One of the first things that came to mind when setting up this week’s column is this: the WNBA is in a fun spot.
If you look at the top of the league, three teams — Dallas Wings, Golden State Valkyries, Minnesota Lynx — hold winning streaks of five or more games, and each should have legitimate cases to contend for a championship this season. But a bad week for either of those above-mentioned squads could cancel out all the good they’ve done over the past couple of weeks or so as it relates to the standings. Both the Lynx and Valkyries are either two games or fewer ahead of the defending champion and third-seeded Las Vegas Aces in the standings, while the Wings, who would have homecourt advantage in the first round if the playoffs started today, are only 1.5 games ahead of the fifth-seeded Atlanta Dream and sixth-seeded Indiana Fever.
The bottom of the league is interesting for different reasons. Teams with well-respected and decorated players, like the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury, are clearly invested in the now, but are far away from contention at this point in the season — the Mercury were in the WNBA Finals less than one year ago and have returned a fairly similar roster, and the Sparks traded away one of their best young players during the offseason to add a one-time league MVP to a group of former champions in attempt to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2020. Both are on the outside of the current playoff bracket, facing a real dilemma in the second half of this season — fight for a playoff spot or focus on draft positioning.
Meanwhile, the Connecticut Sun and Seattle Storm headline the short list of teams poorly positioned to make the 2026 postseason, but well positioned to land a top spot in the upcoming WNBA Draft Lottery and add a potential franchise-changing prospect to their young core. Each of the two teams has shown some promise over the past few weeks, but not enough to gain any ground in the standings. They each will have opportunities to continue developing their young core, but any sustained win streaks could jeopardize draft positioning, with the Chicago Sky and aforementioned Mercury not far above them in the standings.
For those reasons, the already-exhilarating post-All-Star push will have additional storylines to look forward to and more reasons to tune in. But before getting there, let’s get into this shortened week of games ahead and which ones to circle before a fun weekend.
THE WEEK AHEAD
New York Liberty @ Dallas Wings
(Monday, July 20 at 8 p.m. ET on WNBA League Pass)
New York and Dallas have already met twice this season, with both games taking place in the Big Apple. Both contests ended in double-digit margins of victory for the Wings, who received strong showings from Jessica Shepard each time. Head-to-head results aside, this is a big game for the Liberty, who have won just two of their last 10 games and find themselves hovering towards the bottom of the current playoff picture. If they are to get back on track and find some positive momentum heading into the All-Star Break, the Liberty probably won’t want to find itself in a situation where Paige Bueckers, if able to play (head injury), performs like the best backcourt player on the floor while Shepard wins the frontcourt matchup. I’d expect a massive impact from the Big 3 of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Sabrina Ionescu — they’ll need big efforts to simultaneously stop their four-game slide and end Dallas’ six-game winning streak.
Minnesota Lynx @ Seattle Storm
(Monday, July 20 at 10 p.m. ET on USA Network)
Seattle has had some eyebrow-raising moments lately, mostly in the individual performances of its first- and second-year players. The young core has impressed on both ends of the floor and really illustrated how good the Storm could become down the road. But in the meantime, this is still a group struggling to win games — Seattle has lost four straight and owns the league’s worst record at 6-21. But what makes this Monday-night matchup so intriguing? We get a battle between two teams heading in opposite directions. The first-place Lynx, winners of five straight, have two opportunities this week to avoid a “trap game” situation and go into the All-Star Weekend with the WNBA’s best record for the second time in as many years. It should be a fun battle in the Pacific Northwest.
Las Vegas Aces @ Washington Mystics
(Wednesday, July 22 at 7:30 p.m. ET on WNBA League Pass)
Of the current top-8 teams, Washington is the only one with a losing home record, and Vegas has one of the best road records in the WNBA this season. Therefore, the Aces will undoubtedly win this one, right? Well, it depends on what type of game is being played — a high-scoring, offensive game is what favors the Aces, who own one of the league’s top offensive ratings — they’ve reached the century mark seven times this season and won each time, and have a 16-2 record when scoring at least 80 points. While the Mystics aren’t by any means a great team when they struggle to score points, they’ll be best served to avoid getting into a shootout with Las Vegas. Washington has one of the W’s best defensive ratings entering this shortened week before the All-Star break and has held opponents below 80 points in four of its last five wins.
Connecticut Sun @ Indiana Fever
(Wednesday, July 22 at 8 p.m. ET on USA Network)
The fascinating thing about the Fever is that you always know what you could get from them, but never know which team is going to show up. At their best, this is an elite offensive unit with two outstanding scorers, Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell, operating as the catalysts. At the same time, Indiana has lost to three teams with under-.500 records this season — Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Washington. It beat Connecticut 85-75 earlier in the teams’ lone matchup just over one month ago, but a better-operating Sun team should take the floor in Wednesday’s meeting. Connecticut has won five of its last nine games, bolstering a top-3 defense during that stretch. Indiana’s offense has been the best in the league over that same period, making Wednesday’s clash of styles an unpredictable one for the final score.
Team Spoon vs. Team Coop
(Saturday, July 25 at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC/Disney+)
Appropriately, the final must-watch game of the week is Saturday’s All-Star Game. The United Center will host the star-studded event, blending multi-time and first-time All-Stars. These showcases are typically high-scoring, as seen in last season’s 151-131 final score or the 134-112 game the last time it was in Chicago (2022). They also favor guards. So between early-career guards like Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, and Olivia Miles, and veterans like Courtney Williams and Kelsey Mitchell, there should be no shortage of entertainment on Saturday.
