WNBA Power Rankings: Liberty take over top spot, Fever break into top five
Credit to Author: Alexa Philippou| Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2024 22:01:00 EST
Welcome to the final edition of ESPN’s WNBA Power Rankings before the league’s nearly monthlong break for the All-Star Game and Paris Olympics.
This week’s list includes some meaningful shuffling: The New York Liberty reclaimed the top spot after an undefeated week. The Las Vegas Aces nearly knocked the Connecticut Sun down to third place, but the Sun’s 27-point victory Sunday over the Phoenix Mercury (who had Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi back in the starting lineup after recent injury issues) was enough to keep them in second for now.
The Seattle Storm and Indiana Fever moved up as well, while the Minnesota Lynx, still sans Napheesa Collier, dropped two spots and the Atlanta Dream, losers of seven straight games, took over as the new bottom team in the rankings.
Attention will soon shift away from the 2024 WNBA campaign and toward the All-Star Game on Saturday, which will feature the U.S. Olympic team duking it out against a group of WNBA All-Stars. The game will mark the first chance not only to see what Team USA looks like, but also to see players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese as teammates, as well as Sun teammates/fiancées Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner as competitors.
And there always seems to be a little bit of extra juice from players when there’s an opportunity to take down some Olympians.
Then many of the league’s best will head to Paris, and not just to represent the United States. Australia and Canada are among the teams boasting the most active WNBA players on rosters with seven and four, respectively. France has some familiar faces in Gabby Williams, Marine Johannes and Iliana Rupert.
The Aces are stacked with Olympians — four on Team USA plus Megan Gustafson (Spain) and Tiffany Hayes (Azerbaijan, 3×3).
So while the WNBA is on a hiatus, there will be plenty of basketball over the next month. And in the meantime, the WNBA has games Tuesday and Wednesday before the league presses the pause button.
Previous rankings: Preseason | May 20 | May 27 | June 3 | June 10 | June 17 | June 24 | July 1 | July 8
Previous ranking: 2
This week: vs. CON (July 16)
The Liberty couldn’t have asked for a better week of results. They beat the Sun in Connecticut on Wednesday and handily defeated the Sky on Thursday and Saturday. What was most impressive? They were without Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (knee) for all three games and Breanna Stewart (hamstring) on Saturday, the first time the latter has missed a contest since joining the franchise. But with bench players Leonie Fiebich, Kayla Thornton, Kennedy Burke and Ivana Dojkic stepping up, New York kept rolling and became the first team this season to reach the 20-win mark.
Another key component to the strong week: Sabrina Ionescu has been playing at an all-WNBA first-team level, including 28 points and six assists in Chicago on Saturday. The former No. 1 pick is now tied for the third-most 25-point, five-assist games through a WNBA player’s first five seasons with 17; only Cynthia Cooper (18) and Diana Taurasi (20) have more.
Previous ranking: 1
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This week: @ NY (July 16)
Following Wednesday’s 71-68 home loss to New York, the Sun regained some momentum with a 27-point win over Phoenix, their largest victory this season. The game ball went to Rachel Banham, whose eight 3-pointers (on 11 attempts) are the most of any bench player in league history. DiJonai Carrington also had a standout afternoon, notching her first career double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds) and playing strong second-half defense on Kahleah Copper.
Though they accumulated four losses over the past three weeks, the Sun’s 18-5 record still ties 2005 for their best start in franchise history.
Connecticut has another shot Tuesday in Brooklyn to finally knock off New York, which would help bolster its confidence for a championship run. Keep an eye on how the Sun start the game: They trailed by 10 at the end of the first quarter in each of their previous matchups this season against the Liberty.
Previous: 3
This week: vs. CHI (July 16)
Another week, another dominating run for A’ja Wilson. The MVP front-runner put up eye-popping stat lines all week: 24 points, 20 rebounds and 4 blocks against the Storm on Wednesday, 33 points, 18 rebounds and 5 blocks against the Dream on Friday and 28 points and 17 rebounds against the Mystics on Sunday. It made her the first player in league history to record 20 points and 15 rebounds in three consecutive games.
Beating Seattle on its home floor was huge for an Aces steam still looking to find its stride, and then the squad took care of business against the Dream. Things looked a little shaky Sunday when the Aces trailed by 15 early against the Mystics, but they erased the deficit to win by 12. Las Vegas now has two 15-point comeback victories this season, more than any other team in the league.
The Aces are 10-1 since Chelsea Gray returned to the lineup on June 19, with their sole loss coming on July 5 to the Sparks in overtime in the second game of a back-to-back.
Previous ranking: 5
This week: @ LA (July 16)
The Storm closed a nine-game homestand with a 7-2 record, their only losses coming to Chicago on July 5 and to the Aces on Wednesday. That stretch also coincided with Jordan Horston moving into the starting lineup, which has paid dividends. On Sunday, for example, the former Tennessee standout finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks in Seattle’s 81-70 victory over the Dream.
Nneka Ogwumike also rebounded from a quiet game against the Aces with 26 points and 7 boards against the Lynx, and while she didn’t have her biggest scoring night against Atlanta (10 points, 12 boards), she still tallied her 107th career double-double, good for fifth-most in WNBA history.
Skylar Diggins-Smith, meanwhile, was ruled out of the second half of Sunday’s game with an ankle injury. Will she return in time for Seattle’s final game Tuesday before the All-Star/Olympic break?
Previous ranking: 6
This week: @ DAL (July 17)
After a disappointing 89-84 loss to the Mystics, the Fever bounced back with victories over the Mercury and the Lynx, teams that are .500 or better. Sure, neither squad was at full strength (Phoenix was particularly shorthanded on Friday, and Minnesota was without Collier on Sunday), but the Fever will take whatever wins they can get in their quest to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Better yet: Indiana has prevailed in four of its past five games against teams entering with a winning record after starting the season 0-8 against such squads.
