Some crossover WNBA/NBA buzz

The Jake Fischer Latest details the growing belief that teams in The W, having watched Nate Tibbets lead the Mercury to the Finals against Las Vegas, will keep making coaching hires from the NBA

The WNBA has reached a fascinating inflection point in its history.

Public back-and-forth barbs between a star player and the commissioner amid collective bargaining tensions, as well as harsh criticism of the league's officiating, have soaked up as much of the October spotlight as the WNBA Finals themselves … even amid The W's very first seven-game series to decide its champion.

All the theatrics, highlighted by Napheesa Collier's eye-opening criticisms of Cathy Engelbert, have only heightened the belief among some basketball observers and many within the league that a lockout in some form is increasingly likely before the 2026 season commences. While there are certainly many figures in and around the league who maintain that the WNBA's growing revenue, interest and overall momentum will prevent the actual loss of games next season, there is no ignoring all the friction in the air with the league's current labor pact poised to expire on Oct. 31.

It's also a landscape that, irrespective of what happens on the labor front, features five head coaching vacancies in a circuit that expands to 15 teams in next season. League sources tell The Stein Line that several teams with an opening are considering NBA assistant coaches with G League head coaching experience, undoubtedly inspired by the work of longtime NBA assistant Nate Tibbets in steering the Phoenix Mercury into these Finals against the Las Vegas Aces. Tibbets was a head coach twice in the G League with Sioux Falls and Tulsa. Also: Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase, who just won Coach of the Year honors after leading the first-year franchise to a 23-21 record, spent five seasons with the LA Clippers before moving to the WNBA.

The Mercury have indeed fallen into a 2-0 series hole entering Wednesday night's Game 3 in Phoenix, but the prospect of further NBA hires in the WNBA is undeniable with New York, Dallas, Seattle and 2026 expansion clubs Portland and Toronto all in the market for a new head coach. "They're definitely looking at people in the NBA," one prominent coaching agent told me.