How Sabrina Ionescu, A’ja Wilson and Sue Bird Are Fueling WNBA's ‘Momentum’ Ahead of New Season (Exclusive)

WNBA stars Sabrina Ionescu and A'ja Wilson and retired champion Sue Bird spoke exclusively to PEOPLE on the set of their new CarMax commercial

As the WNBA returns for its 28th season, basketball stars Sabrina Ionescu, A'ja Wilson and Sue Bird are ready for the new eyes on the women's league.

The 2024 season tips off on Tuesday, May 14 with more hype than ever, thanks to the fresh crop of rookies like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, along with returning stars like Ionescu, 26, and Wilson, 27.

And for the now-retired Bird, 43, the new season is a chance for her to fuel the momentum of women's basketball in new ways, including ownership in her former team, the Seattle Storm.

A four-time WNBA champion, Bird says that the WNBA's exponential rise in popularity has been "years in the making, and now we're just seeing it blossom," she tells PEOPLE on the set of a new commercial for CarMax, one of the league's longtime partners.

"It takes a lot of different people. In this case, CarMax's support. It takes that support to get to this point. So for me personally, even though I'm retired now, it's still so amazing to stay connected, to see it all unfolding, the brand partnerships, to see other athletes getting involved. It's really special for me," Bird shares.

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Looking ahead to the next few years, the league is in great shape, says Bird, noting she's "really excited for their media rights deal." Their current deal expires in 2025, per Forbes, allowing them to find new and bigger streaming partners. "I think that's going to be big. I think it's going to be the marker of a turning point for a lot of different reasons, so I'm excited for that."

Plus, Bird adds, "We're adding new franchises. It's like a whole new world," referencing the newly-named Golden State Valkyries, who will begin playing in 2025.

For two-time MVP Wilson, the goal this season is to lead the Las Vegas Aces to a third consecutive championship. "We obviously want to repeat. We want to go after it again," she says on the set of CarMax's ad in Los Angeles, California.

Of the league's opportunity for another historic season in ticket sales and viewership, Wilson tells PEOPLE, "I think that's a beautiful thing. I was blessed to be a part of the momentum of the push now that we see, so it's pretty cool to watch it grow, to watch it expand, but also putting people on notice."

Wilson notes that many of the new eyes on the WNBA are following college basketball stars like Clark and Reese to the professional league, which comes with its own set of challenges. After Clark's four-year salary was revealed, social media was set ablaze with comments from disgruntled users calling out the league for not paying her more.

What they didn't know, however, is that the WNBA has long been hoping to increase player salaries, and can only do so by bringing in more revenue with support from fans and sponsors.

"I think the new fans are kind of still trying to figure it out," says Wilson of the newly-minted WNBA fans that came in thanks to the 2024 draft class. "And then you have ones that have been there in the moment that's like, well, hold on, lemme tell you about something. Like, this is us. This is what we've been doing. We're true to this. Never new to this. And I think that's so key."

Wilson continues, "So I'm excited for the league just to have eyes on it just so people can see and support. I hope it continues. I hope it doesn't just stop at the collegiate level. I hope they follow 'em through pro. So I think that's going to be the eye-opener that I hope could continue to expand for us. I'm excited for it."

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For Ionescu, the focus of this offseason has been tying the knot with her husband, NFL player Hroniss Grasu, and training for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris.

"From the moment the season ended to now, I've had two USA basketball training camps," she says, noting that her work has focused on "speed, strength work, just being better all around."

In February, the New York Liberty star became the first WNBA player to compete in an NBA All-Star Weekend event, going head-to-head with Stephen Curry for the three-point contest. The matchup became the most-watched Saturday event in years, peaking at 5.4 million viewers for Curry vs. Ionescu.

Ionescu tells PEOPLE, "Steph and I both understood kind of the task at hand and what it is that we were trying to do, and we had fun doing it, but understood it was a lot bigger than ourselves in that moment, knowing there's going to be a lot of young kids that were tuned in and watching and understanding that they can go out there and do that as well."

Lending her time during a busy offseason to star in CarMax's commercial, of which the theme is "Never Settle", is important for Ionescu for the same reason. "It's a big day knowing what this is going to do for the landscape [of the WNBA]," Ionescu says.

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"The three of us being a part of this together, it is really exciting, and knowing that I'm in great company, they're the best in what they do, and all of us are kind of able to put aside our own teams and join one team with CarMax and being able to represent ourselves in the league is really an opportunity that I know we're all really excited for," says Ionescu.

Wilson adds that CarMax's "Never Settle" theme feels like a seamless tie-in to the WNBA and offers the league's stars the chance to actually become stars by gaining fans through commercials and media exposure.

"When you're a part of a brand, you want it to actually showcase your personality, and I think they do a great job of doing that," Wilson says. "Never losing my personality, and I think it kind of plays into the never-settling part. So I'm excited just to go out there and just be myself and have fun. I normally laugh at the commercials, so it's going to be pretty awesome to be on one now."

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