After his retirement, Isiah Thomas ventured into business, but was the Pistons star involved with the origins of the WNBA? Well, no, not directly. And even though it was a completely different endeavor, he sought to remain a part of basketball. In 1997, he invested in the CBA. He had a great vision for the league and ambitious expansion plans. But it didn’t work out as he had hoped, ending in disaster. However, Thomas believes that there is one thing he implemented in the CBA that was later adopted by the WNBA. Is he right?

During a recent conversation with The Winning Formula, Thomas explained his connection to the Continental Basketball Association. He had bought it for $10 million and subsequently changed its structure to a single-entity model. A mentor of his helped him understand the single-entity model. 

“I used that business model actually when I bought the CBA you know converted it from a franchise model to a single entity model then the NBA used a single entity model to start the WNBA,” Thomas explained on the show. His idea is connected to the WNBA. While Thomas was not involved in the WNBA’s origins, it was just that the league was founded on the same single-entity model.

What is this concept of single-entity leagues? Well, these are sports leagues where the league itself owns all the teams rather than having independent team owners. This structure was designed to ensure financial stability and reduce competition for players. Major League Soccer is another example of a league based on the single-entity model. But Thomas’ vision for the CBA didn’t work out. 

The league continued to struggle under his leadership despite seeing initial success. Adamant of his investment, Thomas refused to sell the CBA to the NBA. And the pro league, NBA later started the G league. And when Thomas left to take a head coaching position with the Indiana Pacers in 2000, the CBA collapsed and soon filed for bankruptcy. But there are people whom you can’t keep away from their passion. 15 years later, in 2015, Thomas tried his hands to buy ownership stakes in the WNBA team. But was he successful?

WNBA dashed Isiah Thomas’ hopes for New York Liberty ownership

After trying the single-entity style, the Women’s professional basketball WNBA now operates under a franchise model. Much like their male counterpart, the NBA. Here too, the big man tried his luck. But where and when?

Throwback. In 2003, Thomas headed to the NBA team Knicks. The former NBA player was named the New York Knicks‘ president of basketball operations. However, after an unsuccessful and disastrous career as the top boss, he was replaced in 2008. Later in 2015, Thomas was again hired for a new position in the New York Liberty. He was named the president of the WNBA’s New York Liberty. 

It was also announced that he would be a part owner. However, for several reasons, that didn’t work out. His efforts to expand the CBA and his desire for partial ownership of the New York Liberty 10 years later also proved unsuccessful. The man remained at the helm of the New York Liberty from 2015 to 2019. The ownership changed hands, and Isiah Thomas’ contract as president of the Liberty too came to an end.