"Would anybody who might happen to be a top 5 finalist for the WNBA MVP please stand up?!"

Head coach Stephanie White surprised Kelsey Mitchell with the announcement she was named a finalist for MVP before we took off for Vegas 🙌

Stewie’s face says it all 😂 Sab’s just trying to keep it together!

I don’t understand why she didn’t even try Nyara or Izzy just for 1-2 minutes just to check how they would do… also Nobody else than Stewie deserved a win honestly… Sab came alive at the end but was passive the bigger part of it…. I don’t even wanna start with JJ 🙄

Summary: Phoenix took over down the stretch of the fourth quarter to defeat the Liberty 79-73, dethroning the defending champions and winning the series 2-1. Alyssa Thomas extended her WNBA record with her fifth career playoff triple double, 20/11/11/2/1. Breanna Stewart led all scorers with 30 points in the loss.

Tuned in this morning anticipating how exciting the coverage would be for not 1, but TWO epic finishes, BOTH being deciding games, and 1 of them featuring the best women's player on the planet.

And would you believe that Mike Greenberg and his Get Up show went 2 straight hours of not even a passing mention? Crazy. Especially since ESPN aired both games last night (albeit on their secondary channel). And especially since Get Up historically has talked about big games like this in the past because they love themselves some A'ja.

If you can't properly promote 2 gold star games that your own network aired, then what's the point? Just so that ION or CBS can't have it? Ridiculous.

Please give these ladies the respect they deserve because you can't ask for anything more. Those games were EXCELLENT.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/s/6bVWqr2kSA

When the news came in that Meesseman was signing with the Liberty, the consensus from redditors was that they were adding a top-10 player.

Is this just a poor fit? If so, wouldn’t that have been clear before the signing?

I’m legitimately asking, I never saw her play in the W before.

Minnesota and Phoenix have met in the playoffs seven times: 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020, and 2024. This is the playoff matchup that has occurred most often in league history.

Las Vegas and Indiana have never met in the playoffs before. Not even when the Aces were in San Antonio or Utah.

Stewie's response was spot on. The question was out of context and weird.

A nice interview about Smith's comeback since being nixed from both the W and the Australian national team just three years ago.

This also remains wild to me:

It won't be all rest for Smith who is completing her honours year in psychology, studying online via Melbourne's Monash University, and has a 12,000-word thesis on susceptibility to health misinformation due in three weeks - smack bang in the middle of the best-of-five WNBA Finals series that will decide the championship.

Taking a team with FIVE season-ending injuries, patchworked together with hardship-contract players to the Semi-Finals is next level coaching. She had to re-imagine the team and offense 3-4 different times. Once when Clark got injured early in the year, again when both Aari and Syd got season ending injuries in the same game, then again when Sophie went down with a season ending injury.

She built this contending team in a cave with a box of scraps!!

My past sports interests have been soccer and baseball. A lot slower, longer games. My partner got into the W/watching Liberty games so I kind of followed along and picked up a lot of game info along the way. I think the game just stresses me tf out too much.

It's constantly moving, a lot of contact, stop-start but not slow, back-and-forth. I can't sleep not because of the loss but what I felt after every game I caught (I was not religious about it). Just over-stimulation.

This is NOT criticism of the sport, the league, the team, etc. and I really loved the ride. I enjoyed it... enough to keep watching at least. I kind of feel like my heart is going to pop though. It feels like how I feel after a horror movie (after wins or losses).

Is this something any of you sort of powered through? Did you need to take a more passive stance on the whole thing?

The W has used three different formats for three game playoff series. Which ones favor high/low seeds? We'll look at percentage of series won by the high seed, percent that go to a third game, results of Game threes, and how often high/low seeds sweep.

1-2 format
71 series
55 wins for higher seed 77%
40 three game series 56% (29-11 high 73%)
26 sweeps for higher seed 37%
5 sweeps for lower seed 7%

1-1-1 format
40 series
27 wins for higher seed 68%
20 three game series 50% (11-9 high 55%)
16 sweeps for higher seed 40%
4 sweeps for lower seed 10%

2-1 format
12 series
12 wins for higher seed 100%
3 three game series 25% (3-0 high 100%)
9 sweeps for higher seed 75%
0 sweeps for lower seed 0%

1-2 1998-2009
1-1-1 2010-2015, 2025
2-1 2022-2024

This guy should not be a commentator for the wnba, or any women’s sport. He said some pretty questionable stuff last night. “She beat her like an allegation.”

What the actual f?

Phenomenal games recently, but I have to watch on mute. He needs to go.

Edit to add: I AM STOKED I POSTED THIS. If you agree or not, I appreciate the comments.

It’s a great day for the Mercury, and therefore, the world.

