Welcome! 🎉 In an effort to stop spamming my friends with constant women’s basketball updates, I’ve created this newsletter. I know—so generous of me. No need to thank me! I’m here to keep you informed on most things WBB.

Table of Contents

• WNBA Preview: All-Stars!

• Fred’s Power Rankings

  • Minnesota Lynx 17-2

  • Phoenix Mercury 13-6

  • New York Liberty 12-6

  • Seattle Storm 12-7

  • Atlanta Dream 13-7

  • Golden State Valkyries 9-9

  • Indiana Fever 9-9

  • Las Vegas Aces 9-9

  • Washington Mystics 8-10

  • Los Angeles Sparks 6-13

  • Dallas Wings 6-14

  • Chicago Sky 5-12

  • Connecticut Sun 2-16

• Hoops & Hype: Media Picks

  • Film Session: WBB Highlights & Insights 📽️

  • Booked & Busy: WBB Reads 👓

  • Drip Report 💧

WNBA Preview: All-Stars!

The All-Star votes are in, and the players are set for All-Star Weekend, which is July 18th-19th

Honestly, the results are not too bad, but there are a few players I really feel bad for.

Snubs: Brionna Jones, Brittney Sykes, Azurá Stevens, Natasha Cloud, and Jonquel Jones. Some folks are also saying Alanna Smith should’ve made it.

Players I’d swap out for the snubs: Courtney Williams, Kelsey Mitchell, Jackie Young and Kiki Iriafen.

All-Star Captains: Caitlin Clark and Naphessa Collier will pick their teams on July 8th at 7 PM on ESPN.

Cheryl Reeves (Lynx) and Sandy Brondello (Liberty) will be the coaches for the game.

They haven’t announced who will be participating in the Skills Challenge or Three-Point Contest yet. Personally, I’d love to see Kennedy Burke earn a spot in the Three-Point Contest—she’s been hot this season. Erica Wheeler deserves a nod, too.

Fred’s Power Rankings

Minnesota Lynx 17-2

With only 2 losses (three if you count the Commissioner’s Cup) the Lynx are comfortably the number one seed—and they sure look like it. What’s most interesting about the Lynx is they have glaring flaws, but they seem to overcome them every game. This is such a good problem to have early in the season. They’re winning, seeing what their weaknesses are, and can carefully address those issues before crunch time in September.

They did lose the Commissioner’s Cup game, which exposed some of the issues we’ve been seeing—like BC’s lack of shot attempts, K-Mac going 1–7, Courtney Williams’ streaky play, no production from the bench, and Phee basically getting shut down. If the opposing strategy is “let Alanna beat us,” the Lynx aren’t going to win many games.

Pain Points: Phee has been playing well, but there have been multiple games where other teams were able to shut her down. I think this is possible due to the shooting slumps that K-Mac and Bridget Carleton are currently in. I don’t know what’s wrong with BC. It’s not even that she’s missing shots—she’s not even getting shot attempts.

Her shot attempts over the last four games:

• July 6: 0–4

• July 5: 3–8

• July 3: 3–7

• July 1: 0–2

This is something that they should figure out ASAP, because I truly believe they are damn near unbeatable with her and Kmac shooting the lights out.

The Good! Jessica Shepard and Maria Kublina have been huge off the bench. Jessica does all the little things that keep the Lynx in games—setting solid screens, making smart passes, crashing the boards. Maria has been a great backup for Alanna Smith, and there isn’t a steep drop-off when Alanna is out.

Speaking of Alanna, she’s been playing great and has developed a reliable three-point shot. That said, she looks like she almost gets killed every game LMFAO. In the game against Golden State, she left the court four times. A real Joel Embiid-type girlie.

Diamond Miller also looks great after rehabbing a knee injury during the offseason. She’s giving strong minutes off the bench and helps spark the Lynx when they start slow. Really dope to see her progression after a disappointing sophomore season last year.

UPDATES: Karlie Samuelson will be out for the rest of the season due to a foot injury she sustained vs the Connecticut Sun on June 29th. She will be getting season-ending surgery.

Phoenix Mercury 13-6 

At the beginning of the season, Phoenix really looked like a team that would lack chemistry and just wouldn’t fit. That has not been the case. The Mercury have looked absolutely phenomenal—and for most of their run, Satou and company were beating teams without Alyssa Thomas, Kahleah Copper, or Natasha Mack. With all three now back, the team has seamlessly incorporated them, becoming even more of a juggernaut.

They’ve had two uncharacteristic losses in their last two games—against the Aces and the Wings—but I’m a firm believer that anybody can get got on any given night.

