The WNBA returns from its five-day All-Star break on Tuesday with a trade deadline coming up on Sunday. While the first half of the season ran for 11 weeks, the second consists of an eight-week sprint which includes a 17-day break from August 31 through September 16 for the FIBA World Cup in Berlin, Germany. Following the World Cup break, the league will be in a dash to the postseason with just eight days left of the regular season.
The All-Star break has enabled our WNBA experts Jackie Powell and Cole Huff to reflect upon questions we had for each WNBA heading into the start of the season. Have these teams answered our preseason questions or is that still to be determined? Let’s dive in.
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Atlanta Dream: How much of a leap will Angel Reese take playing for Karl Smesko?
Midseason answer: As of now, the leap has been marginal. Her scoring has increased year over year under 5 percent, averaging 15.4 points per game this season compared to 14.7 last season. Meanwhile her rebounding averages, assists per game, and overall field goal percentage has all also marginally decreased in 2026. Did I jump the gun to assume that the work going on behind the scenes would translate immediately? Probably. Reese has a whole new system and teammates to get used to.
Reese has also been put in fewer situations for facilitating which explains why her assist averages have gone down from 3.7 to 2.4 this season. But I do wonder if Reese playing more of power forward rather than center will help showcase what she’s been working on a bit more? That’s possible too as Brionna Jones is back from injury and will continue to get reintegrated into playing alongside with Reese. – Jackie Powell
Chicago Sky: What will Natasha Cloud and Skylar Diggins’ on-court fit look like?
Midseason answer: Not great, but maybe it could improve? Why am I not surprised? This came as absolutely no shock to me when Skylar Diggins took to Instagram to express that she was going to be benched to make room for Courtney Vandersloot who has been impressive for a player of her age coming off an ACL tear.
Someone was going to have to shift to the bench on a roster with literally three point guards who have very similar limitations. But when Cloud signed late, I didn’t think it was going to be Diggins to sacrifice. The lineup numbers are interesting and do reveal that Vandersloot has played better with Cloud on the floor rather than Diggins. According to PBP stats, the Sky’s net rating with Cloud and Vandersloot on the court (-1.04) is much better than Cloud and Diggins (-12.60).
Diggins hasn’t played since the news of her benching because she later revealed that the Sky’s lack of resources to help her recover from knee surgery that she got this past October have contributed to her subpar play especially defensively. When it comes to when Diggins might return to play, the Sky have been relatively mum on that. “I would say more week to week in terms of being communicative with our medical team and with Skylar, in terms of how she’s feeling and progressing,” head coach Tyler Marsh said on Monday. – Jackie Powell
Connecticut Sun: What is the Sun’s plan for Hailey Van Lith?
Midseason answer: Van Lith became one of the Sun’s developmental players on May 30 as the arrival of Leïla Lacan following her overseas season pushed her off the 12-person roster. Lacan has emerged as the Sun’s best all-around player as she’s continued to play excellent defense coupled with averaging the second most points on the team with 12.8.
Van Lith, however, has played in all of her 12 games as a developmental player, the maximum amount that a developmental player can play in according to the 2026 collective bargaining agreement. Also, for the sake of the upcoming August 2 trade deadline, developmental players cannot be traded. Speaking of the deadline, the Suns ought to be sellers and if during the deadline they make roster room, they could convert Van Lith back to a standard contract. – Jackie Powell
Dallas Wings: Will the Wings deploy a three-guard starting lineup?
Midseason answer: Yes, but not immediately. It took a couple of weeks for Azzi Fudd to earn a starting gig alongside Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale, but she’s now started 20 games and played well. She hasn’t been quite as efficient as a scorer since becoming a starter, likely due to the higher volume and more attention she’s attracted as she’s logged more games. But of Dallas’ most-used five-player lineups, the trio appears often in the units with the best net ratings, according to WNBA.com. The Wings are winning games with the triad playing heavy minutes together, which is certainly a positive, given the investments made in each of the three players. – Cole Huff
Golden State Valkyries: Will the Valkyries continue the momentum from the inaugural season?
Midseason answer: YES! Head coach Natalie Nakase’s team has taken the baton from the inaugural season’s success and hit a new top speed. As I write this piece, the Valkyries are second in the WNBA standings and just one game removed from a nine-game winning streak. They’ve beaten up on some quality opponents so far this season — multiple wins already over New York, Indiana, and Atlanta — and have a nice win over Dallas, as well. They’ve got the best defense in the league and, if key players like Veronica Burton and Kayla Thornton can hit another level offensively, the Valkyries can truly become a problem for any team to deal with come postseason. But maybe they already are, despite just a middle-of-the-pack offensive rating. Golden State has a favorable schedule to end the regular season, as well — finishing strong and maintaining homecourt advantage come October would be a big deal for a team who currently has the highest winning percentage at home this season. – Cole Huff
Indiana Fever: How will the Fever address their defense in the backcourt?
