Hoops Happening: The most-read ‘Swish Appeal’ story of 2018 is ...

Swish Appeal readers like drama, juicy stories and celebrity dirt — but also fast cars, Twitter tirades and scandal. A good dose of humor also was embraced, along with the tale of a Hall of Fame wedding, a well-timed review of a basketball player’s book and a deep dive into a player’s potential departure from the league.

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Now, without further delay, here are the 10 most-read WNBA stories of the year:

10 most-read WNBA stories of the year

10. After Sue Bird hit and Game 4 loss, Breanna Stewart must be fired immediately. Bird’s broken beak was a big story during the WNBA Finals and so was this Onion-esque piece. Stewie perhaps could have been fired had the Storm not gone on to win it all. But Stewie won it and stamped the championship victory with an MVP award to boot.

9. Cappie Pondexter signs with LA Sparks. For whatever reason, the Pondexter-Sparks marriage didn’t last. She was traded to the Indiana Fever, where she spent the season mentoring the team’s rookie talent.

8. Check out Breanna Stewart’s new Maserati. A superstar of hoops needs to drive a baller car, so Stewart treated herself to a sleek ride. Given that she’s young and probably debt-free, the wheels probably didn’t drive her into debt. Either that, or she paid for it with endorsement dough.

7. ‘I know who I am’: Brittney Griner’s radical existence. The first book review on the site, this examination of Griner’s In My Skin was timed to the WNBA’s Pride Month celebration. Christine M. Hopkins reviewed the book through a retrospective lens, making for a poignant read. We look forward to publishing more book reviews in the new year, and congratulations, Christine!

6. Derek Fisher’s appointment as head coach in Los Angeles continues to ‘Spark’ concern. Published just 12 days ago, this story being the sixth most-read story of the year points to the gravity of events happening in LA, which started with the announcement of Brian Agler’s resignation.

5. What a second Liz Cambage departure from the WNBA would say about America. Since publication of this story, Brian Agler was hired as head coach of the Dallas Wings, Skylar Diggins-Smith announced her pregnancy and Cambage has not yet revealed her plans for the 2019 season. To be continued ... on this one.

4. 2018 WNBA offseason: free agent signings, trades, rumors. This roundtable by Swish Appeal Staff was a big hit, as collaborative endeavors commonly are. Plus, fans are usually pretty invested in stories about the potential for improvement or demise of their favorite teams.

3. EXCLUSIVE: Basketball legend Chamique Holdsclaw ties the knot! Holdsclaw married NBA executive (and former Swish Appeal contributor) Cara Wright just one month after being inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. I am honored to have been given the opportunity to share Holdsclaw’s love story with the world.

2. Parker blasts WNBA, ‘disappointed’ LA facing Minnesota on ring night. Well, Candace Parker had a point and the night turned out to be as bad as she’d anticipated because the Lynx trolled the Sparks by playing their championship video during shootaround. Parker, likely to her relief, didn’t travel with the team for this one due to a minor back injury.

1. Candace Parker and Shelden Williams officially divorce is the most-read Swish Appeal story of 2018! A tale of love and basketball gone wrong either stoked readers’ thirst for gossip or tapped their schadenfreude. Either way, congrats, Albert Lee!