The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent women's professional basketball league in Australia. It currently is composed of ten teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Basketball League (NBL). League play started in 1981; the regular season is currently played from October to March with the Grand Final in either late February or early March.

Some WNBL teams have NBL counterparts. The Adelaide Lightning, West Coast Waves, and Sydney Flames are the only current teams to play sharing the market with an NBL team (although the Canberra Capitals and Bulleen Boomers shared a market with the Canberra Cannons and South Dragons, respectively, before the teams both became defunct).

On October 4, 1980, during the Australian Women’s Club Championship in Sydney, a meeting of delegates from six of the leading clubs in Australian women’s basketball was held. The clubs were North Adelaide, West Adelaide and Glenelg from SA and CYMS, Melbourne Telstars and St. Kilda from Victoria.

Leilani Mitchell (born June 15, 1985 in Richland, Washington, U.S.) is an American basketball player in the WNBA for the New York Liberty.

Mitchell was born to an American father, Dennis Mitchell, and an Australian mother of Asian descent (specifically Filipino, Malaysian, Singaporean, Indian, and others), Eleanor Majid. She has 5 brothers Tyler, Troy, Travis, Reggie, and Robbie. Mitchell played high school basketball at Kennewick High School, where the team won a state 4A title.

Mitchell played her first three years of college basketball at the University of Idaho. Mitchell then transferred to the University of Utah. She sat out the 2006-07 season under NCAA rules, and then played the 2007-08 season for Utah.

Mitchell was drafted by the San Antonio Silver Stars twenty-fifth overall in the second round of 2008 WNBA Draft. Mitchell was then traded to the Phoenix Mercury. When the New York Liberty learned during the 2008 pre-season that the Mercury planned to cut Mitchell, the Liberty acquired Mitchell in a trade in exchange for a 2009 third round draft pick.

Kelsey Griffin (born July 2, 1987) is an American professional women's basketball with the Connecticut Sun of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She was drafted 3rd overall in the 2010 WNBA Draft. Griffin played college basketball with the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Griffin was named to many All-America teams and was the winner of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.

Griffin was born July 2, 1987 to Jim and Jan Griffin. She grew up in Eagle River, Alaska, and attended Chugiak High School.

Griffin attended Nebraska for five years. She injured an ankle in the summer of 2008. After not being able to practice for 14 weeks, the decision was made to opt for surgery, so she miss the entire 2008–2009 season and was granted a redshirt season.

The Minnesota Lynx had the third pick of the 2010 draft and selected Griffin. As she was about to pose for a picture with a Lynx jersey and WNBA President Donna Orender, she was traded to the Connecticut Sun for future draft picks. In her rookie season for the Sun, Griffin averaged 4.4 points and 4.7 rebounds and was able to earn a spot on the WNBA All Rookie Team.

Abby Bishop (born 29 November 1988) is an Australian professional basketball player in the WNBA. Bishop also plays for the Dandenong Rangers of the Australian WNBL. She is their current leading scorer for the 2010/11 Season.

Bishop, a 2011 Opals Squad member, is playing in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) over the winter 2011 season for Swinburne Kilsyth Lady Cobras alongside other WNBL stars Eva Afeaki and Chantella Perera.

Bishop has taken leave from Swinburne Kilsyth Lady Cobras duties during June while touring with the Australian Opals team in China where Australia is competing in the Qi Yi Four Nation tournament along with Brazil and New Zealand

Bishop helped the Seattle Storm win their second championship in 2010.

Monica Wright is a professional basketball player for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA and Botaş SK of the Turkish Women's League. She was selected second overall by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2010 WNBA Entry Draft.

Born Monica Ashante Wright to Garry and Lynette Wright. She has an older brother Gerard. Her family later moved to Woodbridge, Virginia. She attended Forest Park High School. At Forest Park she averaged 22.6 points, 9.0 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 4.0 steals per game. She was also the Gatorade Virginia Player of the Year and was ranked No. 2 guard and No. 11 player overall in the nation.

Wright was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the 2006 WBCA High School All-America Game, where she scored eleven points, and earned MVP honors for the White team.

Wright is a regular volunteer at church basketball camps and is a Boys & Girls Club camp counselor. She has also logged more than 100 hours of community service in one school year. In college she was a sociology major. Just like she takes her basketball seriously on the court, she takes her love of God seriously off the court.