Prior to the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), there were several attempts at a professional women’s basketball league in the U.S., but all folded after a short time. Given these previous failures, it was vital for the WNBA to succeed when the league launched in 1997. While the inaugural WNBA season kicked off with excitement still brimming from the 1996 USA women’s basketball Olympic gold medal, the league’s “dunking” milestone arrived on July 30, 2002, when the LA Sparks’ Lisa Leslie recorded the first official in-game dunk. It was a seismic event because critics— mostly men—were simply not used to seeing women dunk, let alone in a professional competition.

A criticism that has long been directed at women’s basketball is that it is “boring,” with some prominent commentators, such as Shaquille O’Neal, claiming they would be more likely to watch if only the women dunked, possibly by lowering the rim. Essentially, this argument suggests that without dunking, the WNBA is perpetually destined for second-class status. This “easy fix” is almost exclusively a male projection, shaped by deeply rooted patriarchal foundations that equate “excitement” with male-pattern athleticism.

Patriarchy has long policed the way girls’ and women’s sports are played and perceived. Historically, if women were “allowed” to play at all, they had to do so within strict parameters of “ladylike” conduct, hence the early naming of women’s teams as the “Lady Gators” or the use of the “ette” suffix to differentiate them from men, such as the “Volettes” at the University of Tennessee, who would later become the “Lady Vols.” Early rules even required full-length dresses and prohibited dribbling to ensure the game did not look too “aggressive.” Sport was less about competition and more about placating women’s desire to play, while maintaining traditional gender norms. The modern suggestion that rims in the WNBA should be lowered so that women will dunk more—a feat traditionally associated with strength and masculinity—runs counter to these archaic expectations, yet it creates a new cultural trap for girls and women.

In at least the past decade, some men, especially in social media spaces, have asserted that for the WNBA to be successful, the rim should be lowered with the express purpose of making it easier for players to dunk. But in doing so, a male-centered standard for what success “looks like” is maintained. This is paradoxical, as it ignores the history of patriarchal control that once demanded women’s sports remain dainty, while now demanding they mimic men’s physicality to be exciting and profitable. By recalibrating women’s sports to fit male standards of excitement, a new version of patriarchy pressures female athletes to conform to a male benchmark positioned as the “default.”

This leads to a glaring inconsistency: if we accept the premise that the WNBA must feature dunking to increase legitimacy, how do we reconcile this with the NBA’s own shift away from the rim?

When Did the Three-Ball Become King of the Court?

Think back to the era of Michael Jordan gliding from the free-throw line—the “Air Jordan” era that defined the 1988 Slam Dunk Contest. We saw Shaq’s backboard-shattering dunks in the 90s and Vince Carter’s legendary performance in the 2000 NBA Dunk Contest—still discussed decades later. Recently, however, the dunk contest has lost its luster; top stars like LeBron James have infamously declined to participate.

The 2014-15 NBA season signaled an offensive shift with the rise of the “Splash Brothers,” Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. While the 90s had long-range specialists like Ray Allen and Reggie Miller, the role of the 3-pointer has since expanded into being a big part of the league’s identity. Modern NBA teams now often live and die by the arc. Even the league’s tallest player at 7’ 4” averages 35 percent from three – something unheard of in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. Ironically, it was suggested that over-reliance on 3-point shooting cost the San Antonio Spurs the 2026 NBA Finals.

Herein lies the rub: if the NBA still thrives, generally, despite the declining dominance of the dunk (and play in “the paint” as a whole) and the meteoric rise of the 3-pointer, it is contradictory to continue the argument that the WNBA needs more dunking to succeed. Though regular season numbers have dropped in recent years (due to a host of reasons), the NBA’s post-season numbers have not suffered from this shift toward perimeter shooting. In fact, the 2023 NBA Playoffs produced the highest TV ratings in five years, while the 2026 Finals produced the highest ratings since 1998.

New Narrative, Same Patriarchy

For decades, women’s basketball has lived in the shadow of its male counterpart, but the “dunk” is a distraction from a deeper social issue. If every woman in the WNBA started dunking tomorrow, it would not ameliorate the roots of the patriarchy that underwrites gender norms in sport. Instead of being celebrated, these athletes would possibly face a new wave of criticism for being “too masculine” or “too butch,” with their identities reduced to gender stereotypes, as in the case of Brittney Griner. While Griner has recorded the most dunks in WNBA history (27 as of 2025), she has also been met with a backlash of social media bullying, questioning her sexual identity or outright calling her a man throughout her career.

As Griner’s career illustrates, the challenge for the WNBA has less to do with rim height and everything to do with an ingrained, patriarchal mindset that changes the standard whenever women get close to the goal post. Men control their narrative, and the NBA’s shift to signature 3-point-sharp-shooting has often been celebrated and deemed exciting. Meanwhile, the WNBA is perennially caught in a Catch-22: be “more like the NBA,” but do it on men’s terms, while maintaining an “acceptable” level of femininity.

Pressure to conform to male standards stifles the rich, distinct style women have brought to the court for decades—from the coaching brilliance of Pat Summitt to the sharp-shooting of MVP A’ja Wilson. Comparisons of 3-point percentages often show WNBA stars performing at elite levels like their NBA counterparts. To dismiss this by “mansplaining” that “NBA defense is tougher”, or “the WNBA ball is smaller so goes in the hoop easier,” undermines women’s achievements, regardless of intent.

Women’s sports have seen tremendous growth in recent years, with the WNBA currently celebrating its 30th anniversary in electrifying fashion. Perhaps what the W has always needed is not lower rims, but higher expectations for how women’s sport is valued in society. Better media positioning and storytelling, corporate and investor buy-in, and a continued rejection of stereotypical gender norms will do far more to advance the league than telling women to imitate the men’s game. The WNBA does not need the dunk to prove its worth; society simply needs to stop measuring women’s basketball by standards it did not create.

Author Biographical Note:

Dawn Norwood is an Associate Professor and sport sociologist at Queens University of Charlotte.