Austin Could Get a WNBA Team. A Texas Basketball Legend Is Prepping a Bid.
Austin could finally be getting a professional basketball team — and a Texas basketball legend named Fran Harris is doing her part to make it happen.
The former Longhorn champion, WNBA champion, and South Oak Cliff High School graduate is raising money and gathering supporters to bid for a WNBA Austin team. The league currently has 12 teams, and in April, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told ESPN she was “pretty confident” the league would have 16 by 2028. Austin is one of at least 15 other cities under consideration for those additional teams, which will be decided in 2027.
“I’m not shy about spreading the gospel of whatever I’m doing,” Harris told SBNation.com on Tuesday. “That’s the way we’re going to approach it in Austin.”
Harris is clearly no stranger to women’s basketball. She was part of the 1986 Longhorn’s undefeated season that led the team to its only NCAA championship to date. But Harris also played in the WNBA and led Houston’s team to its first-ever WNBA championship, according to SBNation.com. (Houston has not had a team since it was dissolved in 2008.)
“I’ve lived this,” Harris told SBNation.com. “In order to market your product, you have to know what your product is.”
Austin has no men’s professional basketball team, despite the (awkward) San Antonio Spurs expansion to the city. Relatedly: Rumor has it that Kevin Durant may also be on board to help Harris pull together support and funding for the women’s Austin team.
Read more at SBNation.com.
