One burning question for each team ahead of 2025 WNBA season

Anticipation for the 2025 WNBA season has been felt since last year’s final buzzer. With another strong draft class welcomed to the pros, the league is ready to make this campaign even better than the record-breaking one that came before it.

May 15, 2025 - 09:06

One burning question for each team ahead of 2025 WNBA season

Anticipation for the 2025 WNBA season has echoed around the league ever since the final buzzer last year.

The Minnesota Lynx want redemption, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever are ready to really show off what they can do, the Golden State Valkyries await their first-ever game, and the New York Liberty are ready to do it all over again.

With another impeccably strong draft class and a better media rights deal secured, the “W” is ready to make this season even better than the record-breaking one that came before it.

In preparation for tip-off on Friday, here’s one burning question to ask of each team heading into the 2025 WNBA season.

Eastern Conference:

Can the New York Liberty repeat last year’s success?

In 2024, for the first time since the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2011, the streets of New York flooded with fans for a championship parade. Led by two of the best players in the league, Sabrina Ionescu and Brianna Stewart, the Liberty brought home their first-ever title.

After 23 years as a franchise, the Liberty did what hasn’t been done in New York since 1973: they won a basketball championship.

With the same starting five and key bench talent returning for the Liberty, can they shorten the wait and forgo another 23-year drought?

Will the Connecticut Sun recover from a disastrous off-season?

The sun might be setting in Connecticut.

Despite making the playoffs and advancing to Game 5 of the semifinals last year, the Sun find themselves in a precarious situation to start 2025. Losing all five of last year’s playoff starters in free agency, Connecticut struggled to replace its previous core with equally strong talent.

Last season also ended with their assists and rebounds leader, Alyssa Thomas, offering some strongly worded remarks about the inadequacy of the team’s practice facilities.

In this year’s pre-season, the Sun split their games with a 20-point loss to the Seattle Storm and an eight-point victory over last year’s champs. But what’s made headlines in the last few weeks isn’t on court performance, rather it’s been reports that the Sun could be up for sale, with rumours of relocation now looming.

What can a rested Caitlin Clark do for the Indiana Fever?

This time last year, Caitlin Clark was preparing for the big league with barely any time off. Like most rookies, she was thrown into the WNBA’s heightened calibre of play directly from the madness of March, and as a result, her early-season play struggled.

But then came the Olympic break. Time away from the court turned out to be exactly what Clark needed.

After the month-long rest, the Indiana Fever led the league in points per 100 possessions with 109.6, and suddenly the team that had gone 1-8 to start the 2024 season made its way into the WNBA playoffs.

Clark drove the Fever’s success as she increased her scoring from 17.1 points per game to 23.5 after the break, while showing better control of the ball as her turnovers dropped from 5.6 to 4.8. And as she produced, her teammates also benefited. Almost every single one of Kelsey Mitchell’s stat lines improved just as Clark’s did.

If all that was possible after just one month away, imagine what an entire off-season could do.

Can the Atlanta Dream end the season above .500?

The Atlanta Dream currently hold one of the least coveted WNBA records: a streak of six seasons with a losing record, the longest of any team in the league.

The last time the Dream boasted an above .500 season was in 2018 when they went 23-11 and finished first in the Eastern Conference. Since then, they’ve missed the playoffs four times and lost in the first round twice, including last season.

In the off-season, the Dream lost their top defensive talent in Tina Charles, but they also found a dominant replacement in Brittney Griner. After 11 seasons with the Phoenix Mercury, she showed off for her new squad with 16 points and 10 boards in just 19 minutes of pre-season action against the Washington Mystics.

With fiery rookies like Te-Hina Paopao now on board, and strong veteran leadership in Griner and last year’s scoring leader Rhyne Howard, a winning record might finally be within the Dream’s grasp.

Will their plethora of prospects kickstart the Washington Mystics’ rebuild?

Washington is now the land of young talent with four top 10 picks in the last two drafts.

Although WNBA rebuilds are unique because there isn’t a development league, the Mystics have done a good job of constructing a young core with Canada’s Aaliyah Edwards, who easily situated herself in the league last season, and three more 2025 rookie superstars in Sonia Citron, Georgia Amoore and Aneesha Morrow.

Yet, the Mystics’ rebuild might be a little too good to be true, at least this year. During pre-season training, 2025 No. 6 overall pick Amoore suffered a devastating ACL injury that is expected to keep her out for the entire season.

What will a new coach mean for the Chicago Sky’s struggling offence?

One of the highlights for the Sky in 2024 was rookie sensation Angel Reese and her record-breaking 15-game double-double streak.

Reese was just one of many who dominated the glass and found easy layups. Chicago showed it could win games in the paint, yet it struggled to match against three-pointer machines like the New York Liberty. At times, their offence seemed one-dimensional, but this year, they’ve got new leadership in head coach Tyler Marsh to change that.

Already this pre-season, the Sky have pulled their offence away from strictly under the basket and looked to run a five-out system that generates more three-point attempts.

