Derek Helling is a TBW staff writer and freelance journalist who resides in Kansas City, Mo. He is a 2013 graduate of the University of Iowa and covers the intersections of sports with business and the law.
There are really no good ideas right now among all the North American professional sports leagues who are trying to resume suspended seasons or start delayed campaigns. Every possible path to the course, court, ice, field, pitch, etc. is a bad one for many reasons. Interested parties in the WNBA, NBA, etc. are included in…
The Coronavirus pandemic has already delayed the start of the 2020 WNBA season. When or if it returns and what it will look like are both matters of complete speculation at this time. One of the ways that COVID-19, (and the United States government’s response to it), has further complicated things is by spurring temporary…
The NBA’s G-League has gone through a historic transformation over the past few years. With the potential vote of its players to form a union Saturday, the league will continue to grow. The investment of the NBA into the G-League is also evident in the recent signings of top prospects. Because of the presence of…
As the shutdown of public gatherings and spaces hurls ever closer to the scheduled start of the 2020 WNBA season, the league isn’t immune to the ramifications. The alteration of the 2020 WNBA Draft to essentially become a remote event may be just the beginning of necessary modifications. At this point, the WNBA has announced…
The end of the 2019 Chicago Sky season felt unjust compared to how its regular season went. Las Vegas Aces forward Dearica Hamby’s steal and near-half-court jumper to eliminate Chicago from the postseason was beyond a knife in the back. It was like I was an unsuspecting field mouse foraging for food at night and…
As the NBA 2K League’s 23 teams prepare for the third season of competition, it’s hard to miss out on the tremendous diversity among the league’s coaches and players. There is a great variance of ethnicities and nationalities in those consumer-facing roles. That medley of humanity fades away completely, however, when you take gender into…
At times during the first two seasons of the NBA 2K League, the entire enterprise felt like it was little more than an attempt to convert esports fans into NBA fans (if they weren’t already). However, now NBA 2K League is making several material changes for Season 3 that aim to legitimize its place as…
The NBA 2K League will arguably take its most important step toward starting its third season of competition on Saturday in New York City. The league’s 23 teams will add a total of 68 players to their rosters in a live draft at Terminal 5 on Feb. 22. The league’s framework is not only sustainable…
Washington Mystics general manager and head coach Mike Thibault says the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement has changed his job forever. He’s right, and it’s a great thing despite the additional challenges for those in his profession. Thibault gave an interview to Ava Wallace of The Washington Post after former Washington guard Kristi Toliver recently…
During this third decade of the WNBA, players are finally starting to realize some of the agency that their counterparts in the NBA enjoy. That’s not only true of them as a group but as individuals as well. The new CBA appears to open the door to greater and more frequent player movement, as well…
