PITTSBURGH — I'm with former basketball star and soon-to-be Pitt Hall of Famer Brianna Kiesel on the possibility of a WNBA team coming to Pittsburgh, pitfalls and all.

"I think it's a great idea," says Kiesel, who played in the WNBA. "You have so many great players, and they're in the limelight now — in the media with NIL when they're in college, expanding our game, and then you follow them through (to the pros). You already have professional sports teams there, and this would be a summer sport.

"I think it would be amazing."

A wise guy might add that the only summertime competition would be the Pirates and that everybody beats them, but I won't be that guy.

Let's focus on the positive.

As the Post-Gazette's Mark Belko recently reported, the Sports & Exhibition Authority "has set its sights on bringing a WNBA basketball team to Pittsburgh." A study is in the works.

The surging league hopes to expand by four teams, to 16, by 2028. San Francisco and Toronto have gobbled up two of those spots, leaving the likes of Philadelphia, Portland, Denver, Nashville, South Florida and Pittsburgh as possibilities. The Penguins are on the record with support, saying, "If a serious effort emerges to recruit a WNBA franchise to Pittsburgh, we would be interested in potential discussions about hosting games at PPG Paints Arena."

Count me in. I can't get enough of the WNBA. I watch it all the time, and I'm not alone. ESPN's ratings are up 183%. The women's game has never been better. The personalities. The rivalries. The rookies. The skill level. It's riveting theater. I already have the next Caitlin Clark-Angel Reese matchup circled (Aug. 30), as do millions of others.

Huge crowds are packing arenas from time to time, too, thanks largely to Clark, who is the closest thing to Pistol Pete Maravich that I have seen in the women's game. Everybody knew about the logo 3s. It's her passing wizardry that leaves you speechless. It's like watching Wayne Gretzky play hockey. She sees plays before they happen, like she's sitting in the cheap seats.

Clark and Reese have made a fibber of WNBA legend Diana Taurasi, who said "reality is coming" for the league's rookies. After a brief adjustment period — both players basically came straight from a six-month college season — Reese leads the league in rebounding, and Clark leads in assists.

Clark, in fact, is doing the full Magic Johnson rookie routine. She is 12th in scoring (17.8 ppg), fifth in 3-pointers (2.8 per game), fifth in free-throw percentage and top 20 in steals, rebounds and blocked shots, if you can believe that. She also has her long-lost franchise back in playoff contention, with two more wins than it had all of last season.

Reality came all right — for the rest of the WNBA.

I have no doubt that Clark would fill PPG Paints Arena on her visits. The Atlanta Dream are averaging 4,348 fans per game, but when Clark came to town, they moved to the NBA arena and set a league attendance mark with 17,575 fans.

It's the other games I'd worry about. It's not necessarily Pittsburgh's failed history with professional basketball that has me concerned. This wouldn't be like the Pittsburgh Xplosion trying to make it here. But I do see some worrisome signs buried in all the hype.

Half the league averages fewer than 10,000 fans per game. That might be partly on account of some small venues, but when I see the Dream at 4,348 per game and the Dallas Wings and Washington Mystics at barely over 6,000, I worry. Maybe it is flashbacks to the XPlosion and the Hard Hats. Maybe it's knowing that Pittsburgh is an event town that loves winners but doesn't have much time for alternatives to that.

The Chicago Sky, with Reese, are at just 8,743 fans per game, and a really good team in the Minnesota Lynx bring in just 8,336. The WNBA is also expected to lose $50 million this season. That's the kind of story you don't hear much.

On the other hand, the league just landed a breakthrough TV deal with more media rights bonanzas on the way. That has to be attractive to potential corporate sponsors.

Also, this: The USA women's basketball gold medal game against France, despite a 9:30 a.m. (ET) start, peaked at 10.9 million viewers. That is World Series, NBA Finals-level stuff. Now imagine what the Olympic ratings might be when Clark plays. Three of her college games last year had higher ratings than the gold-medal game.

And as Kiesel mentioned, more and more college stars — players America gets to know — are on their way every year. Connecticut's Paige Bueckers and USC's JuJu Watkins (can you imagine Pittsburgh with another JuJu?) are next.

So yes, pitfalls and all, I'm with Kiesel: I hope this happens.

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