Sunday’s 81-74 win in Minneapolis — in an arena Caitlin Clark is well familiar with — was especially impressive, particularly in how the Fever doubled up the Lynx in the fourth quarter 28-14. Aliyah Boston notched her first career 15-point, 15-rebound game, and while Clark’s streak of consecutive double-doubles was snapped at five, she is averaging 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists per contest through her first 25 games of the season, something only Ionescu (twice), Candace Parker and Lindsay Whalen have done.
Following its 1-8 start, Indiana has gone 10-6 and has a winnable game remaining in Dallas prior to breaking for the Olympics.
Previous ranking: 4
This week: vs. ATL (July 17)
The Lynx have had better weeks. Still without Napheesa Collier (plantar fasciitis), they went 1-2, beating the Sparks but suffering their largest loss of the season to the Storm (28 points) and then falling at home to the Fever.
Including the game when Collier left early with her foot issue, Minnesota is 2-3 without her and sits at fourth in the standings. Collier’s absence has been felt on both ends: In the four games in which she has been out entirely, the Lynx’s offensive rating has plummeted to 10th in the league (94.8), and their defensive rating to fifth (99.0). In Minnesota’s 20 games with her, it ranks fourth (101.9) and first (92.2), respectively.
Cheryl Reeve’s squad has an opportunity to get back in the win column Wednesday when it hosts the skidding Dream.
Previous ranking: 7
This week: @ WAS (July 16)
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It was an up-and-down week. The injury bug got worse before it got better: The Mercury had just seven players available on Friday against the Fever, and then Brittney Griner exited the game with a hip injury. Fortunately for Phoenix, Griner, Natasha Cloud (who was sidelined Friday) and Diana Taurasi (who’d missed four of the previous five games) were all available Sunday at Connecticut. But the Sun steamrolled the Mercury 96-69 to hand Phoenix its largest loss of the season. Connecticut has been a tough matchup for Phoenix; two of its three 20-point losses this season were against the Sun.
On the bright side, Kahleah Copper continued to show out with back-to-back 30-point games Wednesday and Friday. She leads the WNBA this season with eight such games.
After going 1-2 on the week, the Mercury will look to find some footing and get above .500 on Tuesday when they face the Mystics on the road.
Previous ranking: 8
This week: @ LV (July 16)
The Sky went 1-2 on the week, beating Atlanta but dropping two games to the Liberty. Angel Reese‘s WNBA-record consecutive double-double streak ended at 15 on Saturday — she finished with 8 points and 16 rebounds — but she still has 18 games with 10-plus rebounds this season.
The losses to New York (by 15 and 14 points, respectively) were the Sky’s largest of the season, but Saturday’s game in Chicago felt ripe for the taking with the Liberty so shorthanded. Instead, the Sky put up just 67 points, their second fewest this season, including just 34 in the paint, tied for a season low.
One positive: Marina Mabrey seemed to rediscover her shooting stroke from deep, going 8-for-12 on 3-pointers against the Liberty.
Previous ranking: 9
This week: vs. PHO (July 16)
The Mystics haven’t seemed quite as bad this season as their record would indicate, and this week proved as much: They knocked off the Fever, who in the game prior had defeated the top-ranked Liberty. On Sunday, the Mystics dropped a tight one, 89-77, to the two-time defending champion Aces. In the first game, Washington led by as many as 22 points, good for their first 20-point lead of the season, and in the latter they jumped ahead by 15 before Las Vegas stormed back.
Ariel Atkins went off in both games, totaling 62 points, including a career-best 36 points against the Aces. The Mystics could use another big day from her to take down Phoenix on Tuesday.
Washington — which remains without Shakira Austin, Brittney Sykes and Karlie Samuelson — has gone 6-6 following an 0-12 start.
Previous ranking: 12
This week: vs. SEA (July 16)
After a 15-point loss to the Lynx, who were without Napheesa Collier, the Sparks rebounded with an 87-81 victory on Saturday over the Wings — only Los Angeles’ second road win of the season. Could Dearica Hamby, Rickea Jackson and Azura Stevens emerge as Los Angeles’ new big three? The trio combined for 66 points against Dallas, with Jackson (23) and Stevens (16) recording season highs in scoring. The rookie now has two 20-point games over her past three appearances, while Stevens appears to be finding her stride after missing the first 20 games of the season with an arm injury.
Previous ranking: 10
This week: vs. IND (July 17)
No team needs the Olympic break more than Dallas. The Wings suffered their 18th and 19th defeats on the season this week, falling to Phoenix and Los Angeles, and have surpassed their entire loss total from 2023 (18). Top scorer Arike Ogunbowale also has had a tough stretch, scoring 13 or fewer points in each of the past three games and shooting 10-for-42 in that span.
Dallas, which sits in last place in the WNBA standings, is hoping the return of Satou Sabally and Maddy Siegrist when play resumes next month will galvanize a late push for the playoffs. A win over Indiana at home on Wednesday would help them end the first half of the season on a positive note.
Previous ranking: 11
This week: @ MIN (July 17)
They don’t have the worst record in the league, but no one might be more down bad than the Dream. They haven’t won two games in a row since late May, but they could use a win, period. They sport the league’s longest active losing streak, at seven. With Rhyne Howard (ankle) out since mid-June and Jordin Canada (hand/finger) limited to four games this season, Atlanta is 3-11 since June 1 and has lost 10 of its past 11.
The silver lining: After dealing with an injury of her own, Aerial Powers returned Sunday against the Storm, a game in which Maya Caldwell also impressed as the team’s leading scorer (19 points). The Dream are two games back of eighth-place Chicago and need to get healthy over the next month if they want to claim a postseason berth.