The WNBA is the top professional basketball league for women in the United States — the women's league that matches the NBA, the famous men's one. It started in 1996 and played its first season in 1997, and the W in front is simply Women's. You say the four letters: W-N-B-A. In speech, American fans often shorten it further and just say "the W", which is friendly and a bit insider-ish. Strictly speaking, the WNBA is the organization that runs the league, so you can talk about a WNBA rule or a WNBA decision as well as a WNBA game or a WNBA player. Note the small grammar point that trips learners: you almost always say the WNBA, with the, exactly like the NBA and the BBC. A couple of things that make the word useful in real reading: the league plays in summer, opposite the NBA's winter season, and its players' pay and its TV coverage are a constant news topic, so WNBA turns up in articles about money and fairness in sport at least as often as in articles about games.