Aces to Valkyries: Grading the WNBA Logos

With WNBA Expansion chugging along steadily with the Golden State Valkyries draft, and the reveal of the Toronto Tempo name and logo, there’s a lot of new in the league. With new teams comes new logos, names, jerseys, and cities to enjoy women’s basketball in. The current teams are trying to keep up by building new practice facilities, updating designs, and getting more creative with the way their promote their teams.

In this growing stage of the WNBA, the league’s branding is honestly a little all over the place. Some teams look futuristic, some are intentionally using throwback branding, and some just seem stuck in the 00s. One thing that is easy to change with a lot of impact is a logo. Sports logos often change with the trends of culture and design, and just tweaking it can refresh an entire franchise.

The WNBA also has rules on what teams have to include in these logos. For example, the league requires teams to have three different logo options, and also has a rule that the team’s main logo must somehow involve a basketball.

With all of that being said, let’s score each of the WNBA’s 14 known team logos. The 12 “current” teams, plus the Golden State Valkyries who enter the league in 2025, and then the Toronto Tempo who enter in 2026. The only unknown logo right now is Portland’s.

New York Liberty: 9.5/10

The New York Liberty have really nailed all of their branding, starting off with their gorgeous Seafoam color. They were kind of handed that color given it is the same as the Statue of Liberty, which the team is named after. It’s so unique to sports though, and looks good no matter if you’re putting it on a court, jerseys, or merchandise.

The logo itself is a simple crest with a hand holding the Torch, with “NY” in the team’s signature font. The flame of the torch is where they have incorporated the basketball, with the “flames” coming out of the top. It’s simple, to the point, unique, and strongly links to the team’s name and identity.

Dallas Wings: 6/10

Part of my confusion around this one is that we aren’t really told what a “wing” is. Is it a pegasus? The horse theme links them to the Dallas Mavericks of course. The logo is a pegasus(?) with the words “Wings” and “Dallas” below. The team’s colours of navy blue and neon green are an interesting combo as well.

The basketball element just comes in because they put a basketball under the horse(?). It’s all fine, but doesn’t stand out against some of the stronger logos in the league.

Washington Mystics: 7/10

The Washington Mystics are the “sister” team of the Washington Wizards, and in my humble opinion, should have been named the Washington Witches. Keep the alliteration, and witches are just cool. Anyway, they also share a colorway with the Wizards, the navy blue, gray, and red. Very patriotic of course.

This logo is pretty cool, but to me something about it is giving the vibe of being inside a Limited Too store in 2003. Maybe it’s the little embellishments, maybe it’s the font, maybe it’s the colours. It’s on theme and isn’t inherently bad it’s just… very 2003.

Indiana Fever: 7/10

Interestingly enough, the Indiana Fever are the only team in the league who has never changed their logo. Since the team entered the WNBA in 2000, they’ve had the same logo. It’s simply a circular crest with the Indiana Fever in their team font. The colors are red, yellow, and blue — they work pretty well together, but not my personal cup of tea. I wear 99% black though so who am I to judge.

NOW, if we were ranking jerseys, and the Fever’s Stranger Things jersey was still in play… that would get a 10/10 from me, that was sick.

Seattle Storm: 5/10

A common trope of current design in minimalism… which isn’t that fun? Seattle’s logo is the first of minimalist WNBA logo’s we will explore. Their green and gold colors are a classic that look fun, but I miss the Storm logos of the 2000s — funky!

This crest features the space needle inside a basketball-esque crest, a lighting bolt, and the Seattle Storm name in their font. It’s not ugly by any means, it’s just not the older logo, which is super fun. See below:

Las Vegas Aces: 6/10

Maybe I am being harsh on minimalism… I’ll keep going. The Aces’ logo is extremely on brand, which is fun. Unfortunately they recently changed their colours to silver and black instead of red and black. The red and black went with the Aces name so well, nodding to playing cards.

Their diamond shaped logo is another nod to playing cards. Being named the Aces as a Las Vegas team is just so smart, and their logo conveys that but it’s also… just that.

Phoenix Mercury: 8/10

The Mercury are another team affiliated with an NBA team, in this case the Phoenix Suns. Due to that, their branding is very cohesive, and they share the orange, purple, black colors. The Mercury’s logo to me is giving 70’s diner vibes, which is pretty cool. Their “basketball” is merely an orange circle, but again it looks very diner-esque.

It gets higher points because it strays from minimalism, of course. The font doesn’t resemble any other team’s and they’ve really leaned into the vintage vibes.

Los Angeles Sparks: 7/10

This one is what I will call borderline minimalism. They save themselves with a palm tree, and they could save themselves more by incorporating more of their third color, teal, into the mix. While the Sparks don’t share explicit affiliation to the Lakers, they do share the iconic purple and gold.

The Sparks current logo is a circle featuring a palm tree, a basketball, and the Los Angeles Sparks name in an outer circle. The palm tree is cool, and this logo would get higher points from me if there was more teal.

Minnesota Lynx: 8.5/10

The Lynx featured in Minnesota’s logo is very cute, and the relation to the Timberwolves NBA team is obvious but different enough. It gets high points from me because it a few subtle choices make the logo LOOK unique without going too far. The off center name, the cute Lynx.

Is it cutting edge? Not necessarily, but it delivers the message. We aren’t breaking into a new frontier with this one, but it does the job.

Connecticut Sun: 8/10

This one is fun because they use the basketball to look like the earth and the “C” for Connecticut to look like… well, the sun. It gets extra points for a fun unique shape that resembles the sun’s rays.

Overall it’s quirky, on theme, and delivers the message. Is it the most jaw-dropping thing to ever exist? No. Does it have fun details? Yes.

Chicago Sky: 9/10

The Chicago Sky have a fun colorway of sky blue and yellow — sky and sun. Pretty smart, and very cute. Their logo looks like a basketball going into a net, but also features a “skyline-esque” building detail.

Overall it’s super unique, nods to the famous Chicago skyline, and looks like a basketball logo without being too cookie-cuter. I think the Sky did a great job of making something fresh and unique.

Atlanta Dream: 8.75/10

Okay, maybe I’m getting a little too specific…

The Dream’s logo has a lot of history, which makes sense since the team was named after the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. I like so much about this logo — the star, the font, the symbolism. It’s powerful and the shape of the crest is sharp and unique.

For me the only downfall is making a logo primarily grey. It almost dulls it a little. It’s clean but it’s not flashy. Maybe that was the point. Overall, still high in score.

Golden State Valkyries: 9.9/10

This gets a 9.9 because perfection is impossible, but Golden State’s branding is as close as you can get. First of all, they nailed the colors with that stunning lavender. The Valkyries are associated with the Golden State Warriors, and Valkyries are Norse female warriors… again, real good stuff.

The logo itself is simple but unique. The V-shape is obvious but also unique, the “basketball” element is the lines within the crest. Even the team’s font is unique yet simple. It’s just… cool.

Toronto Tempo: 4/10

The one you’ve all been waiting for? This one is hard because 1) it’s the newest team logo in the league and 2) it’s literally my home market. This logo was also leaked six weeks before the team was planning to drop the name and logo.

Here’s what I like about it: The colors are really nice, with an icy blue and plum (don’t even try to tell me that’s supposed to be maroon/red/anything else). When you look at it a certain way, it looks like a piano, which is fun.

Here are the criticisms that have been circulating since the team confirmed the logo: It resembles the Indiana Pacers logo, the New Balance Logo, and the Ontario Hockey League logo. It’s also a little one dimensional. So many of the logos above have dimension, layers, and look like they are leaping off the page.

It just… missed the mark a little.