Ten days remain in the WNBA regular season, and though five teams have nothing left to play for, there is plenty of drama remaining for the other eight.
The Lynx have clinched the No. 1 overall seed for the playoffs, giving coach Cheryl Reeve the freedom to try out new rotations and rest her players. That experimentation already began Monday as Kayla McBride took the night off, though her backup DiJonai Carrington suffered a shoulder injury and missed the second half. Whether Napheesa Collier sits out any games is the more interesting question as the MVP candidate has already missed 10 contests, and games played are the main factor working against her. The threat of injury likely outweighs any individual awards as Collier pursues her first WNBA title, but that decision is up to her.
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The next group of four teams (Las Vegas, Atlanta, Phoenix and New York) is trying to earn a top-four seed and homecourt advantage in the first round. The Liberty seem destined for the fifth seed, but nothing is set in stone. There is also significant value in No. 3 over No. 4 because the sixth seed in the standings will be a less challenging opponent in the first round than the defending champions. Earlier in the year, the third seed also had the draw of avoiding Minnesota until the finals, but a semifinal matchup against the Aces doesn’t seem like a walk in the park, either.
The next group of four is all chasing a playoff spot, and two of the teams in that group (Seattle and Los Angeles) are especially incentivized as they don’t own their first-round pick in the 2026 draft. Like the Liberty in the group above, the Sparks have a tough road ahead to overcome one of the Storm, Fever or Valkyries. None of those three teams can settle either because the sixth seed provides the best chance of a first-round upset.
Four teams are outside of the playoff picture altogether. Fortunately, outside of Dallas, where injuries have rendered the Wings a shell of themselves, the other three squads have remained surprisingly competitive with the lottery standings essentially set; it also helps that Chicago and Connecticut don’t own their picks and have no incentive to tank. The Sky have taken down New York recently and gave Las Vegas and the Mercury scares, while the Sun haven’t had a real upset win but aren’t an easy out.
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The fault lines in the standings make it difficult for too much movement within the power rankings. Perhaps the last week will bring more surprises.
Three standout performances
Veronica Burton making an all-WNBA push
In Burton’s fourth year in her WNBA career, she has scored more points and made more field goals with the Golden State Valkyries than she did in her first three years combined. She has also collected more assists and rebounds in one season than she did in her first three, and she is shooting career-best marks on 2-pointers and 3-pointers. Although Burton is a full-time starter for the first time, her minutes total isn’t higher than her first three seasons. Rather, she has blossomed into a better player than she was in Dallas or Connecticut and become a leading candidate for Most Improved Player and potentially second-team all-WNBA.
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Burton is 15th in Player Efficiency Rating despite not being named an All-Star and is seventh in the league in win shares. She has had three games of double-digit assists and zero turnovers; only Sue Bird, Dawn Staley, Ticha Penicheiro and Courtney Vandersloot have done that in their careers, and none had three in the same season. As the Valkyries have weathered injuries and absences, Burton has been the constant, starting every game and leading Golden State to a plus-5.1 net rating when she is on the court. She has double-digit assists to 10 different teammates, functioning as the hub of the Valkyries’ offense.
In Golden State’s back-to-back wins over Washington and Indiana this week, the first of which knocked the Mystics out of playoff contention, Burton combined for 23 points and 18 assists. Those assists led to 45 points, and 15 of the 18 assisted field goals were layups or 3s. Burton’s efficiency as a playmaker powers the Valkyries, and it doesn’t hurt that she is also one of the best defenders at her position. Burton helped limit Odyssey Sims to 1 of 10 shooting a game after she lit up the Sparks, and the Mystics had an eight-point first quarter as Golden State blew them out early.
Odyssey Sims with the dagger
Player movement isn’t uncommon in the middle of the WNBA season. Even if in-season trades are rare, plenty of franchise machinations cause players to bounce from one team to another. Other than the Atlanta Dream, every team currently has a rotation player who played significant minutes for a different WNBA team earlier in 2025.