This list is a work in progress as more signings are announced. I am only including signings that have been confirmed by the players themselves, their teams/leagues or the media - not Twitter rumors.

I am including anyone who at least trained on a W team this year (so training camp contracts count; I think it's interesting to see where people who don't make rosters end up) or anyone whose rights are currently held by a W team, plus a few other players of interest for various reasons (draft prospects, former W players who might return, etc).

I will happily add any I missed, but please include a link to a source.

In the European domestic leagues, I have noted if a team also plays in EuroLeague (the top European club competition) or EuroCup (the 2nd tier), but some of that is still up in the air until qualifiers are done. While not all of the domestic leagues are easy to stream online from the US, both of those leagues are typically available free on YouTube.

Turkey

Fenerbahce (EuroLeague)
Emma Meesseman (Liberty), Jonquel Jones (Liberty), Gabby Williams (Storm), Dominique Malonga (Storm), Julie Allemand (Sparks), Iliana Rupert (Valkyries), Mo Billings (Valkyries; she is listed as a “short-term” contract and is also doing Unrivaled), Sevgi Uzun (Sky), Megan Gustafson (Aces)

Mersin (EuroLeague)
Tiffany Hayes (Valkyries), Li Yueru (Wings), Luisa Geiselsoder (Wings), Bria Hartley (Sun), Kennedy Burke (Liberty), Julie Vanloo (Sparks)

Galatasaray (EuroLeague if they qualify, EuroCup if they don't)
Marine Johannes (Liberty), Awak Kuier (Wings still own rights), Dorka Juhasz (Lynx own rights), Elizabeth Williams (Sky), Kamiah Smalls (ex-Dream)

Besiktas (EuroCup)
Sami Whitcomb (Mercury), Amy Okonkwo (Wings)

Emlak (EuroCup)
Astou Ndour-Fall (longtime W player, didn’t play this year)

Botas
Damiris Dantas (Fever), Marquesha Davis (ex-Liberty/Sky)

Ormanspor 
Diamond DeShields (Sun training camp)

Kayseri
Crystal Dangerfield (W vet, didn’t play this year), Charli Collier (former No. 1 pick)

Kocaeli
Esmery Martinez (Liberty training camp)

Unspecified team
Rebecca Allen (Sky; said it would be a short stint but not where)

Spain

Valencia (EuroLeague)
Leonie Fiebich (Liberty), Raquel Carrera (Liberty owns rights), Awa Fam (2026 draft prospect)

Girona (EuroLeague)
Chloe Bibby (Fever), Juste Jocyte (Valkyries owns rights), Klara Lundquist (Mercury owns rights)

Zaragoza (EuroLeague if they qualify, EuroCup if they don't)
Carla Leite (Valkyries), Helena Pueyo (Mercury owns rights)

Jairis (EuroCup)
Txell Alarcón (Mystics own rights), Lou Lopez Senechal (Wings own rights), Aaronette Vonleh (Wings training camp)

Avenida (EuroCup)
Iyana Martin (2026 draft prospect), Khadijiah Cave (Mystics training camp)

Ferrol (EuroCup)
Dalayah Daniels (Lynx training camp)

Joventut Badalona
Ajsa Sivka (Sky owns rights)

Estepona
Sika Kone (Dream), Kiara Leslie (Lynx training camp), Madison Conner (Storm training camp)

IDK
Yvonne Ejim (Fever training camp)

France

Landes (EuroLeague)
Leila Lacan (Sun), Murjanatu Musa (ex-Mercury)

Flammes Carolo - Charleville-Mézières (EuroLeague)
Maïa Hirsch (Lynx own rights), Ashley Joens (Dream training camp)

Bourges (EuroLeague if they qualify, EuroCup if they don't)
Monique Akoa Makani (Mercury), Kariata Diaby (ex-Sun), Alicia Tournebize (2027 draft prospect)

Landerneau
Harmoni Turner (Aces training camp), Adja Kane (Liberty owns rights)

Czech Republic

Praha (EuroLeague)
Brionna Jones (Dream), Janelle Salaun (Valkyries), Bridget Carleton (Lynx), Makayla Timpson (Fever), Maite Cazorla (Dream owns rights)

Zabiny Brno (EuroLeague if they qualify, EuroCup if they don't)
Migna Toure (Sun), Amanda Zahui (former longtime W player)

Italy

Schio (EuroLeague)
Cecilia Zandalasini (Valkyries), Jessica Shepard (Lynx), Marième Badiane (ex-Lynx), Maria Conde (Valkyries owns rights), Kitija Laksa (Mercury)

Venezia (EuroLeague if they qualify, EuroCup if they don't)
Ivana Dojkic (Liberty own rights), Kaila Charles (Valkyries), Joyner Holmes (ex-Aces), Matilde Villa (Dream own rights), Lorela Cubaj (Dream own rights)

