Exclusive: WNBA Legend Cynthia Cooper Has never Been More excited For Women’s Basketball

Off the back of her illustrious playing and coaching career, Cynthia Cooper became one of the defining figures for women’s basketball. Not just in the United States, but across the globe.

Now, with Prime Video, the four-time WNBA champion is providing the colour behind the stories on the court and bringing the women’s game to a wider audience.

When Cooper, now 63, was through with conquering the NCAA – taking back-to-back championships with her (in 1983 and ‘84) while the USC Trojans retired her 44 jersey – there was no WNBA for her to evolve her game into.

Instead, Cooper sought her success in Europe, first with Samoa Bétera in Spain for a year and then with Parma and Alcamo in Italy for the better part of a decade.

Cynthia Cooper laid the WNBA’s foundations

When the WNBA finally formed in 1997, Cooper signed with the Houston Comets, at the age of 34, and rapidly reminded everyone Stateside about what a dominant force of nature Cynthia Cooper was.

Thirteen years removed from her second NCAA Championship, the Chicago native made up for lost time back home with four straight WNBA Titles with the Comets, being named MVP for every single finals series.

A three-time WNBA scoring champion (1997-1999) and two time WNBA MVP (1997 and ‘98), Cynthia Cooper saw her 14 jersey retired by the Comets, having helped established the league that phenoms such as Caitlin Clark, A’Ja Wilson and Angel Reese now call their home.

And when you have generational talents like that to discuss on a weekly basis, the stories really write themselves. Fortunately, Cooper enthuses about the women’s game with the same reverence she reserved for winning titles back in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

A Hall of Fame lineup is bringing the WNBA to the rest of the world

As part of Prime Video’s broadcast team, Cooper will join the likes of her fellow Hall of Famers Swin Cash, Candace Parker and Teresa Weatherspoon as well as former WNBA player and current NBA assistant coach Lindsey Harding, two-time Olympic gold medalist and current Duke University Women’s
Basketball head coach Kara Lawson, veteran broadcaster LaChina Robinson and former Chicago Sky player and coach Tamera ‘Ty’ Young.

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“I’m so excited to cover the games on Prime,” Cooper tells SPORF during an exclusive interview in May, just as Prime’s coverage was due to commence with the Minnesota Lynx meeting 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers, number one Draft Pick Azzi Fudd and the Dallas Wings.

“We have such a great production. Our set is amazing. It’s so over-the-top with technology and I think we’ll be able to tell some stories as well as really teach the fans about not just basketball but more specifically women’s basketball.

“Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, that class of rookies,” Cooper continues, detailing the reasons why the WNBA has begun to permeate the culture of not just mainstream America over the last few years, but also overseas, with star players now becoming household names internationally, “they were responsible for bridging the gap between the excitement around the NCAA tournament, March Madness and the fanbase of the W.

“I think for a long time when players graduated from college, their fans stayed with the university and didn’t really come over to become a fan of the W. I think with the expanded coverage Prime is providing, I think we’re going to see that continue to blossom with our fanbase in the US and our international fanbase.”

Breaking records and making megastars

When it comes to moments in time that signify a culture shift in a sport, Hall of Famer Cooper is in no doubt that Clark and Reese’s rivalry lit the blue touch paper that allowed the WNBA to catch fire with a far broader audience than ever before.

“When you start looking at what the Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese rivalry brought to the W, that was exactly the shot in the arm the WNBA needed to then skyrocket and really showcase the talent that was already in the WNBA.”

Amazon’s global rollout of their WNBA coverage is no mere Hail Mary, hoping to capitalise on the superstardom that has followed the likes of Clark of the Indiana Fever or Reese of the Atlanta Dream.

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Instead, what we are witnessing with Prime Video’s 200 country expansion is an acknowledgement of a sport that is bursting at the seams with potential. The 2025 season saw the WNBA’s 13 teams drew a total of 2,501,609 fans over 226 games. The previous record was set in 2002, when there were 16 teams. It also took 256 games to reach the same milestone 23 years previously.