Midseason answer: It’s still clearly a work in progress. As of now the Fever are one of those teams that is really reliant on their much better offense and that has been able to win them games. Right now their defensive rating is 107, seventh and in that mid-tier across the league. The Fever also give up the most points in the paint, on average they allow 44 per game. That likely stems from two issues: 1) outside of Aliyah Boston, the Fever lack frontcourt size, and 2) their guards and wings don’t generate enough ball pressure at the point of attack.
While this might not be a huge problem right now, the reason I asked this question was specifically because of the playoffs and how perimeter defense is going to matter and that’s typically a hole in their roster, something that the Fever should expect to be exploited in a playoff series.
Just some on-off numbers to continue to keep in mind. According to PBP stats, when the Fever’s guards in Kelsey Mitchell, Ty Harris, and Caitlin Clark are put in different on-off permutations, the Fever’s best defensive ratings are without Clark on the floor. Their best defensive rating 102.04 includes just Ty Harris without both Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, meanwhile their second best defensive rating of 108.66 including Mitchell and Harris. The Fever’s overall best defensive lineup according to WNBA advanced stats is when Mitchell, Sophie Cunningham, Harris, Aliyah Boston and Makayla Timpson share the floor. I realize that this also excludes Clark. – Jackie Powell
Las Vegas Aces: Can this Aces core repeat again?
Midseason answer: I think so? The Aces have looked much better through the first part of the 2026 regular season than they did the 2025 season; that’s not even up for debate. But what they did post-All-Star break in 2025 is what ultimately put them in position to enter the postseason in peak form before running off their third championship in four seasons. It’s not fair to expect them to go on anything close to the 16-game winning streak of last season, but are they good enough, with the majority of the most recent championship’s core back together? Certainly, but that doesn’t mean they will. Chennedy Carter’s surprise release changes the offensive potential of this team and leaves pressure on Jewell Loyd and Dana Evans to step up and complement the first unit. But, hey, they passed the test a season ago. – Cole Huff
Los Angeles Sparks: Will the Sparks end their playoff drought?
Midseason answer: TBD, but unlikely. The good vibes of getting franchise legend Nneka Ogwumike back in the door haven’t led to as much winning the organization would have hoped for. Kelsey Plum has missed more than half of the season due to injury. The Ariel Atkins trade hasn’t worked out. And the Sparks fired their general manager midway through the season. In other words, there’s A LOT going on in Los Angeles, and not much of it has been the type of news the team could have wanted. The Sparks have lost five straight games and sit in 11th place, four games behind the eight-seeded Washington Mystics with 18 games left in their regular season. A playoff appearance seems highly unlikely at this point. – Cole Huff
Minnesota Lynx: Can this Lynx team hold down the fort until Napheesa Collier returns?
Midseason answer: YES! A 21-6 record, one of the best defensive ratings in the league, and the top spot in the WNBA standings; that’s where the Minnesota Lynx stood before Collier’s season debut one game before All-Star Weekend. How’s that for an answer? Not much really needs to be said here that new and older followers of the W don’t already understand — 1) Cheryl Reeve is arguably the greatest to ever do it when it comes to coaching, and 2) Olivia Miles is special. Together with Collier’s return, this could be the year Minnesota gets over the hump. – Cole Huff
New York Liberty: Will the Liberty be able to fully unlock their depth?
Midseason answer: No they have not. A team full of hypotheticals last season in 2025 has stayed a team full of them in 2026. The Liberty have maintained barely any consistency this season with 13 different starting lineups used during the first half of the season.
While it looked like the team was about to turn the corner following their win of the Commissioner’s Cup championship, an unexpected left foot injury to Leonie Fiebich, the team’s connector and best perimeter defender put the Liberty in scramble mode. It’s been almost a month since Fiebich has last played in a game. When she spoke to reporters right before the All-Star break, she noted that she “took a bad step” against the Lynx on July 3.
New York has been searching and discovering that their depth on paper hasn’t matched what the team actually wanted in practice. I also haven’t mentioned Satou Sabally who has now been out over a month after she suffered another concussion in the Liberty’s win over the Aces on June 22. The Liberty’s wing depth has absolutely been dried up by injuries that don’t have firm timetables as the team has shied away from providing concrete information on the status of either.
