{"id":23664,"date":"2025-07-25T18:34:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/23664\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T18:34:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T18:34:09","slug":"wnba-players-from-cleveland-react-to-hometown-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/23664\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA players from Cleveland react to hometown expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Basketball is not immune from the phenomenon, from former Florida Gators standout Joakim Noah<\/a> and then Chicago Bull saying in a press conference, \u201cI mean, I never heard anybody say, \u2018I\u2019m going to Cleveland on vacation.\u2019 What\u2019s so good about Cleveland?\u201d to the most recent rendition of Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham<\/a>\u2019s, \u201cI don\u2019t know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or Cleveland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go back further to the 2024 Final Four in Cleveland, and WNBA star A\u2019ja Wilson<\/a> responded, \u201cNo, it is Cleveland,\u201d with a smirk when asked by Sue Bird<\/a> and Diana Taurasi<\/a> if she was staying to watch South Carolina in the title game.<\/p>\n

In other words, going after the city on America\u2019s North Coast is nothing new.<\/p>\n

Cunningham and others sometimes walk back comments, but even the clarification says the same thing when \u201cnobody wants to go here\u201d morphs into \u201cI want to go to another city.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, trusting the opinion of people without experience is as commonplace as cheap shots against Cleveland, but what about the ones who not only know the city well but also come from its borders?\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Connecticut Sun guard Jacy Sheldon<\/a> spent her high school and college years in the greater Columbus area. First at Dublin Coffman High School, then a five-year stint with the Ohio State Buckeyes. Before that, Jacy\u2019s dad, Duane Sheldon, raised his family outside of a Cleveland suburb, Berea, where he coached Baldwin Wallace<\/a>\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team for seven seasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCleveland for me is just my childhood,\u201d Jacy said. \u201cEven the house we grew up in, we had a bunch of forest behind our house. \u2026 We\u2019d obviously go to Baldwin Wallace and go to all of his practices and shoot.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the rumors began swirling early in 2025 that Cleveland was on the precipice of returning to the WNBA \u2014 a reprise of seven seasons as the Cleveland Rockers in the inaugural years of the league \u2014 Sheldon\u2019s friends and family reached out to her in droves. The guard had to defend against the rumors like she defends on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember people sent it to me, and I\u2019m like, \u2018That\u2019s not legit. Don\u2019t think too much into that,\u2019\u201d Sheldon said. \u201cAnd then when they did make it official, I even had to go back and look. I\u2019m like, \u2018Are we sure this is for real this time?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Here at The IX Basketball, in addition to the 24\/7\/365 written content our staff provides, we also host the daily Locked On Women\u2019s Basketball<\/a> podcast. Join us Monday through Saturday each week as we discuss all things WNBA, collegiate basketball, basketball history and much more. Listen wherever you find podcasts or watch on YouTube.<\/p>\n

On June 30, it was for real. Cleveland, alongside fellow returning city Detroit and first-time WNBA city Philadelphia, had their day in the spotlight when commissioner Cathy Engelbert made the league\u2019s landmark announcement.<\/p>\n

For Atlanta Dream forward Naz Hillmon<\/a> \u2014 who was born in Cleveland, played high school basketball at Gilmour Academy before winning Big Ten Player of the Year in her time with the Michigan Wolverines \u2014 there is already a campaign trying to get her to leave the Dream three years early.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a social media post about every player who \u2026 is from [one of] the new cities that\u2019s coming,\u201d Hillmon said. \u201cA lot of people hinting on whether or not I would come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Known as a hardworking, midwestern, rust belt-type of city, Cleveland\u2019s reputation is reflected in Hillmon on the court as Atlanta\u2019s ironwoman with a franchise record 128 consecutive appearances, now up to 131. Hillmon battles on the court inside, does not give up on plays and is working on her long shooting game for head coach Karl Smesko\u2019s 3-point heavy offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AtlantaAtlanta Dream forward Naz Hillmon (00) shoots a free throw during the WNBA game between the Atlanta Dream and the Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA on June 06, 2025. (Photo Credit: Chris Poss | The Next)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ride hard for our city in terms of our sports teams,\u201d Hillmon said. \u201cIt\u2019s really exciting to have women\u2019s basketball being on that front and that platform.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are arguments, and jokes, about the fact that Cleveland had a team before and folded. Gordon Gund, who owned the Rockers until 2003 when he ceased operations, is not the new WNBA expansion owner, Dan Gilbert.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gund was part of the Gateway project that brought an NBA arena out of Richfield, Ohio, and into downtown Cleveland, along with a move for Cleveland\u2019s MLB team off Lake Erie and directly next to them, named Gund Arena.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gilbert spent his money to revitalize the aging Gund Arena, now known as Rocket Arena, invested in the Cavaliers to bring the city a championship in 2016, its first since a Cleveland Browns title in 1964, and brought stability to the sport of hockey in the city with the 2016 title-winning Cleveland Monsters. The latter came after years of the Gunds renting out their arena to a rotating cast of hockey teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two owners are not the same, like today\u2019s support for the WNBA is not the same as it was in the early 2000s. Hillmon, who has family and friends drive from Cleveland to Indiana and Chicago when she is traveling with the Dream, is part of that growth and sees Cleveland\u2019s renewed potential.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s great to have more eyes on the league,\u201d Hillmon said. \u201cNow people don\u2019t have to drive two or four hours from wherever to get to a basketball game.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Adding WNBA cities does not only benefit Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. It impacts the players themselves, and Taylor Thierry<\/a> is a great example of the benefit.<\/p>\n