Alyssa Thomas has been performing at her usual impressive level, which I think is getting overlooked. That said, I do wonder if the lack of a true point guard will become an issue later in the season. So far, she’s performed well as the point forward.

Kahleah was able to ease herself back into the lineup thanks to how well Satou held the team down. She just dropped 33 in their loss to Dallas—which sucks, but it’s a great sign that she’s getting back to her old self.

In my opinion, Satou is Phoenix’s X factor. When she’s playing well, the team wins. When she’s not? They either lose or barely squeak by, even if AT and Kah are hooping. What a great bounce-back year from her.

UPDATES: Unfortunately, Satou is out with an ankle injury and is even wearing a boot. Kahleeh will also be out due to a hamstring injury (it looks like it’s just preventive). Lexi Held will also remain out with a punctured lung.

Dewanna Bonner will be signing with the Merc- reportedly

CHISME: Satou caught some heat when she spoke after their loss to Dallas at the post-game presser on how she was boo’d in her first game back in Dallas. The fans said she was only boo’d during her free throws but that could be residual negative energy from Satou’s dust-up with Dijonai and Lyss in Phoenix.

Kalani Brown also found herself in drama when she liked a negative post about Angel Reese. The Angel stans mobilized and harassed Kalani into an apology (which she deleted). My thing is, how the hell do people even notice this type of shit man.

New York Liberty 12-6

SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH The Liberty are only in third place because this is my gd newsletter!! idc idc idc.

BOY have we been ass cheeks without JJ and Leonie Fiebich. Without those two, our two biggest issues—rebounding and paint defense—have become even more exposed. In 2024, the Liberty were 2nd in rebounding; this year, we’ve dropped to 6th. That decline can be attributed to the absence of Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Kayla Thornton—the latter of whom is currently averaging a career-high in rebounds in Golden State.

Yes, Rebekah Gardner, Leo, and Natasha Cloud have helped maintain our defensive intensity, but we still haven’t figured out the rebounding piece. We’re allowing teams to get second, third, even fourth chance points—and it’s absolutely killing us. Without JJ, we also have no reliable big to protect the paint. In our loss to Seattle on Sunday, the points in the paint were 44 to our 28. That’s a hard deficit to overcome. Sure, I’d say Seattle has the best frontcourt in the league, but we’re even getting bullied by smaller teams.

I understand that playing without the league’s best center—and for a while, without Leo—we were bound to lose some games. But not all of our problems can be chalked up to that.

That said, I am glad this is happening now. We’re seeing bright spots:

• Rebekah Gardner is still fast as hell despite her injuries last year.

• Izzy Harrison has been giving us solid minutes off the bench.

• KB is still a sniper from the three-point line.

• And thank goodness Sabrina’s neck is healed—she’s looking dominant again.

Stewie had a rough game against the Storm, but I recognize she’s playing out of position at the 5 and shouldering most of the load since Nyara Sabally has been… less than impressive as our backup center. I think she is still recovering from whatever happened with her knee. We have mad knee/leg injuries.

JJ won’t return until after the All-Star break, which is fine; we want her fully healthy. Thankfully, Leo is back, and I believe she’ll bounce back after an uncharacteristically bad game on Sunday.

Oh—and I love Marine—but she has to start taking wide-ass open shots. She’s been in the league since 2019 and is like 31 now… girl, bring some of that European Marine energy over here! Like, what’s the issue?

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Izzy Harrison suffered a knee/leg injury on Sunday. She is questionable for Tuesday’s July 8th game. I really need our front office to be working on getting us a big—but it’s obvious the trade market is being held up because Emma Meesseman is currently deciding between the Liberty, the Aces, the Mercury, and the Lynx.

If we don’t get her, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Liberty try to trade for Aaliyah Edwards or sign DeWanna Bonner (though she only wants to go to Phoenix—who knows?). I’m personally watching for Golden State to drop Laeticia Amihere because we could use her, too.

WHICHEVER TEAM GETS EMMA WILL WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. PERIOD.

Seattle Storm 12-7

The Storm are a confusing team for me lol. Like, they look really good—but not exceptional?? That being said, they picked up some really solid wins in June, including two over the Liberty and one over the Dream.

I was really happy to see Nneka get the All-Star starting nod because people really play with her name. In the same sense as Jonquel Jones or Bri Jones, Nneka’s accomplishments don’t get the spotlight they deserve because folks prefer flashy over consistent. And man oh man, Madame President has exemplified consistency, and that’s exactly what Seattle needs.

Skylar has also been on a tear, basically averaging 20 points and 5 assists per game. Gabby Williams is playing like an All-WNBA/All-Defense player and absolutely went off last night.

