With the WNBA 2024 season underway, all eyes fixate on Caitlin Clark. Now a guard for the Indiana Fever, Caitlin has been stirring up excitement for women’s basketball since her days with the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.

Her rookie trading card is anticipated to skyrocket in value, and her debut game of the season just streamed on Disney+.

As interest in the sport surges, thanks in part to extraordinary players like her, attention turns to “Rare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Helped Pave the Way for the WNBA” by sportswriter Howard Megdal, hitting shelves this May.

The book recounts the tales of four pivotal generations of women who aided the WNBA in solidifying its place alongside the NBA.

Among them stands Cheryl Reeve, head coach of the Minnesota Lynx and the USA Women’s Basketball team, poised to lead them at the Paris Olympics this year.

It’s a narrative of breaking barriers—ensuring teams had a chance to exist, playing under conditions akin to men’s leagues, and combating biases based on race or sexual orientation.

It aims to dismantle the double standard that celebrates women’s successes as anomalies while treating their setbacks as judgments.

Howard Megdal, a leading authority on women’s basketball, is the force behind this narrative. His commitment to equitable coverage of both men’s and women’s sports shines through in his work with The IX Newsletter and The Next.

He’s well-equipped to weigh in on the Caitlin Clark craze sweeping the nation and the heightened buzz surrounding the WNBA.