WBNA Playoffs - here we go!

[NycUcWbbFan]

Excluding Clark on a rookie contract, there are probably only three players in the league (Stewie, Collier, Wilson) who could say with certainty they’ll be where they are now next season. Whatever happens with the CBA and free agency, their teams will pay whatever price to keep them if they want to stay.

I think there might be more &1 &2 which will be revealed before the 2 expansion drafts (assuming certain CBA features remain the same).

&1 Non max-cored UFAs:

• Las Vegas Aces: Aja Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray
• Los Angeles Sparks: Kelsey Plum, Dearica Hamby, Azure Stevens
• Minnesota Lynx: Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride, Courtney Williams, Dijonai Carrington, Alanna Smith
• New York Liberty: Sabrina Ionescu, Emma Meesseman
• Phoenix Mercury: Alyssa Thomas, Satou Sabally

&2 Max-cored Breanna Stewart who is free (no possibility of being cored again) to negotiate with any team is probably going to stay in NY.

 

[ochoopsfan]

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

It's a good question. Last year, in late September 2024 the WNBA announced that the expansion draft was held on December 6th of the same year. Free agent negotiating began in mid-January 2025 with the actual signings starting on Feb. 1. And the WNBA draft was held just after the NCAA championship in April '25.

Now, how do UFA's fit in with this process? I've cobbled together a few points from various articles and/or searches:

• The expansion draft allows for the team(s) to select one unrestricted free agent (UFA) from each team. Still, I guess a GM would have to protect players regardless of their contractual status.
• If Portland or Toronto selects a UFA, that player can be designated a Core Player by the team, which means they'll be signed to a one-year, super-max contract.
• New teams can also trade players selected from selected teams to other teams.

Now, of course, the elephant in the War Room is the new collective bargaining agreement. What will come of that and how will it affect the entire process that I wrote about above? Will teams still have to make UFA's available or will it result in a scenario in which the coffers are bare for expansion teams? I've got to think the whole process is on the back burner until the CBA is signed, sealed, delivered.

Dillon77- - - Yes I agree with you there are about 98% of the players will be free agents after the Finals!
So there is no real planning available for GM's and coaches when players can go wherever the $ is!
A Gm may want to keep 2 or 3 players and those plkayers decide to go somewhere else!
Do players, such as what happened in the NBA several years ago where 3 great players wound up in Miami I think to make them a powerhouse!
It's open season for chaos!

 

[visitingcock]

Where is the money? To the extent that attendance is a factor: WNBA average attendance by team 2025| Statista.

 

[bbsamjj]

Attendance stats are skewed by the fact that several teams play in very small arenas.

Atlanta's arena only fits 3,500 for basketball
Washington's arena only fits 4,200
Dallas's arena only fits around 7,000.
Mohegan Sun is 8,500
Chicago Sky is around 10,000

These teams do play in bigger arenas multiple times a year, and get much bigger crowds for those games.

 

[cancontent]

Attendance stats are skewed by the fact that several teams play in very small arenas.

Atlanta's arena only fits 3,500 for basketball
Washington's arena only fits 4,200
Dallas's arena only fits around 7,000.
Mohegan Sun is 8,500
Chicago Sky is around 10,000

These teams do play in bigger arenas multiple times a year, and get much bigger crowds for those games.

Topping up on this post with a link to a chart that also shows season highs when teams moved games to larger venues for reference.

WNBA Attendance - Across the Timeline

 

[GamecockFam]

Topping up on this post with a link to a chart that also shows season highs when teams moved games to larger venues for reference.

WNBA Attendance - Across the Timeline

If you change the "Where" from Home to Away another interesting stat shows up...

I was curious about the attendance levels for away games, assuming the Caitlin Clark effect would give Indiana the edge -- and that proved to be true. What I wasn't expecting was the attendance highs for the remaining teams. Every team but Indiana and GS had an away game attendance high of 18064. Hmmm...what was the sell out number for the home crowd at GS? Oh yeah, 18064. 🤣

 

[cancontent]

If you change the "Where" from Home to Away another interesting stat shows up...

I was curious about the attendance levels for away games, assuming the Caitlin Clark effect would give Indiana the edge -- and that proved to be true. What I wasn't expecting was the attendance highs for the remaining teams. Every team but Indiana and GS had an away game attendance high of 18064. Hmmm...what was the sell out number for the home crowd at GS? Oh yeah, 18064. 🤣

I was and I wasn't, if that makes sense. Teams like the Aces have had sold out seasons the past couple years. Interest has been increasing steadily every year based on the data available, as noted in Chiney Ogumike's Player's Tribune article from a while back.

In my opinion, we've been distracted by these new "experts" who all of a sudden know about WNBA basketball but only repeat takes about Clark and the "WNBA loses money every year" that they've seen online or heard somewhere. When people take time to actually look into the WNBA's situation, they have a different reaction.

Have a friend who has been trolling the WNBA since last year because he jumped on the Clark train. He was adamant that TV ratings weren't there unless Clark played, that the WNBA couldn't generate a good TV deal, TV ratings would tank, and attendance would be zero, when Clark was out due to injuries. I made him do a Google search on the new WNBA TV deal and sent him the Front Office Sports article that showed the attendance increases from 2024, which included the 30% jump in games that didn't include Clark. He shut up pretty quickly after that.

