‘NBA 2K21’ Introduces First-Ever WNBA Career Mode Called ‘The W’

In a true first, the next-gen versions of “NBA 2K21” are adding the first-ever single-player career mode featuring a women’s professional league.

Confirmed for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X versions of “NBA 2K 21,” players will also be allowed to direct a WNBA team or all 12 WNBA teams in the MyWNBA franchise mode.

With women’s professional sports becoming more recognized than ever, Visual Concepts added the WNBA to last year's “NBA 2K20” and the 12-team league became playable in MyLeague mode. By adding the female equivalent of MyCareer mode, however, “NBA 2K21” is allowing female ballers to find more representation for their own hoop dreams.

“Being able to recognize yourself both on and off the court is incredibly important to us,” Felicia Steenhouse, a senior producer with Visual Concepts, said in the “NBA 2K21” Courtside Report. “The W helps us elevate women’s basketball and highlights the star power of the WNBA.”

The W allows players to create their own WNBA player and place her on any of the following franchises: the Seattle Storm, Las Vegas Aces, Los Angeles Sparks, Minnesota Lynx, Chicago Sky, Dallas Wings, New York Liberty, Indiana Fever, Connecticut Sun, Atlanta Dream, Washington Mystics, and Phoenix Mercury.

MyWNBA is the WNBA equivalent of the MyGM mode in previous “NBA 2K” titles but with features specific to the league, its players, and the growth of the WNBA franchises. The WNBA will also be featured in The W Online, a mode that involves 3x3 games in an exclusive venue/court not available anywhere else.

There is no confirmation as of late on whether the features will be in the version of the game that was launched in September for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC, Polygon said.

This past WNBA season was played in a bubble similar to the latter part of the NBA season due to the coronavirus pandemic. Held at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, only 22 regular season games were played before the Seattle Storm took on the Las Vegas Aces in the Finals.

The Storm, led by veteran Sue Bird and eventual Finals MVP Breanna Stewart, swept the best-of-five Finals for the franchise’s fourth WNBA Championship. It was a time punctuated by social justice issues across the country and the WNBA was at the forefront of the campaign.

Team sports have often proven a difficult avenue to add female athletes in as they’ve found more success in individual sports video games featuring tennis, golf, and even mixed martial arts. It was actually “NBA Live 18” that first introduced WNBA players and teams, and it even added a mixed-gender competition.