The main hole in their game is consistency because sometimes it just feels like they forget how to play. (See: losing by 27 to Golden State.)

In the playoffs, the Storm’s biggest struggle will be their lack of bench production. Alysha Clark hasn’t been the reliable shooter she was last year, Zia Cooke is okay, and Lexie Brown… yeah, she’s not it. You know the Liberty were down bad when Lexie was getting minutes.

I will say, that Domonique dominated the Liberty in the paint on Sunday, and when she fully puts her game together, I know she’s going to be a problem.

Atlanta Dream 13-7

The Dream continues to impress me with their strong post-play and the steady contributions of Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard. They’ve been easing Jordin Canada back into the lineup, and she’s starting to look better each game—but honestly, I still think the offense flows better with Paopao.

The Dream have been consistent at beating mid-tier teams, but most of their losses have come against top contenders. The good news is they aren’t getting blown out in those games either. Naz Hillmon and Nia Coffey have been giving excellent minutes off the bench, especially on the defensive end.

If this team gets firing on all cylinders, they’re definitely a contender for the chip.

Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray are up there with the most dangerous backcourt in the league specifically because they are both defending at an all-defense level. It really shows you how much Tanisha was holding them back.

UPDATE: Rhyne Howard suffered a left arm injury in their game at home against the Liberty and was out but she will be playing tonight against the Mystics.

Golden State Valkyries 9-9

The Legend of Ballhalla lives! The Valkyries are nearly unbeatable at home, and they play with so much grit and a next-woman-up mentality that you’d barely notice they had four players away at EuroBasket.

The hardship players they brought in—Laeticia Amihere(LA) and Kaitlyn Chen—played so well that it ended up costing Julie Vanloo her spot while she was away winning the EuroBasket championship.

It is wild that LA was rotting on Atlanta’s bench and was waived!! I hope the Valks waive her so she can come to NYC lol.

During this stretch, we also saw rookie Carla Leite get a chance to shine—until she developed a back injury. She may make her return Monday night.

Kayla Thornton has been balling—setting career highs in points, rebounds, and assists. She was also selected as an All-Star for the first time in her career. I love that she’s finally getting this opportunity to shine.

Tiff Hayes is back—and probably going to be hurt again soon because she is always throwing herself on the ground.

I imagine we’ll see a drop-off in Valkyries wins as they head into their road trip. Winning on the road has proven tough for them.

@valkyries

A career year. An All-Star honor. Whoooole squad was pumped for KT 😭💜 @sephora | The Firsts

Indiana Fever 9-9

The Fever started off rocky during their Caitlin-less June run, but with the addition of PG Aari McDonald, they finally look like a team that can really make a playoff push.

They had an amazing win against the Lynx during the Commissioner Cup that certainly boosted their morale. However, I would take this with a grain of salt as the winner of the cup hasn’t won the championship in the last 3 years. Still impressive nonetheless.

With Aari on the floor, the offense actually flows, which has translated to other players finally getting into rhythm. Syd looks better, Natasha Howard has been amazing, and Aliyah Boston is finally barking back in the paint.

Lexie Hull and Sophie Cunningham haven’t been contributing much at all. That becomes a real problem in close games like the ones against the Sparks and Vegas—literally lost in the final moments because of a bonehead play from Lexie.

It looks like Caitlin is finally practicing in full scrimmages again, which is great news. The most important thing is that the Fever managed to stay at .500 while she was out.

Now comes the hard part: figuring out how to reintegrate CC without disrupting the flow—and while still giving other players the opportunity to contribute.

Las Vegas Aces 9-9

The Aces look sad (and even then, they might still beat the Liberty on Tuesday). They just suffered the worst loss in franchise history and, for the first time under Becky Hammon, shot under 30% from the field.

Becky’s been saying it all season, but it bears repeating: the Aces lack HEART. The talent is there, but the effort—especially on defense—and the willingness to fight back (outside of A’ja) just isn’t. That has to come from the players. There should never be a game where A’ja scores 29 of the team’s 54 points. And honestly, she would’ve had more if Becky hadn’t sat her in the second half to force the rest of the team to step up.

To address their glaring frontcourt problem, the Aces traded a 2027 first-round pick to acquire NaLyssa Smith from the Dallas Wings. The move already looks promising—she posted her first double-double of the season in their game against the Sun. That’s a huge step up from Kiah Stokes, who was giving them nothing on the offensive end.

I think this team is waiting for the Emma news to decide whether or not to add DB, but I think this is where she will end up.