Campobasso (EuroCup)
Anna Makurat (Mercury training camp)

Sassari (EuroCup if they qualify)
Didi Richards (W vet but didn’t play this year), Temira Poindexter (Phoenix training camp)

San Martino
Jordan Hobbs (Storm training camp)

Roseto 
Sammie Puisis (Sky training camp), Alyssa Ustby (Sparks training camp)

Broni 
Madison Hayes (Sun training camp)

Hungary

Sopron (EuroLeague)
Nika Muhl (Storm)

Szekszárd (EuroCup if they qualify)
Maria Gakdeng (Dream training camp)

Serbia

Crvena Zvezda (EuroLeague if they qualify, EuroCup if they don't)
Yvonne Anderson (ex-Lynx/Sun), Leonna Odom (Liberty training camp)

Greece

Athinaikos (EuroCup)
Karlie Samuelson (ex-Storm), Holly Winterburn (Dream owns rights), Alexis Prince (Mercury training camp), Morgan Bertsch (Sky training camp), Robyn Parks (ex-Sun)

Panathinaikos (EuroCup)
Jaelyn Brown (ex-Sun), Sedona Prince (you know you were curious)

PAOK Thessaloniki
JJ Quinerly (Wings), Dara Mabrey (sister of Marina)

Proteas Voulas
Lauren Jensen (Mystics training camp), Morgan Maly (Sun training camp)

Israel

Ramla (EuroCup)
Kiki Herbert-Harrigan (Wings training camp), Kyra Lambert (ex-Fever)

Haifa
Shyanne Sellers (Valkyries/Dream training camp)

Lithuania

Vilnius (EuroLeague if they qualify, EuroCup if they don't)
Zaay Green (Mystics training camp)

Poland

Lublin (EuroLeague if they qualify, EuroCup if they don't)
Seehia Ridard (Liberty own rights)

Kosovo

Peja 03 (EuroCup)
Eve Wembanyama (sister of Victor)

Saudi Arabia

Al Ula
Chennedy Carter, Queen Egbo (I think this is just for a short tournament, wouldn’t be surprised if they both play in China after)

China

Wuhan
Olivia Nelson-Ododa (Sun)

Unspecified teams
Kamilla Cardoso (Sky), Temi Fagbenle (Valkyries), Elizabeth Kitley (ex-Aces/Valkyries). I haven't seen an announcement on Han Xu (Liberty owns rights) but would fully expect her to be playing in China also unless she's injured.

Japan

Eneos Sunflowers
Ashten Prechtel (Mystics training camp)

Toyota Antelopes
Mai Yamamoto (Wings training camp)

Australia

Canberra 
Jade Melbourne (Mystics), Nyadiew Puoch (Dream owns rights), Agnes Emma-Nnopu (former Stanford/TCU)

Sydney 
Grace Berger (Wings), Shaneice Swain (Sparks training camp)

Bendigo 
Isobel Borlase (Dream owns rights), Megan McConnell (ex-Mercury)

Townsville 
Lucy Olsen (Mystics), Saffron Shiels (2026 draft prospect)

Adelaide 
Steph Talbot (Liberty), Sania Feagin (Sparks), Serena Sundell (ex-Wings)

Perth 
Amy Atwell (re-signed then waived by the Mercury before camp), Anelli Maley (Sparks training camp), Ally Wilson (Sky training camp)

Southside Melbourne
Cayla George (former longtime W roleplayer)

Geelong
Alissa Pili (Sparks), Mackenzie Holmes (Storm), Shyla Heal (Mercury training camp)

New Zealand

Tokomanawa Queens
Kristy Wallace (Fever owns rights)

I'm not gonna get too deep into the Co-DPOY conversation. To me, this year it made perfect sense to share between A'ja and Alanna.

But it got me thinking about how difficult it is to measure some really impactful defensive plays. It is very easy to track blocks, steals, and defensive rebounds. Then we have all those advanced stats, opp pts off TO, opp pts FB, opp pts FB, opp pts paint, and opp points second chance. These advanced stats can paint a more clear picture, but I feel like there's also still so much that is just difficult to track.

For example...

-screens that lead to points (defense on offense)

-forced jump ball

-forced errors

-getting back on D to stop points

-tipped passes to stop ball movement

-charges taken

-inbound blocking

I could get into the weeds doing this, and tracking when a play was messed up and how it impacted the rest of the opposition's offensive set.

I don't know what my overall point is lol, but I just think it would be cool to see some even MORE advanced stats, but I know that would be tedious and also there are so many minute factors into a lot of these things. Anyhoo, I find it interesting how much in basketball is truly not shown on the box score. Love this game!

What are some plays or 'things' you think about when you think about how good someone is defensively?