After playing the 2023 season with 7 teams aligned in a single-table format, Mexico's LMBPF, or Mexican Women's Professional Basketball League, has a current 2024 lineup featuring 12 teams aligned in a six-team Zona Norte (North Zone) and a six-team Zona Sur (South Zone). As of now, the Leñadoras de Durango are gone but six new teams called the Libelulas de Ciudad de Mexico (Mexico City), Mineras de Zacatecas, CB Cinnamon (Mexico City), Husky's de Querétaro, Toritas de Celaya and Avispas de .Chilpancingo (Guerrero) were added
Rosters are mostly Mexican players taking a cheap salary to play in the summer. Not even sure what some former WNBA players made last year, but it wasn't much.
After playing the 2023 season with 7 teams aligned in a single-table format, Mexico's LMBPF, or Mexican Women's Professional Basketball League, has a current 2024 lineup featuring 12 teams aligned in a six-team Zona Norte (North Zone) and a six-team Zona Sur (South Zone). As of now, the Leñadoras de Durango are gone but six new teams called the Libelulas de Ciudad de Mexico (Mexico City), Mineras de Zacatecas, CB Cinnamon (Mexico City), Husky's de Querétaro, Toritas de Celaya and Avispas de .Chilpancingo (Guerrero) were added
To be clear, this is not the LNBP, but the other, older Mexican league that had nowhere near the pull for foreign players, but it seems like a good sign that they were able to get to twelve teams after the other league's first two seasons clearly hurt them. This league is barely professional so not a ton of money is spent. Most of the Mexican players there work full time jobs so the format is two games, usually on Saturday night and Sunday morning, in the same location so that players can travel after work and make it back for the next work week. Now if the LNBP can also get to twelve teams or more this season (they had fourteen men's teams this past season), then it would be crazy that Mexico has two national "professional" leagues with as many teams as the WNBA. The LNBP does make a decent amount of money off fans, but still relies heavily on ownership. They do not pay a ton per season, but is a lot better per month than most leagues so their short season model will always attract players.
Thanks. Wasn't aware Mexico has two different leagues. So the LNBP is the pro league and this league is their semi-pro league then.
Those are the two national leagues with overlapping seasons. There are also smaller regional leagues that run during the offseason of the national leagues that have teams that sign Americans, sometimes ones that would be considered fairly reputable on the global scale. Whether the LNBP Femenil helps lift up the entire women's basketball ecosystem in Mexico or is an unsustainable fad will be interesting to watch. There is a reasonable amount of money sloshing around on the men's regional side. One of the more unusual G League stories over the years was when a player got a bigger money offer from Mexico and just left his team because it was an unsanctioned league so the NBA could not ask FIBA to do anything to stop him.
Haven't seen any other signings yet of undrafted players other than this one.
I have only been lightly paying attention to signings, but I did see that Javyn Nicholson signed with Aguascalientes. Other than as sort of the last foreigners or fill ins for players coming in late from Europe or temporary placeholders until people start getting cut from WNBA camps, it is hard to see that level of rookie making an immediate impact.