Upshot league continues making moves after completion of inaugural season

The GIST: In case you needed a reminder, the Upshot League debuted in May in hopes of fulfilling a much-needed development gap for the WNBA. While the 5v5 league isn’t associated with the W like the G League is with the NBA, it allows more women to stay game-ready and offers professional scouts an easy way to track talent when roster spots open up from inevitable injuries.

• The four-team league reached unparalleled levels of success in its first season and has maintained steady momentum with acquisitions on and off the court in the three weeks since its championship. Let’s see what’s up with Upshot.

The players: Former University of North Carolina standout and Greensboro Groove center Maria Gakdeng became the fifth Upshot player called up to the W after signing a contract with the Toronto Tempo on Sunday. In fact, each of the four founding teams has had at least one player sign with an WNBA squad.

• This puts them on a similar pace as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) who debuted in the early 2000s and eventually evolved into the G-League, where eight players from the original eight-team league were called up to the NBA in the first year. Hello, proof of concept.

The teams: In addition to the Groove, Upshot teams reside in Jacksonville, Charlotte, and Savannah — another strategic move that mirrors the NBDL where franchises were intentionally located in markets without an existing professional team. Women’s basketball fans in the southeastern U.S. showed up for their squads, resulting in multiple sellouts.

• In 2027, the Upshot League will continue this pattern when it expands to Tennessee and Maryland.

The leadership: This league already boasted a front office stacked with Hall of Famers including Tamika Catchings, Cheryl Miller, and Ann Meyers Drysdale, and its newest addition has the orange jacket to match: Chamique Holdsclaw joined the Upshot ownership group this week.

• The former No. 1 WNBA draft pick brings decades of professional experience and a commitment to growing professional opportunities for women in basketball. Upshot seems keen on utilizing the expertise of athletes who have been there, a strategy that could lead to longevity and maybe even an official W partnership in the future? Watch this space.