If one were to ask many a pundit prior to the tip-off of the 2025 WNBA season, many of those prognosticators would claim that there are four teams that are primary contenders. They would likely say that the other nine W teams are seeking to get to where those core four are.
One could perhaps say that for those four teams that one word is front and center on their respective minds on their 2025 vision boards.
Ironically – those words all begin with “re” for the New York Liberty, Las Vegas Aces, Minnesota Lynx and Indiana Fever. Without further ado, here is why 2025 could be the Year of the “re” for that quartet of contenders.
New York Liberty – Repeat
For the Liberty, the objective for 2025 is obvious – replicate the feat it accomplished last season when it won its first-ever championship in the franchise’s history.
New York is one of the Original Eight franchises still around – and it finally experienced championship euphoria last October. Going into this season, it was a fair question as to what this version of the Liberty would resemble given Courtney Vandersloot’s return to the Chicago Sky and an injury to Betnijah Laney-Hamilton.
As of this writing, the returns have been good so far for the seafoam, black and copper. Sandy Brondello’s Liberty are one of two undefeated teams remaining in the WNBA at 3-0 and recently passed a tough test by coming from behind to defeat the Indiana Fever at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
We knew that Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones would get their shine but Natasha Cloud is displaying early why she has become such a fan favorite at Barclays Center. If she keeps it up, she may have a Brooklyn street named in her honor like how Manhattan has done for New York Knicks players.
Las Vegas Aces – Rebound, Reclaim, Redeem
When a team goes back-to-back in WNBA Finals, failing to grab the brass ring the following season makes said campaign look like a letdown.
That is what happened to the Aces in 2024. Following Las Vegas’ 2023 triumph over the Liberty, Becky Hammon’s team was beginning to have the d-word (dynasty) attached to it. That hit a slight snag last season in the semifinals against a New York team that was determined to right its wrong from 2023.
On paper, a team with A’ja Wilson, Jewell Loyd, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young is among the class of the WNBA. So far, the returns have been a bit mixed. The Aces are 2-2 but one of those two was a nail-biter against the Washington Mystics at Michelob Ultra Arena. Las Vegas was recently on the receiving end of a 102-82 loss on the road at the Seattle Storm.
It is early – and the Aces encountered these struggles last season as well only to be one of the last four teams standing. But if Las Vegas keeps taking losses like this, we may see Wilson bring out the plain white tees early – with the A’One logo on it, of course.
Minnesota Lynx – Revenge
There are now two years that if mentioned to Lynx fans will lead to more than a few four-letter words being bellowed. Those two seasons are 2016 and 2024 where fans in Minny believe they were robbed out of championships both seasons.
In many ways, both Cheryl Reeve’s Lynx and Hammon’s Aces are on revenge tours. We are only a few games in a 2025 season that is more of a marathon than ever. But Minnesota’s early returns are a bit better than those of Las Vegas.
The Lynx are the second of the only two remaining unbeaten WNBA teams as of this writing. One of those victories was a miraculous come-from-behind victory over the Connecticut Sun to preserve Minnesota’s perfect record – and leave the Sun winless so far in the young season.
A 33-point, 11-rebound, three-assist, three-steal, three-block performance by Napheesa Collier was simply too much for the Sun to withstand. So were the 13 points, six rebounds and four assists from Jessica Shepard. So were the 11 points and three rebounds of Natisha Hiedeman. The Lynx returned all five of its starters from last season’s team – and its revenge tour so far has been nothing short of – electric.
Indiana Fever – Reset, Rebirth
Our final team spotlighted here is the Indiana Fever – arguably the highest profile of all WNBA teams nowadays.
The near-meteoric rise of Stephanie White’s Fever from cellar dwellers to championship contenders has Indiana thinking about two “re” words. One is reset – a reset of what the contenders’ space looks like in the WNBA – a space that has been dominated by New York and Las Vegas as of late with Minnesota re-entering said space last season.
The other is rebirth as the Fever have not experienced this type of hype since the Tamika Catchings days.
As of this writing, the Fever are 2-2. Indiana began the season with an emphatic win at home over the Chicago Sky and have played nail-biters against the Liberty and Atlanta Dream. The Fever split the home-and-home with the Dream and lost a narrow contest to New York.
One can say that as of this writing Aliyah Boston has looked more like the MVP candidate more than Caitlin Clark has. Clark in the two games against the Liberty and Dream has only shot two of 16 from 3-point range – her signature shot. She has found other ways to help her team win – distributing the ball, primarily and she will find her stroke from deep again. After all, there is only one way to break out of a shooting slump – keep on shooting.