With eight new head coaches in the league this year, Marsh and his vision for the Sky are just one example of the new coach-player dynamics to monitor closely.

Western Conference:

Are the Minnesota Lynx poised for another year of playoff dominance?

The Lynx lost in the WNBA finals by such a slim margin, so expect they’ll be coming back with a vengeance.

Minnesota’s core returns this year firmly intact and with even more desire to win. With one of the league’s best in Napheesa Collier and the privilege of stability amid an off-season littered with change, they are perfectly poised to continue on the path of last year’s success.

Are the Las Vegas Aces done being at the top?

The easy answer here is not at all.

The Las Vegas Aces show a level of maturity and stability on both ends of the court that few teams can replicate. A’ja Wilson, with three MVP seasons under her belt, is arguably still the most dominant force in the W. At 28 years old, Wilson is entering her eighth season and isn’t showing signs of decline, and it’s quite possible we haven’t even seen the peak of what she can do.

A blockbuster trade in free agency helped the Aces secure 2015 No. 1 overall pick Jewell Loyd from the Seattle Storm in a three-team deal that sent Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks. With the moves, the Aces shook up their core while still managing to add in a top veteran performer.

This team isn’t without scoring depth and mature leadership, but after losing rookie Kate Martin to the Valkyries in the expansion draft and being forced to forfeit their first round pick in 2025, the burning question might soon become how long can the Aces stay relevant if they aren’t focusing on adding young talent too.

How will the Seattle Storm launch their rebuild?

The Seattle Storm are one of the hardest teams to predict ahead of the 2025 season.

In the last few months, the Storm gave up the last key member of their 2020 championship squad, Jewell Loyd, in a three-team deal that brought them Dominique Malonga, the second overall pick in last month’s draft.

Malonga, the 6-foot-6 19-year-old from France, has the potential to shake up the W. Her size and control of the ball set her apart, and when combined, make her a dunking threat, something almost unprecedented in this league.

Things didn’t always seem so promising for the Storm, however, especially when Malonga didn’t appear for the first few days of training camp, and there was no timeline for her arrival as she was preoccupied playing overseas.

But just because Malonga made it over to Seattle, it doesn’t mean this squad will automatically be catapulted to stardom. There’s a lot of rebuilding needed to get this team back into proper playoff contention.

What will life be like for the Phoenix Mercury without Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner?

It’s time for the Phoenix Mercury to form a new identity.

After 20 seasons with Taurasi and 11 with Griner, things look quite a bit different in Phoenix. But by securing two of the top available players in Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas, the Mercury have shown their new identity won’t be one associated with weakness. Just because two of their greatest players have moved on, it doesn’t mean more greatness isn’t ready and willing to step in and take their place.

How will the Dallas Wings fit together?

The Wings have a lot of great pieces, especially with the addition of No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers joining the squad.

Add in a new coach in Chris Koclanes and some off-season additions, suddenly the question isn’t what else do the Wings need to be successful, it’s how will they make it all fit together.

There’s a lot to get used to still, like the connection between one of the potentially best passers in Bueckers and one of the best shooters in Arike Ogunbowale. However, if the pair can get into rhythm and find ways to convert together, they’ll be unstoppable.

Will Kelsey Plum ignite the Los Angeles Sparks?

After going 8-32 last season, Plum has the potential to bring the Sparks exactly what they need.

Los Angeles has some strong talent in Dearica Hamby and last year’s rookie stars Rickea Jackson and Cameron Brink. They’ve also had some bad luck after an ACL injury sidelined Brink only a few weeks into last season. However, now that Brink is on the mend and more rookie fire has been added, the Sparks have something great for Plum to work with.

Before every WNBA season, Plum runs a training camp she calls her “Dawg Class” to help develop top young players. Given her experience leading youngsters to this level of play, there’s an expectation that she will be able to bring that same direction to the prospect-filled team that now surrounds her.

What are the Golden State Valkyries doing?

For fans in Toronto eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Tempo, this question is particularly burning. So much of what the Valkyries accomplish in their inaugural season demonstrates what the Tempo then might be capable of in theirs.

The problem is, it’s hard to understand exactly what the Valkyries are doing. During the expansion draft, they had limited options and did a good job of picking players based not only on skill, but also strong character. But then, during free agency, they seemingly stood still. The Valkyries didn’t go after key names, despite having the cap space, and left the off-season with just a few international signings. In the draft, they continued that trend, picking up Lithuanian sensation Juste Jocyte with their first-round pick.

The problem with so much reliance on international talent is that sometimes those players opt to remain with their overseas teams instead of moving to the W. Jocyte, for example, has chosen to remain in Europe for the entire 2025 season instead of playing for Golden State.

Already down one of their top picks, the Valkyries then made another questionable decision by waiving second-round pick Shyanne Sellers before the pre-season even began.

Without their first two draft picks or any key off-season signings, it’s difficult to understand what the Valkyries are doing and where they’re headed from here.