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Which is to say, Odyssey Sims’ situation Friday, suiting up for the Indiana Fever against the Los Angeles Sparks — where she played her first 12 games of the season — isn’t out of the ordinary. But what Sims accomplished in that performance was a little extra special. The Fever and the Sparks entered the matchup separated by two games in the standings, each team fighting for the final playoff spot. L.A. already owned the tiebreaker, so a loss would have considerably complicated Indiana’s postseason aspirations.
With the Fever trailing by three with less than a minute to play, Sims — a career 27.8 percent 3-point shooter — lined up the game-tying shot, her first triple of the game. On the ensuing possession, with Indiana now down by one, she found her way into the lane for the game-winning floater, bookending Indiana’s victory with the team’s first and last points. Sims’ overall offensive output was similar to a 32-point outing she had earlier in the season for L.A., when she lived in the paint and converted floater after floater as the defense overloaded on Kelsey Plum. This time, Sims capitalized on the attention given to Kelsey Mitchell and converted seven floaters in a one-point Fever win.
Sims is no stranger to hardship contracts and coming onto a team near the end of a team’s season and having to learn a new playbook on the fly. Over the past four seasons, Sims has signed nine hardship or seven-day deals.
“I’m the human definition of stay ready so you don’t have to get ready,” Sims said. “Every opportunity that’s been given to me, I’ve taken full advantage of.”
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Through eight games with Indiana, Sims is averaging 10.6 points and 4.1 assists, none bigger than the five in the final minute to give the Fever a much-needed win over the Sparks.
A’ja Wilson can do it all
It’s rare for the three-time MVP to have an off game, let alone a bad game. But Wilson’s outing Tuesday against Chicago was out of character, as her clutch-time flurry obscured an otherwise middling night. If there was any worry that Wilson had lost her legs, those doubts were put to rest in her next game against Atlanta. She followed up a 7-of-18 shooting night by making 13 of 21 field goals and adding four blocks.
Two of those field goals were 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions near the end of the third quarter as the Aces closed the period on a 13-0 run to take control of the game. Wilson has only made multiple 3-pointers in a game twice this season, both against the Dream. Perhaps that added insult to the “MVP” chants Wilson earned in Atlanta on a night that may have locked up the No. 2 seed for Las Vegas. Wilson is already a nightmare to contend with inside the arc. When she is making 3s, there really isn’t anything that can be done to stop her.
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Rookie of the week
Amy Okonkwo, Dallas Wings
Even as I remain skeptical of the overall pace of WNBA expansion, it’s hard to be cynical about the opportunities created for players who never gave up on their WNBA dreams. Forty-five players have made their league debuts this season, including 14 of whom are 25 and older, per data from Across the Timeline.
One is Amy Okonkwo, who went undrafted out of TCU in 2019, played for the Wings in training camp in 2021, and also appeared in training camp for the Sun this season. Even so, it took a rash of injuries in Dallas (seven players were out on the latest injury report) to make an opening for the Nigerian international. Okonkwo has not been shy about hunting her shot. She is second on the Wings in field-goal attempts per 36 minutes behind Paige Bueckers (15.4 per 36 before Monday’s game in Minnesota) and first in 3-point attempts.
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It’s hard to evaluate anything that is happening in Dallas with the team eliminated from playoff contention and so many players missing, but Okonkwo is doing her best to make an impression. More roster spots are on the way.
Game to circle
Minnesota at Las Vegas, 10 p.m. (ET) Thursday, Prime Video
Only the Aces have stakes in this game, so it’s possible the Lynx play their cards close to the vest and let Las Vegas have this one to avoid giving away any matchup information ahead of a potential meeting in the finals.
After already beating the Aces by 14, 31 and 53, Minnesota doesn’t have much to gain. The main reason I’m still looking forward to this game is in case the Lynx decide to try, which is possible since Reeve’s squad hasn’t exactly looked at its peak in the last couple of weeks. Furthermore, Las Vegas has won 12 consecutive games, and 13 would put the Aces in elite company. The other six teams to do so all finished with the best record in the WNBA, which Las Vegas can’t do, but five made the finals, and four won the title. A month ago, it was hard to believe the Aces could be in that conversation, but here they are.
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, Seattle Storm, Los Angeles Sparks, Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, Las Vegas Aces, Phoenix Mercury, Golden State Valkyries, WNBA
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