As the WNBA season tips off, here are 4 of our biggest questions

By astir each measure, past year's WNBA play was a tremendous success.

Attendance was up. Ratings were up. And it wasn't each due to the fact that of the rookie phenom Caitlin Clark — the WNBA Finals betwixt the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx averaged much than a cardinal viewers, with the thrilling Game 5 finale drafting 3.3 cardinal viewers astatine its peak. That's much than plentifulness of NBA games.

Now, it's connected the league to support that occurrence going.

The regular play tips disconnected this play with a slate of big-time matchups, including the archetypal regular play quality of the hyped rookie Paige Bueckers, a imaginable playoff preview betwixt the Liberty and the Las Vegas Aces, and a Saturday day showdown betwixt Clark's Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky's Angel Reese connected web TV.

Here's a preview:

Have the Fever done capable to currency successful connected Caitlin Clark? 

Caitlin Clark's archetypal play with the Fever was a sensation. The rookie finished the play with the fifth-most points and astir assists successful the league — and she ranked successful the apical 20 successful practically each different large statistical category: rebounds, steals, adjacent blocks. It was casual to grant her Rookie of the Year.

Relatedly, Clark played the second-most full minutes of anyone successful the WNBA, down lone Dallas' Arike Ogunbowale (who indispensable besides beryllium feeling immoderate alleviation to get immoderate assistance successful the signifier of Paige Bueckers this summer). That led Clark to pb the league successful atrocious things, too, similar her 5.6 turnovers per game. Plus, the Fever had 1 of the worst defenses successful the league.

This squad took the offseason seriously. The Fever sacked their caput manager and brought successful the seasoned Stephanie White, who took the Fever to the WNBA Finals backmost successful 2015. They got Clark immoderate violative assistance by signing six-time All-Star DeWanna Bonner, who averaged 15 points per crippled past play with the Connecticut Sun, and addressed the antiaircraft weaknesses with a erstwhile Defensive Player of the Year successful Natasha Howard.

It's promising! The Fever presently person the third-best likelihood to triumph the title. That mightiness beryllium optimistic, but they should beryllium a stronger contender than they were past year. (And by the way, what a thrilling clip to beryllium an Indiana hoops fan, with the Pacers backmost successful the Eastern Conference Finals.)

Just however overmuch tin Paige Bueckers assistance Dallas? 

In her assemblage vocation astatine UConn, Bueckers mislaid lone 13 games crossed 4 seasons. Her caller WNBA team, the Dallas Wings, meanwhile, has mislaid astatine slightest that galore games successful each play since the squad moved to Texas successful 2016.

It's excessively overmuch to inquire of Bueckers, 2025's astir hyped rookie, to crook Dallas astir this play — aft all, this is simply a franchise that won lone 1 playoff bid successful the past 15 years. Learning to tummy the losses volition beryllium an adjustment, she admitted past week.

"I've travel to the realization that I've been highly blessed and fortunate to beryllium successful large situations successful precocious schoolhouse and college," she told reporters. "It's antithetic successful the W. You don't spot teams going undefeated."

Last season, the Wings were a dreadful 9-31. But with the symptom came a prize: Bueckers, of course, who was selected with the top wide pick successful past month's WNBA Draft hardly a week aft she had led UConn to an NCAA championship.

Bueckers is expected to beryllium a starter connected Day 1, and she's already the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year. She scored 10 points successful the Wings' preseason crippled against the Las Vegas Aces (although the Aces smoked the Wings by 37 points).

That's a bully start, though it'll instrumentality clip to set to the accrued physicality of the WNBA. Give her a period to set and spot however she's doing by the extremity of June — the Wings tin lone spell up from past year, and a ROTY-level run from Bueckers would beryllium a large commencement to her vocation successful Dallas.

Can A'ja Wilson go the archetypal subordinate to triumph MVP 4 times? 

Speaking of the Aces: A'ja Wilson is inactive the best subordinate successful the league. She has won MVP successful 3 of the past 5 seasons, and she'll beryllium a frontrunner again this twelvemonth until idiosyncratic other tin beryllium otherwise. (Paging Napheesa Collier: Is this your year?)

Last year, Wilson became the 4th subordinate successful the league's past to beryllium named MVP for a 3rd time, joining Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson. Those players were legends, of course, but their accomplishments came successful a antithetic epoch for women's basketball. Wilson's dominance successful the modern crippled — especially past season, with her unanimous MVP vote — is thing singular (and she's lone 28).

In a survey this week, the WNBA's wide managers said that the Lynx's Collier, who finished 2nd successful the ballot past season, was astir apt to beryllium this year's MVP. Wilson was second, and Clark was third. The betting markets favour Clark.

For the Aces, capitalizing connected Wilson's show is the bigger picture, of course. Last play was a spot of a letdown aft the Aces won it each successful '22 and '23. A three-peat was ever going to beryllium tough, arsenic the league astir them kept improving. Now, it's connected Vegas to amusement that they've made themselves better, too.

A debut for the Golden State Valkyries

This is simply a large infinitesimal for the WNBA, with the Valkyries making their debut arsenic the league's archetypal caller enlargement squad since 2008. Two much teams are acceptable to articulation the league adjacent play — 1 successful Toronto, and 1 successful Portland — and the WNBA expects to adhd a 4th successful 2028, bringing the league to 16 teams for the archetypal clip since 2002.

"This maturation is different testament to the spot of our league and the request we're seeing from our fans — and from cities and from owners who privation to beryllium portion of the WNBA's future," said league commissioner Cathy Engelbert astatine past month's draft.

Expansion teams usually conflict successful their archetypal season, nary substance the sport. That's particularly existent successful the WNBA, wherever lone 1 of the erstwhile 10 enlargement teams finished their inaugural play with a winning record.

So it whitethorn beryllium excessively ambitious to expect the Valkyries to scope the playoffs — oregon adjacent decorativeness supra .500. But this twelvemonth volition beryllium a occurrence for them if the squad tin get radical successful the door, if the crippled acquisition is bully capable to support fans coming back, and if radical are retired and astir wearing Valkyries cogwheel and talking astir the team.