@lvaces

#POINTGAWDDDDD MAGIC 🪄 With her 7th assist today, Chelsea Gray passes Becky Hammon for 6th All-Time in career assists! 🙌 #LVAces #WNBA #ALLINLV

Washington Mystics 8-10

The Mystics’ hot start has simmered a bit as better teams start to gel.

That said, I think this team is wayyyyy ahead of schedule, and Mystics fans should be ecstatic. Their vets have been great—Brittney Sykes is leading the team in scoring, free throws, and assists, while Stef Dolson has proven to be a strong voice in the locker room. And Shakira Austin came back from injury looking dominant AF.

Among the rookies, Sonia Citron continues to be an absolute menace, averaging 14 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2 assists per game. And while Kiki Iriafen has cooled off a bit, she’s still a force in the paint.

They’ve beaten good teams, mid-teams, and bad teams alike—but they've also come up short in some close ones, which has left them just below .500. This team will definitely remain competitive, though they may see fewer wins as the season progresses.

Also, shoutout to the Mystics for becoming the first team since 1999 to have two rookie All-Stars! Sucks that Slim (Brittney Sykes) was snubbed, but it's very cool to see the rooks getting that recognition.

CHISME: There were rumors that the Mystics were "shopping" Aaliyah Edwards, but it now seems that other teams were the ones making inquiries, not that the Mystics were actively looking to trade her.

Los Angeles Sparks 6-13

Unfortunately for LA, they still suck. I’m still so confused about how a team with this much talent can look so disjointed. Their coach is not getting nearly enough criticism for my liking—because seriously, what the hell?

They do have Rae Burrell back, as well as Julie Allemand, which is… meh. They waived Odyssey Sims for whatever reason and signed Julie Vanloo, who I did feel bad for when she was let go, but honestly, she isn’t that good IMO. Neither is Julie. I don’t know, it had to be a personality fit thing to cut Sims because it doesn’t make sense otherwise.

I will say Azurá Stevens is having an amazing, MIP-esque season, and there’s been solid play from Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby too.

Also, just came to my attention that Cam Brink didn’t just tear her ACL, but her meniscus too! Yet another reason Connecticut needs to sell that team, because everyone was slipping and sliding on that damn floor the night Bri Jones fell on Cam’s knee. I’m all for the Sparks taking their time with Cam—because let’s be real, it’s not like they’re gonna win anything anytime soon.

Lastly, Mercedes Russell… I said she sucked, but she’s actually been providing solid minutes—especially in their wins over the Fever with Aliyah Boston on the floor.

This team will have some key wins, but ultimately, I see them out of the playoffs. It’s kind of wild that I’m saying this before the All-Star break LOL

Dallas Wings 6-14

Little by little, the Wings are starting to figure some things out and string together a few wins. They’ve been without DiJonai Carrington for a minute due to an IRB injury she picked up after taking a charge in Connecticut, and more recently, Arike—who hurt her thumb in a game against Phoenix. Maddy Siegrist has also been out with a knee injury, and Ty Harris is out for the season.

With most of their starting lineup sidelined, we got to see the rookie crew of Aziaha James, Paige Bueckers, and JJ Quinerly—and they put on an absolute masterclass against the Mercury, even while Kahleah Copper dropped 33 points. Aziaha James had 28 points!! That is insane for a rookie.

Although not a rookie, Li Yueru has also been giving great minutes, and when paired with Luisa Geiselsöder, the double-big lineup has been tough for other teams to handle.

If I were the Wings, I’d be very excited about the future with this rookie core. And honestly? I’d consider trading Arike.

The Wings pulled a Trumpito and separated a family by trading NaLyssa Smith to the Las Vegas Aces for some picks. It makes sense though—once they got Li and Luisa, the forward/center position got too crowded.

Chicago Sky 5-12

The Sky have looked a lot better! Angel Reese is playing out of her mind! After notching the first triple-double of her career, she’s proven she’s a legit point forward—averaging 3.9 assists and currently the only player in the WNBA averaging a double-double. The apologies must be as loud as the disrespect!

You can see—little by little—how they’re learning to put together a full four quarters, even when Kamilla Cardoso was away for AmeriCup (Brazil came in second. USA! USA! USA!). That said, in the July 6 game against the Lynx, they definitely could’ve used her.

Ultimately, they’re looking better and better, and it's a great example of why teams should trust these rookie coaches. Give people time to figure it out!

They’re not gonna be in the playoffs, though—so don’t get your hoops up.

Connecticut Sun 2-16

This team is ass. God Bless ’em.  

Hoops & Hype: Media Picks

Check out some of the cool podcasts, videos, reads, and fashion I saw this week.

Film Session: WBB Highlights & Insights 📽️

Booked & Busy: WBB Reads 👓

Drip Report 💧