Once upon a time, the state of Michigan was one of the most exciting states for sports in the entire country. You had the Detroit Red Wings winning multiple Stanley Cups in route to an NHL record 25 straight postseason appearances. You had the Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans, and other colleges competing in several sports. The Detroit Tigers won a won world series, but what about basketball.

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Well, the University of Michigan and Michigan State University have had success on the hardwood and the professional teams reveled in this as well. The Detroit Pistons are known for their Bad Boys era in the late 1980s and early 1990s but also their short stint in the early 2000s. During their run to begin the 21st Century, they had a WNBA team helping draw fans in the building.

During this time, the Detroit Shock had become one of the expansion franchises in the WNBA and had almost instant success. The Shock were able to win 4 conference championships in 2003, 2006, 2007, and 2008. They would go on to win the WNBA championship in all of those seasons except for 2007.

In 2009 Detroit received shocking news that their WNBA team would be packing their things and moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Since then, WNBA fans have been stuck watching the sport on TV or traveling to Indianapolis or Chicago to catch a game live. Although it's been quite some time, this practice may be over after the news coming out recently.

The WNBA is currently taking bids for its next expansion team, which would make that team the 16th in the league, and they would start play in the 2028 season. Detroit joins Nashville, South Florida, Philadelphia, and others on the short list for WNBA expansion as Golden State begins in the 2025 season and both Portland and Toronto have their debuts in 2026.

If the Detroit Shock were to return, they would first have to work out the trademark situations and find a place. Luckily, the trademark application has already been submitted, and the team have entered an agreement to play at Little Caesars Arena, the current home of both the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Red Wings.

The Detroit Shock still hold the record for the most attended game in league history which was Game 3 of the 2003 WNBA finals as 22,076 were in attendance that night. We will find out in the next coming years if the Shock or another franchise will be back in Michigan soon or if we'll be waiting longer than 2028.

Caitlin Clark's Rookie Season in the WNBA Part 1

West Des Moines native and Iowa Hawkeye alum Caitlin Clark has taken the world by storm over the past year. She was selected 1st overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft. Her rookie season might not have started out too strong, but at the halfway point in the season things started to look up for Clark and the Indiana Fever

Gallery Credit: Kerri Mac

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