To celebrate its 20th season, the WNBA has picked 20 of its greatest and most influential players -- including nine who are still active. Four of them represent the two teams that entered Tuesday with perfect records.
Minnesota's Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus and Lindsay Whalen all made the "20@20" squad, as did Los Angeles' Candace Parker. The 12-0 Lynx meet the 11-0 Sparks on Tuesday and again Friday.
"I grew up watching the WNBA," said Moore, whose Lynx have won three of the past five league titles. "To be in a class of athletes of the caliber that this league has produced over the past 20 years is a huge honor."
The other five active players who were honored are Seattle's Sue Bird, New York's Swin Cash, Indiana's Tamika Catchings, Chicago's Cappie Pondexter and Phoenix's Diana Taurasi.
The 11 former players chosen, in alphabetical order, are Cynthia Cooper, Yolanda Griffith, Becky Hammon, Lauren Jackson, Lisa Leslie, Deanna Nolan, Ticha Penicheiro, Katie Smith, Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson and Teresa Weatherspoon.
The 20 were chosen by a 15-member committee that included legendary players Ann Meyers Drysdale and Carol Blazejowski, current coaches Cheryl Reeve of Minnesota and Michael Cooper of Atlanta, former coaches Van Chancellor and Anne Donovan, and members of the media.
Fourteen of the 15 players who were honored in 2011 when the league celebrated its 15th season made this year's list of 20. Dawn Staley was on the list five years ago but didn't make Tuesday's group.
Among the 2016 honorees, only three do not have at least one WNBA title: Weatherspoon, Hammon and Parker. Weatherspoon played her first seven years in New York before retiring in 2004 after one season in Los Angeles. Parker is in her ninth season with the Sparks.
The top 20 is guard-heavy, as 11 perimeter players made the list. Of the nine post players who made it, only two were the more classic, back-to-the-basket centers: Leslie and Griffith. Parker and Jackson are considered more versatile at the center position.
Two international players were honored: Australia's Jackson, who officially retired this year, and Portugal's Penicheiro, who retired in 2012. The oldest active player is Catchings, who turns 37 in July and plans to retire after the season. The youngest player is Moore, who turned 27 in June.
Moore is also one of four UConn alumni on the 20@20 list, along with Bird, Cash and Taurasi.
Taurasi, who has won three titles in Phoenix, said it meant a lot to her to be in a group that included both the "pioneers" of the WNBA and the current stars.
The more notable omissions among active players are Penny Taylor, who is in her 13th WNBA season and has been part of three championship teams at Phoenix, and Atlanta's Angel McCoughtry, who has helped the Dream get to the WNBA Finals three times and has averaged 19.5 points per game over her eight seasons in the league.
Among players who are retired or not currently active in the WNBA, there were three notable omissions who have eight league titles among them.
Four-time champion Janeth Arcain is the only member of the so-called Big Four for now-defunct Houston who wasn't on this list of 20. Two-time WNBA champion DeLisha Milton-Jones played 17 seasons in the league, and Taj McWilliams-Franklin won two WNBA titles in 14 years in the league.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.