This Highly Sought-After WNBA Prize Is Making League History In A Big Way

The WNBA saw record-shattering attendance and viewership in 2024 — and now players from the New York Liberty will dazzle even more after taking home the priciest championship rings in league history for their win last year.

The glittery championship hardware is worth $60,000 a pop — $20,000 more than the rings the Las Vegas Aces earned after their championship win just two seasons prior, Front Office Sports reported earlier this month.

“If you look at rings from even five years ago, they were small, they were simple,” said jeweler Jason Arasheben — who worked on the look of the Liberty’s rings with L’enchanteur designers Dynasty and Soull Ogun — in an interview with The New York Times last month.

“But recently, we’ve seen them get bigger and bigger and bigger, partly because there is a certain level of competition between players and owners, and also because it allows for more real estate to tell the story. Now with the New York Liberty, we’ve gone even further, even more over the top.”

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu smiles as she dons her 2024 WNBA championship ring before the start of a regular-season home game against the Las Vegas Aces last month. New York’s rings mark a $20,000 jump from the value of those earned by Aces after their championship win just two seasons prior, per Front Office Sports.

AP Photo/Heather Khalifa

This year’s ring follows a push by Liberty co-owner Clara Wu Tsai and Liberty CEO Keia Clarke to make rings distinct from those seen in the NBA while also reflecting the growth of the WNBA, per the Times.

Wu Tsai and her husband, Joseph Tsai, co-own the Liberty and the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, which share an arena. Their initiative with the ring was in line with their efforts to make sure the two Brooklyn teams get equal treatment.

WNBA championship rings have gotten noticeably bigger than those of the league’s earlier champions, as seen in a photo that Minnesota Lynx president of business operations Carley Knox sent to Front Office Sports.

The New York Liberty's WNBA championship rings feature the team's torch logo — between the letters "N" and Y" — in its seafoam green and black colors. The Liberty, one of the league's original eight franchises, won their first championship back in October.

ONROPE Studios (Courtesy of New York Liberty)

The rings feature the Liberty’s logo, the Statue of Liberty’s torch, in the team’s black and seafoam green colors. They also include the letters “N” and “Y” and, engraved inside, the rallying cry from the squad’s title-winning season: “WE ALL WE GOT! WE ALL WE NEED!” On top of that, the rings can be unscrewed to reveal a pair of gold “NY” earrings.

The Liberty's WNBA championship rings conceal a pair of gold stud earrings on the inside, a depiction of the team's court, some of the Liberty's victories in the 2024 WNBA playoffs, as well as the rallying cry of the squad’s title-winning season: “WE ALL WE GOT! WE ALL WE NEED!”

ONROPE Studios (Courtesy of New York Liberty)

The rings also depict a leaf rising through concrete, which co-designer Soul Ogunn told Brooklyn Magazine reflects the team’s “perseverance” in the “Concrete Jungle.”

Arasheben, who has designed the last five rings for the winner of the NBA Finals, declared that it was “time” for the women’s teams to have a ring that shows it can rival those of the men’s leagues.

WNBA championship rings (seen here on past title-winners from the Minnesota Lynx and Las Vegas Aces) have grown in value, reflecting expanding interest in women's basketball and the star power that fuels it.

via Getty Images

A game last month between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky saw an average of 2.7 million viewers, which is believed to make it the most-viewed WNBA regular season game in 25 years, per ESPN.