With the entirety of the WNBA universe converging on Indianapolis for this year’s All-Star festivities, we have reached the “official” midway point of the 2025 season.
This means, it is time to assess the performances of our 13 teams with said season at its midway point. Some teams have performed above expectations and others have drastically underachieved. Not to mention, there is a newcomer to our class that is adjusting very well – one can even say – on the fly.
Without further ado, here are our letter grades we have assigned to our 13 teams at this point in the WNBA season.
We love a team on a full-scale revenge tour. Minnesota has played all season like last year’s loss in the Finals to the New York Liberty has been on repeat in their minds all season.
Napheesa Collier looks like the frontrunner for the MVP award this season. Courtney Williams has played like Courtney Williams. Coach Cheryl Reeve has done it again.
The one statistic that should scare the other 12 teams is that the Lynx are undefeated at Target Center. If the playoffs were to start today, the road to this year’s championship would go through the Twin Cities. Look out rest of WNBA.
The 2025 season for the defending champions has resembled the classic tale of two seasons – one where New York did indeed resemble defending champions and one where the Liberty resembled a team searching for answers.
Coach Sandy Brondello’s team already entered 2025 with Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and are now without Jonquel Jones who is nursing an ankle injury. Leonie Fiebich is back and the Lib still have Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and Natasha Cloud.
New York was probably within an eyelash of being dropped from an A- to a B+ but the team’s most recent victory over the Indiana Fever may be a sign of momentum heading into the break. The objective for the Liberty is simple – weather the storm until JJ returns.
Just as the Liberty have been bit by the injury bug, said creature has had its greasy and ashy paws all over the Mercury as well.
Despite this, Phoenix has held its own with Alyssa Thomas – an MVP candidate in her own right – steering the ship in the Valley. Satou Sabally, unfortunately, will miss All-Star and Kahleah Copper has only played in six games this season.
The Mercury’s biggest win of the season – outside of that recent win over Minnesota – may have been taking advantage of DeWanna Bonner’s desire to leave Indiana and bring her back to Arizona. There has been plenty of Coach of the Year chatter surrounding Nate Tibbetts. There needs to be plenty of Executive of the Year banter surrounding general manager Nick U’Ren.
It was very tempting to believe that the trade of Jewell Loyd to Las Vegas would have had a negative effect on the Storm. After all, the Gold Mamba has been a centerpiece of that franchise from the second Seattle drafted her out of Notre Dame.
Except we must remember that coach Noelle Quinn’s team still has a pair of veteran stalwarts in Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins. Not to mention the defensive standout that is Ezi Magbegor. Not to mention an All-Star season being turned in by Gabby Williams.
The key for the Storm is to improve away from Climate Pledge Arena. The Storm can really be dangerous if there is improvement from the 6-5 showing at the All-Star break.
We knew that when Karl Smesko was hired as head coach of the Dream that Atlanta would run a style of offense very similar to what Walt Hopkins wanted to run some years ago with the Liberty.
Outside shooting, outside shooting and more outside shooting. Hopkins’ Liberty did not have the personnel to run that style of offense the way Smesko does.
Rhyne Howard can launch 3-pointers. Allisha Gray (also an MVP candidate) can launch 3-pointers. Even Te-Hina Paopao who fell to the second round of the draft can launch triples. Add that to Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones who can play either in the paint or the perimeter? The Dream look like a team that may very well get over that first-round playoff hump.
The expectation surrounding the Indiana Fever – especially after the team’s strong close to last season – was that it would be among the top contenders with Minnesota, New York and Las Vegas.
The reality is that coach Stephanie White’s team has been treading plenty of water at this stage of the 2025 campaign. Caitlin Clark’s injury issues have not helped – and her current injury to her groin has sidelined her from both the 3-Point Contest and All-Star Game.
And even though she has done other things like passing and attacking the rim to help her team win, the 3-ball is what makes No. 22 No. 22. She has struggled with the deep ball on the road – and a strong case can be made that Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell have played more like MVPs than Clark has.
We have mentioned this once – and will mention it again. With all of the turnover that Washington encountered during the offseason, it was difficult to envision the Mystics being anything more than a rebuilding franchise.
Between the departures of Mike and Eric Thibault, the retirement of Elena Delle Donne and the Georgia Amoore injury, the ‘Stics looked cooked.
Sydney Johnson’s Mystics are not cooked – they are cooking. And Washington is cooking because of a big three of Brittney Sykes and two rookies in Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron. If not for Paige Bueckers in Dallas, Iriafen or Citron may have a case for Rookie of the Year.
The Aces earning a C on our report card is a classic case of how all Cs are not created equal.
Becky Hammon’s Aces should be in the same category that Minnesota, New York and Phoenix are but that has not been the case.
Does A’ja Wilson have to score at least 30 a game to make up for Las Vegas’ woes on defense? She should not have to on a team that also includes Jewell Loyd, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young but if she has to then she will. Maybe the Aces should have thought twice about cutting Deja Kelly and Harmoni Turner.
Ballhalla is alive. If any of the 13 coaches in the W were playing with house money, it was Natalie Nakase.
After all, she was tapped by the Valkyries to lead an expansion franchise that made what we thought were questionable cuts during training camp. Those cuts no longer seem that questionable thanks to the likes of Kayla Thornton, Tiffany Hayes and Temi Fágbénlé.
Nakase is in the Coach of the Year discussion. It may come down to her and Johnson in Washington and the determining factor could be if either Golden State or Washington (or both) make the playoffs.
The Sparks, of course, were beneficiaries of that three-team trade involving Loyd given they netted Kelsey Plum in the deal to reunite her with Dearica Hamby.
Los Angeles has benefitted from another great season from Plum as well as another one from Azurá Stevens. One cannot help but ask one major question regarding coach Lynne Roberts’ team.
What would it resemble if it had a fully healthy season of Cameron Brink? Surprisingly enough, the Sparks have been road warriors. Los Angeles is 5-6 away from Crypto.com Arena but is 3-8 on their home court. That will have to change if the Sparks are to sneak into the playoffs via the eighth seed.
Fewer teams have been under the microscope of criticism this season more than the Sky.
After all, following the controversial firing of Teresa Weatherspoon following last season, Tyler Marsh had his work cut out for him. Angel Reese is improving by leaps and bounds. Kamilla Cardoso has shown flashes of greatness and Ariel Atkins is proving herself to be a great veteran presence.
There is the matter of that recently released player poll where nearly half of the league’s players said Chicago was the worst-run franchise in the W. That will really show if the Sky lose both Reese and Cardoso following their three-year rookie contracts expiring.
The 2025 season was going to tell us one of two things for Chris Koclanes and the Wings – would Dallas move forward as a team with Paige Bueckers at its nucleus or both Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale as its core.
Even though Bueckers has put up great numbers in her rookie campaign, she may lose Rookie of the Year votes given the Mystics look like playoff contenders unlike Dallas.
Koclanes looks like he has no role for Ogunbowale in his offense. The writing appears to be on the wall that Ogunbowale could join the list of star players who once wore Dallas’ uniform only to leave north Texas the first chance she got.
It is very tempting to give this team an F simply because it has only won three games this season. But one has to understand what the Sun are dealing with.
It appears that this team is on the market – and could possibly relocate following the 2025 season. All of the departures from the team were a result of years of postseason heartbreak.
Marina Mabrey and Tina Charles (who originally drafted her out of UConn) have done their best to right the ship in Connecticut. But given the off-court saga that Rachid Meziane’s team is going through, wins and losses may be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
