For far too long the women’s basketball space was self-contained; it was either the WNBA or bust. Over the last decade or so the cultural awareness of other leagues and their growth in popularity have positioned other dreamers to add to this ecosystem. The Zawyer Sports and Entertainment Group has taken it upon themselves to the basketball world, and I think that they’re here for the long haul.
Now, if anyone knows me, they could tell you that I was bound to like this idea from the jump. My girlfriend is from Jacksonville where The Upshot League has it’s headquarters, I live relatively close so I could catch the home games of the Jacksonville Waves, and above all else I am a hoops junkie. I do have standards, though.
If you go onto any of my socials, in my bio you’ll see the phrase “talking good hoops, no matter the source”, and I really do mean that. I’ve made it a habit to speak about all kinds of basketball; the NBA, the college game, the WNBA, Unrivaled, the EuroLeague… the list goes on and on. Hell, if a middle school team is rocking out I’ll go out of my way to watch them hoop. I also have a rule that I will try absolutely anything once. I hate pickles because I tried them one time and wanted to die. When it comes to TV shows I will give any show three episodes worth of my time before I decide whether or not it’s worth it. So I think it would be safe to say that if the product was good that I would stick around, and if it wasn’t…well.
Luckily for the league the hoops are great and the presentation is better than expected. At least for this inaugural season all of their games can be live streamed on their YouTube channel. Accessibility for a new league like this is key and it doesn’t get more accessible than free. The presentation of the games is also very professional; it very much seems like your experience watching a game on League Pass. You’re very much in the arena with the fans, you feel the excitement of the crowd, and you get to view the in-arena entertainment during timeouts and the halftime breaks. This league could have very easily made itself feel like a semi-pro operation but I can see the attention and love that was put into the passion project, and as a fan that gives me hope for the long term growth of the league.
The on-court talent is also very good. Now, the league doesn’t have instantly recognizable names like A’ja Wilson or Angel Reese, but there are some names that a frequent viewer of the WNBA or women’s college basketball may know like Deja Kelly or Megan McConnell. Some people could hear (or read in this case) that statement and be skeptical, and to some extent, I don’t blame them. I would like to think that I am an ally and an advocate of women’s hoops. As it pertains to my friends and peers in the basketball space I’m certainly one of the most frequent watchers of the WNBA and women’s college basketball, but as I mentioned before I watch and talk about good hoops. If the talent wasn’t there, I would still root for the growth of the league but it would be from afar. Luckily for me and everyone involved in the league, the players showed up in a big way.
I watched the inaugural game between the Charlotte Crown and the Jacksonville Waves. I got to witness the first points in league history by Rennia Davis, I got to witness Deja Kelly damn near have a Nikola Jokic-esque triple double with 31/14/8, and I got to see some great team basketball by the Waves with 5 players scoring in double figures. Overall the night, and the game, was quite enjoyable and even though my “home team” suffered a loss, the game was highly competitive. The league isn’t without its faults, though.
I want to preface all of this by saying that I KNOW that they’re probably working on all of the things that I’m about to complain about, but that did have to be mentioned.
I had to delay writing this article because as of at least 12:37am the box scores had not been updated on the league’s website and I am a very sleepy boy. You may also notice that I’m only talking about one game and not the other game that took place last night featuring the Greensboro Grove and the Savannah Steel. These two games took place at the same time, which is annoying as someone who wanted to watch both of the games, but even if I wanted to drop some tidbits about the other game I couldn’t because as of 9:56am today they haven’t uploaded those box score stats.
The league’s social media presence could also use some work. The official Upshot League Twitter account hasn’t posted since April 21st, and while the individual team’s Twitter accounts are much more active, there is a lot of discrepancy between the posts and the quality of posts. The Jacksonville Waves account didn’t post ANY highlights from the game (and let me assure you there were plenty), while the Charlotte Crown posted just two in-game clips. Again, I’m fully aware that these are probably unpaid interns that are operating these accounts, but in today’s social media driven world you HAVE to pump out the content for people to get invested. Outside of those things, though? No complaints.
The Upshot League kicked off its inaugural season with four teams featuring some of the best non-WNBA talent the world has to offer. In a pretty rare turn of events the league has already announced two additional expansion franchises in Baltimore and Nashville starting in the 2027 season. The teams are also serving areas that aren’t in WNBA markets which is a great strategy. From the talent on the court, to the free presentation on YouTube, to the rapid expansion and the ravenous fans that come along with it (just another reason why I’ve been pounding the drum for Jacksonville to get a WNBA expansion team), everything seems to be firing on all cylinders at the right time for the league and women’s basketball in general.
Are they going to be competition to the WNBA? No. Are they going to rival (see what I did there?) Unrivaled or Athletes Unlimited? I highly doubt it. I think that the league is going to serve as a de facto G-League to the WNBA. As it stands right now the WNBA only has 15 teams which allow 14 roster spots plus 2 additional developmental players, so if you aren’t a roughly top 200 basketball player on the planet, you don’t make the cut. The NBA in comparison allows for 15 roster spots plus two development slots, and with 30 teams, roughly the top 500 basketball players in the world get a chance.
The expansion in the WNBA is coming much more rapidly than it has in the past 15 years, but it is still far behind the NBA and as long as it is there will be very talented players that just miss the mark. Most importantly for the players I think the Upshot League will serve as a great place for players to develop their talent and skills AND they’ll be able to do so stateside instead of going overseas.
The talent is there, the production is there, the social media presence is a work in progress but I’m sure it will get there, the Zawyer Group seems to really care about the growth of the league and the women’s game in general, and the league is competitive. If you add all of those things together you get a quality product, and for me, I got just another league to add to my rotation. The Upshot League is here to stay, and I think the women’s game will be better for it.
Round The Game 
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