Prime’s regular season schedule is, unsurprisingly, headlined by a marquee line up of the women’s game: Two-time WNBA All-Star Clark and the Indiana Fever (eight games), Three-time WNBA champion and two-time WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty (seven), Bueckers and the Dallas Wings (six), Two-time WNBA All-Star Reese and the Atlanta Dream (five), and four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson and the reigning WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces (four).

Four of Prime’s eight Fever games have taken place in the early weeks of the
season, with the fourth of those eight airing tomorrow (June 18 at
Atlanta), including the team’s first two matchups against Reese and the Dream.

The legacy of Cynthia Cooper can be seen in today’s WNBA

“In America kids are dreaming at a very early age to play in the WNBA,” Cooper explains as she discusses Amazon’s streaming strategy for the league.

“Because of the expanded coverage, because the kids are beginning to see women’s basketball at a high, high level. And now girls all around the world will get a chance to see women’s basketball on a professional level. Now they can dream of playing basketball, of being powerful, of being strong and stepping into their own truth and power.

“You get a chance to see these strong, beautiful women play basketball at a very high level all over the world. I was just sitting here imagining, what if I took my family on a vacation to the UK? Now on all my devices I can stream coverage of the WNBA. That’s amazing. It really sparks the growth of women’s basketball globally.”

And while the current crop of megastars are behind the tectonic shift in the exposure the WNBA is now receiving in the modern era, they cannot be discussed without acknowledgement of the supreme contributions Cooper herself made to the women’s game and the league itself upon it’s formation almost 30 years ago.

Cooper is, understandably (and rightfully), extremely proud of what those contributions have led to over the last three decades.

“I’m so proud. I’m like a proud mom just watching every single player. Because here’s what’s happened to the WNBA: girls are empowered now. They’re starting to play basketball earlier, developing skills earlier. So the level of talent has risen in the WNBA.

“Now you see some of the most competitive basketball games in the world in the WNBA. I love it. I love seeing it, I love the swag, I love when they dress up like models, I love them going to the Met Gala.

“It’s amazing and I love being a part of it at a very early stage because, at the end of the day, when I played my number one goal was to lay a foundation for what we’re seeing now.”

Handling the pressure

Of course, with the increased spotlight comes increased pressure. Now with the W shattering attendance and TV viewership records, players gracing the covers of NBA 2K video games and having portfolios bursting with endorsements, the pitfalls of more eyeballs and more responsibilities can often counteract the value of added exposure.

As a ‘proud mom’, Cynthia Cooper has plenty of advice for the rookies of the WNBA and the prodigies who are still yet to grace the league, but will be doing in the years to come.

“Be yourself. You got recruited in college to be yourself and to continue to grow as a player. I think the W wants the same thing. You’ve been drafted into the WNBA to be the best version of yourself every game.

“I don’t think you should look at it as pressure. Really I think the most important part of being a rookie in the WNBA is growth. You have to continue to grow, continue to get better, continue to strive for greatness and that happens in every single workout, every single day.

“I talk so often about being better tomorrow than you were yesterday. That’s huge. Because now people can’t catch you. If you’re head and shoulders above the rest and you continue to put in that work, people don’t catch up.

“For me, it’s hard work. It’s going the distance and being a person who can hang in there during the tough times that a season can bring you. You got to hang tough during the tough times. I think this rookie class and, really, every rookie class, they’re starting to prepare for that level of pressure, if you want to call it that, and that level of play.”

Look for the storylines

With the current WNBA season now a month old, the aforementioned narratives and stories are already being written. Some with existing history, some more embryonic. So what does Cynthia Cooper believe rookie viewers of the WNBA in the United Kingdom should come to expect from the 2026 campaign?

“Expect exciting, dynamic play from amazing women, on and off the floor. Also, look for the storylines. One of the things we’re committed to on Prime is telling the story. Not just of the players, but of 30 years of the WNBA.

“We have an incredible lineup. I call them my teammates. We’ll be able to break down that game in a way that fans can understand and because we played, we’re so incredibly passionate about it and we’ll draw them in. I’m excited about it.”

All WNBA on Prime games will stream exclusively on Prime Video at no additional cost to Prime members in more than 220 countries and territories around the world. Customers can watch from the Prime Video app on connected TVs, mobile devices, tablets, game consoles, and streaming devices.