Report: Joe Lacob, Warriors Near Contract for WNBA Expansion Team in Bay Area

The WNBA is getting closer to expanding to the Bay Area with Golden State Warriors governor Joe Lacob poised to run the franchise.

Per The Athletic's Marcus Thompson II, the Warriors are "close" to a deal for a WNBA team that would play its home games at Chase Center:

"The deal is not completed, sources stressed, as several details still need to be worked out. But if finalized, the franchise will play its games at Chase Center and be headquartered in Oakland at the team's practice facility, which the organization still owns and uses to maintain a presence in the community. An announcement could come as soon as early October."

Warriors governor Joe Lacob has a history of investing in women's basketball. He was one of the primary investors in the American Basketball League when it debuted in 1996 and was intended to be a rival to the WNBA.

The San Jose Lasers were the first professional basketball team Lacob served as governor for. The club made the playoffs in each of the ABL's two full seasons. The league folded midway through its third season in 1998-99.

"I have nothing but good memories from it," Lacob told Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News about his ABL experience. "It was sad, and I did lose a lot of money. But I don't really care about that because it was a great experience, I made great friends and learned a lot."

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has talked about the league's desire to expand by adding at least one more team in time for the 2025 season.

Speaking to A.J. Perez and Andrew Cohen of Front Office Sports in May, Engelbert said the WNBA had narrowed down its list of potential expansion cities to 10 with the Bay Area, Nashville, Toronto, Austin, Denver, Charlotte, Philadelphia and Portland in the mix.

The WNBA hasn't expanded since 2008 when the Atlanta Dream played their inaugural season to give the league 12 teams. The W certainly seems to be in a position where it can handle expansion.

This season saw the league have its highest viewership numbers in 21 years and highest average attendance at games since 2018.