These NFL and NBA players are eyeing WNBA expansion teams

The WNBA is coming off a record year and looking for its next expansion market, and at least two star athletes are wanting to get involved.

Patrick Mahomes and Jayson Tatum are both reportedly interested in bringing the WNBA to their cities.

When will the WNBA expand?

The WNBA currently has 12 teams but will expand to 13 next season with the Golden State Valkyries and then to 15 teams in 2026 with teams in Toronto and Portland, as previously reported by the Deseret News.

“The growth and demand for the WNBA have led us to expansion,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in April ahead of the WNBA draft. “Women’s basketball is not a fad. We’ve been steadily building this momentum for years, and we’re ready for what’s next.”

Engelbert said she is “confident” the WNBA will expand to 16 teams by 2028.

That 16th market has yet to be announced. It’s the one Mahomes and Tatum are vying for.

The addition of four teams will increase WNBA roster spots by 30%, adding a total of 48 to the 144 roster spots the league currently has.

Does Patrick Mahomes want to buy a WNBA expansion team?

The ownership group of Kansas City’s NWSL team, the KC Current, which includes Mahomes and his wife, have “met with the WNBA” and are “in contention” to bring a team to Kansas City, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Wednesday.

Mahomes was the first active NFL player to invest in an NWSL team, per the Current.

“We want to get basketball to Kansas City in general and then WNBA. The success that they’ve had this last season and these last few seasons, it’s kind of a no-brainer,” Mahomes said Thursday during his media availability.

Mahomes thinks the ownership group’s success with the Current makes them the right group to bring a team to Kansas City.

“It was cool that we were able to get this soccer team, this women’s soccer team here in the Current and they’re going into the playoffs now and you see the support that they have. So let’s try to get a WNBA team in here as well (with) that same ownership group. They’ve done the Current the right way, and I want to continue to work with them to take that next step and get a WNBA team here,” Mahomes said, per ESPN.

Does Jayson Tatum want to be involved in a WNBA expansion team?

Tatum is also eyeing involvement in a WNBA expansion team, but not in Boston, where he plays for the Celtics.

He’s been tied to a bid in his hometown of St. Louis.

The reigning NBA champion “has informally agreed to invest in the team should it come to fruition and contribute behind the scenes to the group’s pitch, both to other potential big-name investors and the league itself,” Sportico reported.

Tatum’s potential involvement is made possible through the new NBA collective bargaining agreement ratified last year. The CBA allows NBA players up to 4% ownership in a WNBA team.

St. Louis is no stranger to professional basketball. The city used to be home to the NBA’s St. Louis Bombers from 1949 to 1950 and the St. Louis Hawks from 1955–1968. It is also currently the home of women’s professional basketball team, the St. Louis Surge.