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What you need to know about the Patrick Mahomes and Jayson Tatum WNBA rumors – Deseret News

What you need to know about the Patrick Mahomes and Jayson Tatum WNBA rumors – Deseret News

Coming off a record year, the WNBA is looking for its next expansion market, and at least two star athletes are looking to get in on the action.

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 Desert News.

“The growth and demand for the WNBA has led us to expand,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said this in April prior to the WNBA draft. “Women’s basketball is not a fad. We have been steadily building this momentum for years and we are ready for the future.”

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 competing for.

The addition of four teams will increase the 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, to which Mahomes and his wife belong, has “met with the WNBA” and is “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 Current.

“We want to bring basketball to Kansas City in general and then to WNBA. The success they’ve had this past season and seasons past is a no-brainer,” Mahomes said during his media presence on Thursday.

Mahomes thinks the success of the ownership group at the Current makes them the right group to bring a team to Kansas City.

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

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

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

He is tied to an offer in his hometown of St. Louis.

The reigning NBA champions “have informally agreed to invest in the team as it comes to fruition and contribute behind the scenes to the group’s field, both to other potential major investors and to the league itself.” Sportico reported.

Tatum’s potential involvement is made possible by the new NBA collective bargaining agreement that was ratified last year. The CBA allows NBA players to own up to 4% of a WNBA team.

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