In a world where it’s been underestimated, undervalued and underrepresented, the WNBA has shown that it’s here to stay. It’s about time that the league receives its well-deserved recognition. After years of a surge in popularity in the sport – fostering die-hard fans both online, like on the conversation-powered platform Threads, and offline – the WNBA has taken over.
Threads has seen just how much the sport is at the center of conversations on the app with a dedicated community that delves into the ins and outs of the game – and it has its community “champions” to thank.
Back in October of last year, Threads rolled out its communities feature with an intention to create a digital space for more than 200 of the most popular topics on the app – WNBA included. As one of the app’s main interests, WNBA Threads quickly became a bustling community, with leaders – including LaChina Robinson, Taja “TJ” Keasal, and Arielle Chambers – spearheading the conversation around the sport. All three have a deep connection to basketball, and thanks to Threads’ latest feature, they now have a dedicated space to showcase it.
For this trio, they were waiting on the rest of the world to catch up to the force that is the WNBA and are glad that the sport and its leading ladies are getting the love that they deserve. “It’s been great to see the product of the hard work of the athletes and the people who have believed in them from day one to see what it can be, because this is everything that we knew it was,” Chambers, an ESPN sports journalist shares. “I think I’m an intentional building block of what it is today, just [through] intentional storytelling and being emotionally invested in the success of the WNBA.”
Chambers, along with Robinson and Keasal, grew up with personal ties to basketball. As a Raleigh native, Chambers lived near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) during a time when Sylvia Hatchell was coaching at the school and had fostered many friendships with future WNBA players in her neighborhood. Robinson herself was a teenage basketball player who went onto attend Wake Forest University and speaks on just how much the game expanded her world. “Basketball changed the trajectory of my life,” she says. “I am one of 16 children and was the first college graduate of my parents’ blended family. I would say that access to the sport gave me access to education. There would be no way that I would have ended up at Wake Forest or even in college without the sport of basketball.”
These near and dear experiences are what bring people together in the WNBA Threads community that Chambers, Robinson, and Keasal have all helped build. According to Chambers, the WNBA Threads community affectionately calls each other “cousin,” as it has become a safe space for learning about the sport and watching games together. Meanwhile Keasal, who started playing basketball at age 10, brings her love for fashion and basketball to WNBA Threads where she’s found her “people.”
“You’re going to find your people on WNBA Threads,” she shares. “It’s for the talkers and for me. It’s so easy to express my thoughts, whether it’s around a game, breaking news, a trade or injury. I can do that in real time no matter where I am. That’s what I love about Threads. It allows you to have these conversations any and everywhere.”
All about connection and conversation, the WNBA Threads community thrives thanks to its leaders like LaChina Robinson, TJ Keasal, and Arielle Chambers – each bringing their unique voice and vision to the platform. Join the WNBA Threads community today and experience all that Threads has to offer by downloading the app.
