The New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces were rivals heading in different directions when they faced off in July for their second meeting of the 2025 WNBA season.
Two months later, it’s the same headline, different story. The Aces are now the league’s hottest team with no cooling in sight, whereas the Liberty are barely showing any signs of October life. There is no clearer marker of how this season has flipped its own script than their crossing paths and the widening gap between the league’s hottest and coldest teams. With the postseason war of attrition dawning, it’s often the team with momentum that’s left standing by season’s end.
Advertisement
That isn’t either of the 2024 Finals teams. It could very well be the Aces, one of the healthiest rosters of the season and ranked No. 1 in the Yahoo Sports power poll for the first time. No one will want to run into them when the playoff picture is finalized on Thursday night.
Las Vegas, with its slew of WNBA champion talent, was on the cusp of missing the playoffs at the midway point. It’s a distant memory while their historic winning streak rolls along. Their 14th straight win on Sunday tied the mark for fourth-longest in WNBA history. With wins in their final two games, they can tie the second-place 2014 Phoenix Mercury with 16.
Advertisement
Since a notorious 53-point drubbing at the hands of Minnesota on Aug. 2, the Aces collected wins over the league’s best, most talented teams in New York, Phoenix, Atlanta and Minnesota. They’re the league leader in offensive rating (112.1) and defensive rating (98.7), assist-to-turnover ratio (2.14) and turnovers (13.4). They’re barely off the shooting percentages of the No. 1 Lynx.
A’ja Wilson continues to set her own records as she leads the charge, averaging 23.8 points (first), 10.1 rebounds (second) and 2.2 blocks over the course of the season. Wilson missed four games this season (the Aces went 2-2 without her), a low-water mark in a season marred by absences to key players. That consistency alone puts them in a dangerous category.
The MVP contender’s 28.2 points per game average over the last 10 games outpaces Kelsey Mitchell (21.1), and she’s shooting a 54.4/58.8/88.1 split. Only in the July loss to New York, when she played 14 minutes before a wrist injury, has she scored in single digits.
No other team in the league is on a winning streak that extends beyond four. Atlanta, the team vying with the Aces for a No. 2 seed, is 7-3 over its last 10, even while guard Allisha Gray, a guaranteed MVP vote-earner, missed time with a left knee injury. The Mercury are 8-2 over the last 10, though one of those losses is to lottery team Connecticut in the upset of the week. The Lynx, Valkyries and Storm are all 6-4 in their 10-game stretches. Golden State can lay claim to defeating New York, 66-58, and nearly upending Minnesota, 78-72, heading into the final week. The resilient Fever and battling Sparks are each 5-5.
Advertisement
In the back of the pack, riding the worst momentum of any playoff-contending team, is the reigning champion Liberty. Once clear favorites to reach a third consecutive championship, New York is locked out of top-four postseason positioning and will hit the road when the playoffs tip off on Sunday. With four wins in their last 10 games, even the Storm and Sparks have fared better as they battle for the eighth and final spot.
The brutal reality is that momentum can matter more on the eve of the playoffs than talent, skill or coaching. The Aces continue to up their game when it matters. The Liberty, despite a strong start and while roiled by an unrelenting injury bug, will need to search for any glimpse of it this week.
Performer of the week: Rhyne Howard, Atlanta Dream
Howard averaged 28 points on 51% shooting, including 48% from 3 (12-of-25), in a two-win week for the Dream. It’s her efficiency that’s worthy of this week’s crown. Howard is the team’s second-highest scorer, but one of its least-efficient shooters. She’s a high-volume 3-point shooter in head coach Karl Smesko’s 3-point-happy system, shooting 32% on the year. Her decision-making will be key for Atlanta in the postseason.
Advertisement
Howard was part of one of two standout duos that emerged this week from the two teams racing to a photo finish for the No. 2 seed. Teammate Maya Caldwell averaged 16.5 points, shooting 65% overall and 7-of-11 from the perimeter, in heavy minutes off the bench while the Dream were without Gray. For Las Vegas, A’ja Wilson (9.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals, 2.5 blocks per game) and Jackie Young (7.0 assists per game) combined to average 51 points in their two wins while shooting 66% and 10-of-16 from 3-point range. Wilson was a perfect 3-of-3.
Game of the week
Golden State Valkyries at Seattle Storm, Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET (League Pass): It’s a win-and-you’re-in game for the Storm, another team with a tale of two halves of the season. The veteran Storm roster once held second place, but is 8-12 since the All-Star break, and comes into the finale on a two-game losing streak.
Advertisement
Even though they’ve so far split the season series with Golden State 1-1, the expansion Valkyries’ defense is one of the best at limiting an already strugglesome Storm offense. Golden State kept Seattle to its season-low 57 points on June 29 and to 67 on July 16. Seattle won the latter by nine, the only game it survived when scoring 76 or fewer points.
If Seattle loses, Los Angeles can steal the spot by winning out. The Sparks play in Phoenix on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET, NBA TV) and host Las Vegas on Thursday (10 p.m. ET, NBA TV) in the very last game of the WNBA regular season schedule.