 

[REB1094]

Would be very funny if newly crowned MVP A’ja Wilson loses game 1 at home to the 6 seed Fever lol

Indiana up 14 going into the 4th. Riding an 11-0 run. Kelsey Mitchell almost has a 30 bomb already

 

[cancontent]

Would be very funny if newly crowned MVP A’ja Wilson loses game 1 at home to the 6 seed Fever lol

Indiana up 14 going into the 4th. Riding an 11-0 run. Kelsey Mitchell almost has a 30 bomb already

It further confirms how reliant Vegas is on A'ja more than anything else, to me. It also shows that Mitchell may have deserved a few more votes than what she received.

 

[Blue Huskie]

Funny what happens when the refs treat Wilson like everybody else. I'm sure the officials will get their marching orders and this will be corrected for the next game.

 

[cancontent]

Funny what happens when the refs treat Wilson like everybody else. I'm sure the officials will get their marching orders and this will be corrected for the next game.

The officiating isn't the reason for Vegas losing this game. It was Vegas' inability to prevent Indiana from penetrating the paint and letting their guards do what they do best. Even if Wilson got favourable calls, it doesn't negate the fact that Indiana won the points in the paint battle, especially with Boston having an off day offensively.

 

[GamecockFam]

Really good game by the Fever! They played aggressive and had an answer for every Vegas run. I doubt A'ja is going to play two bad games in a row so Indiana better buckle up because I have a feeling the next game is even going to be more physical.

 

[GoChips20]

Perilous loss for Vegas: they now have to win 3 of 4 against a Fever team that’s now won 3 of 4 against them on the season. Such is life in a playoff series.

I’m an A’ja fan til she retires but it would really be something to see Kelsey Mitchell lead the Fever to a title after staying loyal through many years where Indy was a dumpster fire.

 

[Geew1992]

The lynx on the other hand…..

 

[cancontent]

The lynx on the other hand…..

Did a better job defensively, didn't have to rely on Collier to win the game and turned it on in the second half. Call a spade a spade.

This win doesn't serve as a sign that voters got it wrong. If anything, where voters may have been wrong is shortchanging Mitchell with her fair share of votes for the season she's had this year.

It just shows how tough it was for the voters when she comes in fourth. She's had the toughest season to manage out of the final five when you think of all the injuries that team has been dealing with all season.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Wow, Indy is on a roll.

 

[cancontent]

Wow, Indy is on a roll.

Yup. Tuesday will be a critical game for Vegas to even the series.

 

[willtalk]

Vages coach and players say they lacked focus and the fever were. When I watched the team celebrating Wilsons MVP award they looked like a bunch of teenage school girls. I kew them they were not approaching the game as they should. The Aces, after their second win ain a row seemed to have lost their focus on the game. I don't know if this core group can ever get it back. The don't seem to have that killer instinct anymore. Now the Fever are a team that is hungery and focused and that counts a lot.

 

[TheFarmFan]

Indy v. Aces: I was really impressed with Boston's defense on Wilson and Hull's defense on Young. Neither lit up the score sheet on offense but both shut down the Aces #1 and #2 options, and Gray and Evans were not enough to offset it without the nonexistent help they got from the rest of the roster. Not only did A'ja not look like herself (probably the hangover from the MVP celebration), but Hull drew a really nice foul on Wilson to draw her 4th and get her to sit during the stretch Indy really padded its lead. And I will say: Sims has been a revelation for Indy. I could see at times where she really went rogue (and it didn't work), but even with that, it's surprising she hasn't stuck on a roster consistently. But yeah, the Aces really whiffed on defending Mitchell - the kickback from Boston (guarded by THREE Aces) out to a competely uncovered Mitchell for an easy trey midway through the 4th was really indicative of the whole night for the Aces on D. Breezy Bri also turned in a very admirable performance.

For game two, I'll be interested to see how the Aces can scheme to get Wilson and Young free of Boston and Hull - A'ja had much more success against Howard, and Young on the few occasions she could get free of Hull. I will be very surprised if the Fever can count on a combined 41 points from Mitchell and Sims, so the Fever's bigs will probably need to step up more, and you know A'ja's gonna come out pissed after shooting 6/22.

Fever v. Lynx: Whatever Nate said during the halftime locker room speech, he better do the opposite next game - woof. What a terrible second half of basketball. Even despite that, it felt like Phoenix was in control for most of three quarters, and in the first half, I thought they were really distributing the ball well and finding all sorts of ways to beat their defenders inside... and then just took some realy lazy, bad shots down the stretch, at exactly the same time Courtney Williams went off. I also thought Phee really broke things open towards the end. It was interesting that Cheryl benched Smith in favor of Kiundikova, who had four or five really clutch possessions in a row to lock in the win for the Lynx. Another example of how well Reeve makes adjustments down the stretch in close games.

For game two, Sabally needs to get going - she was the weak link for the Merc offensively, although she did pretty will defensively. It'll also be interesting to see if Akoa Makeni can come back at full strength - the Merc's defense really suffered once they had to put Whitcomb on Williams, who ran her ragged. And does anyone know why Mack's minutes are relatively limited? Is it conditioning/fatigue related? It felt like her minutes were Phoenix's most productive but she kind of disappeared down the stretch in the second half.

Overall, two fun game 1s although neither was close in the last couple of minutes.