The 2018 WNBA Finals will feature two of the biggest publicly out LGBTQ stars in the league.
The Washington Mystics and the team’s superstar Elena Delle Donne beat the Atlanta Dream in one of the game-five WNBA semifinals Tuesday night, 86-81. It will be the first WNBA Finals appearance for the team and Delle Donne. Until now the franchise was the only one to have never made it to the WNBA Finals. Now the curse is broken.
Delle Donne came out publicly days before the 2016 Summer Olympics, in which she won a gold medal. She was the league MVP in 2015.
They will face Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm. The team came back in the second half to beat the Phoenix Mercury in the other WNBA semifinal, 94-84. The Storm have won two WNBA championships, the last one being in 2010. Sue Bird has been a team leader since nearly the first season of the storm and has been a key player for each of its championships runs.
Bird came out publicly last year and is dating soccer star Megan Rapinoe. The couple appeared on the cover of ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue earlier this year.
Will Delle Donne help Washington win its first title, or will Bird and the Storm complete the hat trick? Tune in over the next couple of weeks to find out.