Does the ability to dunk possess that much importance in basketball?

Social media users have long debated the possibility of the WNBA lowering the height of its rims. Most notably, Shaquille O’Neal pitched the idea to three-time WNBA champion Candace Parker on an episode of “NBA on TNT.” 

The claim asserts that if the WNBA lowers the height of its rims, women — who are typically shorter than the male athletes — would be able to show off more explosive and athletic plays like dunking.

O’Neal and many sports fans on the internet say that the addition of the dunk will make women’s play more exciting and attract more casual basketball fans, therefore increasing popularity in an unpopular league.

Lowering the rim in the WNBA will simply exacerbate the biggest issue the WNBA has — a lack of respect from the male-dominated basketball market. This solution ignores the current popularity of women’s college basketball and does not address the root cause of the league’s failure.

It’s no secret that women’s basketball is disrespected because of a perceived lack of athletic ability. This element of casual sexism in the sports community restricts the potential growth of women’s sports.

Lowering the net will just feed into the mob of disparagement the WNBA already receives, and will reinforce the narrative that female athletes are inferior to their male counterparts.

Let’s hypothetically say that this change would be a surefire way to increase the WNBA’s popularity. If you make this change at the pro level, what does that mean for every other level of women’s basketball across the country? If you lower the rim in the pros, you have to lower it everywhere else.

The NBA is not more successful solely because of the dunk. While dunks are exciting, they should not be seen as a cure-all for increasing interest in the sport.

Women’s basketball does not need dunks for people to take interest. 

On Oct. 15, Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes set an NCAA women’s basketball attendance record when they played in front of more than 55,500 fans at Iowa football’s Kinnick Stadium. How many dunks were in that game? Zero.

Instead of chasing after elements from the men’s game, the focus should be on celebrating the strengths and distinctive qualities that already exist within women’s basketball. Women’s college basketball does a great job of making those types of connections with the fans.

The easiest way to grow the WNBA is to target the existing NBA audience. From a viewer’s perspective, the WNBA is the most poorly marketed major professional sports organization in the U.S. Part of the focus of its marketing strategy has been to try and convert more women into basketball fans.

The problem with that is men make up more than 80% of the NBA’s fanbase. But what the WNBA doesn’t realize is that true fans of basketball watch because they enjoy the sport itself and a good storyline  — no matter the gender.

Many people like to say, “Women’s basketball is boring,” but when the media doesn’t attempt to generate any buzz around big games, of course fans won’t be as invested. When storylines are marketed correctly, people will watch.

Last year’s NCAA Women’s National Championship game between Iowa and LSU was heavily anticipated. The media did a great job of marketing the duel between superstars Clark and Angel Reese. In addition to the massive in-person audience, the game drew almost 10 million viewers, the largest television audience for any women’s basketball game ever.

That being said, the WNBA should also continue to target young girls who play basketball. That’s how you create stars, by giving young fans a role model. An entire generation of male basketball players can be influenced by an NBA star like LeBron James.

James was marketed as the next huge star in the NBA, which generated an entirely new fanbase. 

Young female hoopers do not have any highly marketed megastars to look up to on the professional level. This is solely because the WNBA has done a very poor job at creating them. Stars are formed when they are marketed extremely well, and failing to tap into a base of young basketball players craving for a role model is a driving cause for the league’s failure.

Promotions and events that highlight the skills of the best WNBA players help put the league in the spotlight it is capable of reaching. A great promotion that showcased the pure talent of the WNBA was the Stephen Curry vs. Sabrina Ionescu 3-point competition this past NBA All-Star Weekend.

Curry is considered the greatest 3-point shooter in NBA history and Ionescu is one of the WNBA’s biggest stars. Though she lost the competition against Curry by three points, Ionescu shot at the NBA’s 3-point line (which is a foot and a half further away from the hoop than the WNBA’s) and ended up finishing with 26 points, which would have tied the winning score of the NBA 3-point contest that same night.

ESPN needs to give more primetime exposure to the WNBA. The first two games of the WNBA finals averaged close to 700,000 viewers, with Game 1 airing on ABC and Game 2 airing on ESPN. Last year the WNBA was holding its own when competing for time slots with NFL games and the World Series. The WNBA should market its stars and their personalities and watch the league flourish in a primetime game.

Lowering the rim completely changes the root principles of the game. Basketball is a game that can be played by anyone. Though the WNBA has never seriously considered this change, it will just create more division within a sport where gender bias is the biggest hurdle. A lack of attention is what handicaps women’s basketball, not a lack of alley-oops.