The league’s 21st season gets underway tonight with the WNBA Draft 2017 in New York City. ESPN2 will air the first round at 7 p.m. ET, and the second and third rounds will follow on ESPNU.
Twenty years ago, ESPN televised 12 games from the WNBA’s inaugural season. That slate included the Cleveland Rockers at the New York Liberty game on July 14, 1997, with commentators Robin Roberts and Geno Auriemma.
The game featured Connecticut Huskies star Rebecca Lobo, one of the first players assigned to the Liberty in the WNBA Player Allocation. She joined such stars as Teresa Weatherspoon (another allocated player) and Sue Wicks, who became the first player ever drafted by the Liberty.
In the video above, watch Lobo – part of ESPN’s WNBA 2017 Draft coverage tonight and a 2017 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee – score her first WNBA on ESPN points.
