from the host was. My feelings were hurt. In every sport that’s played by both men and women, there are adjustments to fit female biology. Stop giving every pretty white girl that likes to talk a microphone

[@leogonzales4634]

Wnba should play basketball in bikinis

[@tonyantoshka1116]

The reason I support lowering the rims is because this is an argument between Biology and the personal opinions of individuals created by biology. I don't care about how you grew up playing with boys on a 10 inch rim. There's a good chance all these boys are now taller than you. Women are BIOLOGICALLY shorter than men. so when we are discussing a sport where height is clearly a factor, I would rather listen to biology than your personal self centred takes.

[@IMaKing80]

Just leave women’s basketball alone. They don’t want to lower the rims and that’s ok. Just stop bugging basketball fans about watching and supporting the WNBA. We the fans told you what we want. We want lower rims. I think the courts should be shorter too. If the WNBA players don’t want it, I’m ok. Let them do their own thing. I just won’t watch it.🤷🏾‍♂️

[@Rg-cf1ix]

Yes lower it, and allow men to play

[@cadecrusader]

Yes for the dunks but No for the game of basketball for women.

[@Justice4some]

Y'all are girls so just do it.

[@sebbosebbo9794]

lower the ego.. then the rim... its normal in other sport categories... jump over the feeelings...

[@sirinsirin1774]

مرحبا لا يستحق أن تعبدي مخلوق ضعيف يموت لم يخلقكي فقط خالقك يستحق ان تعبديه وحده لا شريك له من فضلكي تعرفي علئ الاسلام الحياة قصيرة تنتهي في اي وقت ونعود لربنا ليحاسبنا إني ناصح لكي امين وشكرا

[@meashafong883]

So women grow up playing on 10 feet rims in middle school and highschool and then all of a sudden they get to the WNBA and they have to play on a 9'5"? Thats an insult and is unnecessary. How about we focus on upping the basic skill of a WNBA player instead because the one thing you guys complain about are layups. Let's focus on layups before we focus on dunking and women are perfectly capable of making layups on a 10 ft. rim if you stop babying them. Doesn't matter if they are more emotional than men are, pushing them to get better can be done in many different ways.

[@ronnietyson3416]

You part of the reason the WNBA would not get any better there's no excitement in the WNBA point blank. Excitement is dunks and alley-oops

[@jfresh2054]

So if girls and guys played together, should we compromise to meet the needs of a female? For example, girls that play high school football with guys, should we use a smaller football so a girl can catch it? Hell no.

[@Bobbytheman98]

You do know women sports play with smaller balls right?

[@jfresh2054]

@@Bobbytheman98 yes and bs

[@LuciferMorningstar____]

and they want equal pay....bahahahaahah

[@richardcheese9152]

I mean where do they think the money that pays them comes from? Thin air? Lol no one watches, no one gets paid, just how it works