There’s been a cloud hanging over the future of women’s basketball for the last 17 months.
Before the WNBA reached a tentative 2026 collective bargaining agreement that is set to drastically increase player pay, athletes like Aerial Powers were hoping the league would do the “right thing” — not just for this generation, but for the ones coming next.
“I’ve had people before me, whether it was my grandmother [or others’] sacrifice so I can be where I am today, and sometimes people have to do that for the other generations to succeed,” the Indiana Fever guard told iHeartRadio in an exclusive interview. “And I just hope that we all as a collective feel the same.”
Turns out, they did.
Not only will there be a 2026 WNBA season, but players across the league are now seeing a long-awaited shift — one that finally reflects the value they’ve been building for years.
It’s always been a great time to be a woman athlete. But this era? It’s finally beginning to reflect that — financially, culturally, and visibly.
I saw that firsthand in Chicago during the men’s Big Ten semifinals, where I caught up with Powers while she was in town for a partnership with Silk Protein — a collaboration that, according to her, took no convincing.
“Well, it just came authentically,” she said. “Honestly, I’ve been using Silk for a while. I’m a big smoothie girl, and I’m big on plant-based proteins.”
For Powers, it’s less about the partnership and more about fit.
“The fact that we have something ready to go is big, especially because I’m always traveling,” she continued. “And I’m big on taste too. I want a little bit of both — and Silk gives me that.”
Even in a space centered around men’s college basketball, the attention followed her. Young girls approached one after another, asking for photos and autographs — a reminder, in real time, of just how much the game and its visibility have shifted.
“It’s so crazy because… I was looking up to other women who were playing the sport, and they did a lot of things that are now a transition for my generation,” Powers shared. “And now we’re technically, literally in a period where whatever we do, however we compose ourselves, could change the trajectory for the people next.”
“So for me, it’s tremendous… It’s a time in life where it’s like, ‘This is the moment.’ The moment that the women before me have paved the way for.”
As for what’s driving the shift, Powers says it comes down to something simple: time.
“Men started playing professional basketball a few years before us. So that means… everything in life you have to build and grow and consistently do,” she said.
“And it’s just — now our time. It’s our time to start doing those things.”
Powers, who is not only part of the generation benefiting from that shift but one of the voices pushing it forward, says the moment still feels surreal.
“If I was talking to my younger self — the young girl from Detroit, Michigan — I would have never thought I would have been in this position that I’m in,” she said.
“I was always just chasing my dream, which was to be in the WNBA. And now it’s like… you can meet a young girl or a young guy and change the way they look at the sport.”
“I would have never thought that. I’m just blessed to be able to do that.”
This moment isn’t just about basketball, and Powers is clear about what she hopes young girls take from it.
“We too belong in everything, not just sports,” she said. “I hope they take away that as long as you work hard in something and can consistently keep your confidence high, that you can achieve great things.”
Like many players in this new era, Powers is also embracing her voice off the court — through platforms like her podcast Aerial View.
“People see me on the court, and they have this perception,” she said. “That’s not who we are. That’s just our competitiveness.”
“I have a voice. And it allows me to broadcast the things that I think are important… And I think there’s such strength in vulnerability.”
That same strength is what Powers — and the generation alongside her — will carry into the 2026 season, as women’s basketball steps into a new era that finally reflects its value.
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