And then there’s the Betnijah Laney-Hamilton of it all. Laney-Hamilton had been working hard on gaining back her rhythm after being out an entire season. While in very limited bursts she’s looked a step slower than she used to be pre-injury, she still has provided the Liberty with value as she can provide ball pressure, toughness and feel for the game that the players who have been playing instead of her do not have. After a step forward where she looked more confident in minutes against the Toronto Tempo which coincidentally was the “shoe gate” game, the Liberty haven’t played her presumably because they are looking to trade her by the August 2 trade deadline. – Jackie Powell
Phoenix Mercury: How will the Mercury replace Satou Sabally’s production?
Midseason answer: They can’t. The Mercury hasn’t overcome the loss of Sabally, which is one of the big reasons why this 2025 championship runner-up is on the verge of missing the postseason entirely. To be fair, Sabally hasn’t had the most ideal of seasons over in New York, where she’s been limited by several injuries. But the length and versatility she provided on the perimeter were important on both ends of the floor. Phoenix hasn’t been consistently good on either offense or defense so far. However, the team is coming off two straight wins and faces a crucial point in their schedule coming out of the All-Star break, where half of the first eight games are against teams with losing records. If they want to at least make a run at the playoffs, they’ll need to get going over these next two weeks. – Cole Huff
Portland Fire: Can the Fire become the latest expansion team to have Year 1 success?
Midseason answer: Yes. Does success mean getting fans in the arena and putting out a quality product? Does success mean making the playoffs, as the Valkyries did in their first season? Or perhaps success is identifying a player to build around for the future. Portland checks two of these three boxes already, with one of the league’s top home attendances thus far and identifying a gem in Carla Leite found during the expansion draft to help carry the franchise forward. Even with a rough 3-7 record over the past ten games, the Fire are only 3.5 games behind the Washington Mystics for the eighth and final playoff spot. Whether they sneak into the playoffs or not, I’d say I’ve seen enough to determine this season to be a success. Still lots of basketball to be played, though. – Cole Huff
Seattle Storm: What does the Storm’s frontcourt rotation look like?
Midseason answer: The Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam show.
Ezi Magbagor was supposed to play a role in making frontcourt minutes tougher to allocate between herself, Malonga, and Fam, but she’s only been able to play in four games thus far due to injury.
Getting Fam in the building and into uniform for her debut came after the regular season had already begun, and Malonga’s concussion kept the two from logging many minutes together early on in the season. But, two months later, the tandem is looking like one of the scariest and most intimidating the W could offer for years to come. Fam and Malonga offer similar strengths and weaknesses on both ends of the floor — floor spacing and rim protection being the two noteworthy. And while their individual success hasn’t led to wins yet, they’ve built plenty of reps together. However, Magbegor’s eventual return could complicate things again and leave us with the same question. – Cole Huff
Toronto Tempo: Will Sandy Brondello continue her playoff streak?
Midseason answer: The streak most likely will be snapped. Although unless the Tempo go on a roll and the Washington Mystics are sellers at the trade deadline, it’s still possible, but not probable.
As it stands, the Tempo are four games behind the Mystics for the eighth seed at 10-16. Injuries to some of Toronto’s most impactful players including Kiki Rice and Brittney Sykes have been part of the reason for their slippage way below that of a .500 team, which head coach Sandy Brondello believed her team could be while healthy. But with Sykes expected to miss more weeks rather than days, the Tempo are “where they are supposed to be” according to their head coach.
What makes the playoffs even more improbable for Toronto is the fact that they have the second-toughest remaining schedule according to Tankathon while the Mystics, the team they are chasing, have the fifth-easiest. – Jackie Powell
Washington Mystics: How many three-pointers will the Mystics take and make?
Midseason answer: So far the Mystics have taken exactly 513 three-pointers in 26 games played. The Mystics have made just 149 three-pointers leading into the second half of the season. Washington has averaged 19.7 three-point attempts, 5.7 three-point makes and has shot them at a 29 percent clip this season. All of those metrics are second worst in the league, only above the Connecticut Sun.
While the Mystics are just slightly taking more three-pointers than they did in 2025, up over 15 percent from their previous average, this is a team that still has been able to win games. Going into this second half of the season, the Mystics are comfortably the No. 8 seed by 3.5 games if the playoffs began today. How have they won 14 games as the second worst three-point shooting team in the league? The Mystics have been tied with the Dallas Wings as the second best clutch team in the league, winning 11 of their 14 games in clutch time.
Based on what Mystics rookie Lauren Betts told Sue Bird at the beginning of the season, it seems like Washington is right on track and might not be the sellers at the deadline. It’s always difficult to know the plan with the Mystics, but head coach Sydney Johnson’s energy, personality and unique locker room celebrations have helped elevate the one of the youngest teams in the league amid the shooting struggles they still face. – Jackie Powell
