Chosen as the number one draft pick by the Dallas Diamonds in the pioneering Women’s Professional Basketball League.
On a date recorded here as June 10, 1980, Nancy Lieberman was selected as the number one draft choice of the Dallas Diamonds in the Women’s Professional Basketball League (WBL). As the league’s top pick, she transitioned from collegiate superstar to professional trailblazer in a pioneering women’s basketball league that operated before the WNBA.
The WBL, launched in the late 1970s, represented one of the first attempts to create a sustainable professional platform for women basketball players in the United States. Lieberman’s status as the overall number one selection underscored both her talent and her marketability; she was seen as a cornerstone player around whom a franchise could build competitive success and fan interest.
Her drafting carried historical significance because it demonstrated that women’s professional basketball—though financially fragile—could recognize and invest in star power similar to men’s leagues. Lieberman’s subsequent success with the Diamonds, including MVP honors and leading them to a championship in a successor league, reinforced the viability of professional opportunities for women athletes. In the context of early 1980s sports culture, her number one draft status was a key step toward the eventual creation of more stable women’s pro leagues, showing young players that there was a pathway beyond college.