Season highlights • On June 15, 2009, only three games into the
Detroit Shock season, seven-year head coach and general manager
Bill Laimbeer announced his resignation.
Rick Mahorn was promoted to head coach, and Cheryl Reeve took over GM duties. • On July 5, 2009, reigning
MVP Candace Parker returned to the court for the first time since giving birth just 53 days earlier. • On July 12, 2009,
Sacramento Monarchs general manager
John Whisenant announced that head coach
Jenny Boucek would be relieved of her duties after a 3–10 start to the season. Whisenant took over the position while maintaining his GM duties. • On July 31, 2009,
New York Liberty general manager
Carol Blazejowski announced that
Pat Coyle would be fired as the head coach after a 6–11 start to the season. Assistant coach
Anne Donovan took over the job on an interim basis. • On August 10, 2009,
Los Angeles Sparks center
Lisa Leslie recorded her 6,000th career point in her team's win against the
Indiana Fever. Leslie was the first player in WNBA history to reach the 6,000 point plateau. • On August 15, 2009,
Seattle Storm forward
Lauren Jackson recorded her 5,000th career point in her team's loss against the
Atlanta Dream. Jackson was the fourth player to reach the 5,000 point plateau; she was, however, the fastest and the youngest to do so. • On August 17, the
Chicago Sky announced a change of home venue, effective with the 2010 season. The team would abandon their original home of
UIC Pavilion on the campus of the
University of Illinois at Chicago and move to
Allstate Arena in suburban
Rosemont. • The
Phoenix Mercury averaged a league-best (and highest in WNBA history) 92.8 points per game. Fixed for a 48-minute game (111.4 points per game), the Mercury's average surpassed the highest scoring team in the
WNBA. • The
Phoenix Mercury shot 85.5% from the free-throw line. This clip is the best team free-throw percentage in
WNBA and
NBA history. • On September 25, 2009,
NBA legend
Larry Bird purchased about 9,000 balcony tickets to the
Indiana Fever vs.
Detroit Shock game three of the
Eastern Conference Finals. The tickets were then distributed at the Fever box office free-of-charge to fans. Bird had the sole intent of filling the arena to support the Fever, who had never advanced to the
WNBA Finals. Announced attendance at the game was 18,165 and the Fever beat the Shock. • On September 28, 2009,
Phoenix Suns general manager
Steve Kerr purchased about 7,000 balcony tickets to the
Phoenix Mercury vs.
Indiana Fever game one of the
2009 WNBA Finals. The tickets were then distributed at the Mercury box office free-of-charge to fans. Kerr wanted to follow up Bird's similar action stating that he knows how important a large crowd can be in a Finals series.
End-of-season business report • The WNBA's regular season on
ESPN2 (13 telecasts) concluded with an average of 269,000 viewers, up 8% vs. 2008 season (248,000 viewers). In addition, regular-season games on ESPN2 saw increases in key demographics, including men 18-34 (+9%), men 18-49 (+14%) and men 23-54 (+23%). • Ratings and viewership for Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on ESPN2 were up 39 percent (.43 rating vs. .31 rating for Game 1 of the '08 WNBA Finals) and 59 percent respectively (555,000 viewers vs. 348,000 viewers), making Game 1 the most viewed WNBA game on cable since Game 4 of the '07 WNBA Finals (Shock vs. Mercury) on ESPN2 (669,000). ==Regular season==