WNBA All-Decade Team

Women's National Basketball Association awards and honors
Championship
Individual awards

Honors

The Women's National Basketball Association All-Decade Team was chosen in 2006 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary and 10th season of the WNBA[1] from amongst 30 nominees compiled by the league by fan, media, coach, and player voting. The team was to comprise the 10 best and most influential players of the first decade of the WNBA, with consideration also accorded to sportsmanship, community service, leadership, and contribution to the growth of women's basketball; only players to have competed in the WNBA were eligible, but extra-league achievements were considered.

Nine of the first team selections won Olympic gold medals with Team USA, and eight won league championships, including three—Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson—who won four consecutive titles with the Houston Comets. Of the ten first-team honorees, only Cooper, who, having retired in 2000 to become head coach of the Phoenix Mercury, played four games during the 2003 season before finally ending her playing career, was not an active player when the team was announced. Swoopes, Thompson, and Lisa Leslie (Los Angeles Sparks) were the only three first team selections to have been drafted in 1997 and to have played in each of the ten seasons of the WNBA. Thompson and Leslie were among the six players who only played on one team their entire careers.

Players selected

All-Decade Team

Honorable mention

Other finalists

1 Retired at time of All-Decade Team announcement.

Notes and references

  1. The WNBA was founded in 1996, but did not play its first season until 1997.

External links

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