Born in Cleveland and the daughter of former Cleveland Browns defensive end John Thierry, Taylor was selected by Atlanta with the third-to-last pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Thierry is the latest 2025 pick to appear in a WNBA game this season. The guard\/forward hybrid is the second player behind Sug Sutton<\/a> in 2020 to appear in a game after going 36th or lower.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiving more players the opportunity to play at this level, you know, it\u2019s hard,\u201d Thierry said. \u201cStaying on a team and a lot of great players don\u2019t have the opportunity to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

A late third-round selection normally does not bode well for making a team, and then it\u2019s a further climb to earn minutes. Thierry is on the second part of that story, working to get more time on the court, but as more teams enter, Thierry\u2019s story will not be an exception.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among those great players is former Maryland standout Shyanne Sellers, another Cleveland-area native, who competed against Thierry to earn a spot with two teams in the 2025 offseason before Atlanta cut the guard. With five more teams, Sellers and other players have the same chance as Thierry, Sutton and the handful of other late-round picks, or undrafted signings, who have made their mark in the WNBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Like it or not, Cleveland is part of that trajectory. When Gilbert and the Rock Entertainment Group paid a league record $250 million to secure the rights to the expansion team, it was the next step in the skyrocketing growth of the league. It showed that the league is not joking around.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust seeing where this league is growing and where it\u2019s going and just, I think it\u2019s going in the right direction,\u201d Thierry said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cleveland already showed that it is a town that can handle the game. The city hosted the 2024 Final Four, which welcomed sold-out crowds to watch the South Carolina Gamecocks hoist the national championship trophy and Caitlin Clark<\/a> play her last moments of college basketball. The city of Cleveland\u2019s official X account was quick to remind Cunningham <\/a>that Clark not only played there but enjoyed it, following the Fever guard\u2019s first comments towards the two midwestern cities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sophie, your teammate doesn\u2019t seem to think Cleveland is too bad! <\/p>\n

We\u2019re proud to have been chosen to host a WNBA team and any player who comes here will feel that legendary passion Cleveland sports fans show our teams! https:\/\/t.co\/FVQ2NjkmdO<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/dVTCud6w7x<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 City of Cleveland (@CityofCleveland) July 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

It is a small example of the fight that\u2019s familiar to cities like Cleveland and Detroit, areas that were revitalized after industry left the populations behind. Sports are a piece of the puzzle in bringing Cleveland together, and now the WNBA is once again a piece of the conversation.<\/p>\n

When Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia announced their successful expansion bids together, the phones of Sheldon, Hillmon and Thierry were abuzz with their own conversations. Family and friends from the Cleveland area, and other friends and fans they met along the way as they moved on to their college careers, poured in their excitement through texts, messages and calls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of excitement just around the team in general,\u201d Hillmon said about her own messages. \u201cSome people bringing back memories of when the Rockers were around and kind of thinking about those stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in 2003, when the Rockers ceased to be, Hillmon and Sheldon were three years old and Thierry was only a few months old. In the small chance that they went to a Rockers game, they were not old enough to remember it. Even so, their paths follow in the footsteps of the women who played in Gund Arena, wearing the black, silver and light blue of the Rockers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

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In 2028, when Cleveland begins WNBA play, a new generation of sports fans in Northeast Ohio can support women\u2019s basketball and strive to become like Hillmon, Sheldon, Thierry, Sellers and a growing list of players who called Cleveland home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a sports fan, as a kid, just growing up and cheering for the Cavs, the Indians and going to those games \u2026 and the Browns, my bad. I can\u2019t forget the Browns,\u201d Sheldon said. \u201cI\u2019m still a Cavs fan and Browns and Guardians fan today. I think just being able to support them and growing up in that atmosphere, a lot of people don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like unless you know, you\u2019ve been to one of those games, but it truly is one of the best sports cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is their year, right?\u201d Sheldon said in a follow-up comment, hoping to make up for almost forgetting about the often-ridiculed NFL team of a well-known football town.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Well, maybe some jokes are valid.<\/p>\n