NBA Commissioner David Stern, for one, doesn't see it as a stretch of the imagination.
In remarks reported by Sports Illustrated writer Ian Thomsen, Stern said that there may be a woman playing alongside men in the NBA "in the next decade or so." As Thomsen put it, "it will be the sports equivalent of putting a man on the moon."
Getty Images
Candace Parker and Anthony Parker, her brother.
It almost happened once before, he wrote. In 1979, Ann Meyers Drysdale, now the general manager of the WNBA's Mercury, signed with the Indiana Pacers. But the team released her before the season began, amid waves of media attacks.
Thirty years later, the atmosphere for female basketball players has changed drastically. More than a decade after the founding of the WNBA, the country is used to seeing women on the basketball court.
Other attempts at forming professional women's sport leagues have not been so successful. The Women's United Soccer Association was formed in 2000 and lasted only three seasons. During World War II, the All-American Girl's Professional Baseball League was founded to replace Major League Baseball, whose players had been sent to fight in the military. The women's league was very popular until the men returned.
"I look at the WNBA games and I'm amazed at how good these girls are," Donnie Walsh, president of the New York Knicks, told Thomsen. "I'm sure there'll be a girl who'll be on this level, and if there is, she'll probably play in the NBA."
Some WNBA players aren't thrilled about the idea. Olympia Scott, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, wrote on her blog that female basketball players should not be compared to men because they are basketball players in their own right.
"It's almost as if we must be able to compete with the men in order to be validated as professional athletes," Scott wrote.
If – or when – a woman joins the NBA, the biggest triumph of all may be shutting up the naysayers who are a constant, nagging presence at women's sporting events.
An anonymous general manager was more dismissive, telling Thomsen that women may be able to shoot a ball as well as men but cannot keep up with the pace.
"They can't take the pounding, the wear and tear, the quickness, the strength," the GM said. "It's not possible for them right now."
The historical importance of such an event might get lost in the din of media excitement. The story would gain worldwide attention, Thomsen says, and boost ticket sales at NBA games.
"The public would be excited about it," New Jersey Nets general manager and interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe told Thomsen. "Whether you're in China or Europe or Africa, basketball is a common language and it breaks barriers. It's a language that's spoken all over the world, and this is another barrier that it would bring down. It's exciting, and it's a logical next step."
