Wnba preview: Infermnium epidemic, Cameron Brink’s return and the best matchups of the week
The commercial deadline of the WNBA is officially a week and a half away with the teams until 7 August at 15:00 and to do all the operations before the regular season of WNBA reaches 70%. Like Cole Huff explained last weekIt is reasonable to believe that Dallas Wings and Washington Mystics will be sellers in the next ten days. Dallas’s wings remain the second worst team in the championship while Washington’s Mystics According to reports They were fun calls for the second year onwards Aaliyah Edwards.
But who could be the buyers? The freedom of New York did their job soon earn a commitment From the Belgian superstar of the free agent and Wnba Finals 2019 MVP Emma Meesseman. It is destined to arrive in August. But as the lynx will do above all it corresponds to them lost Karlie Samuelson For the season on July 4th?
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What about Seattle Storm, a team that continues to lose against the teams without so much talent? Starting now the storm is fifth in the Wnba ranking, but they have a ninth crime in the championship. This must improve if Seattle wants to go to a deep race to the playoffs.
Before moving to the week to come, the injury in WNBA must be discussed. Golden State’s last week Kayla Thornton had end of the season Knee surgery following an injury that he has undergone in practice, Angel Reese I lost two games last week that breastfeed a bad back and Breanna Stewart He left the Liberty game on Saturday against the sparks with presumably A right veal voltage.
Add it to the fact that this Caitlin Clark He remained out after injuring the right groin right before the all-star break. And mvp Napheesa Collier He played something in his shoulder. She start Wear a wrapper on the shoulder on July 25 to mitigate some discomfort.
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What is the cause of this and why does it seem that so many remarkable players are wounded and slammed at once?
There was a ton of heat In this season for furious and inconsistent office by the referees Wnba, and although it is part of this is guaranteed especially when the League has more eyes on it than has ever done, there is another part of this story. The poor officiant is not only the reason why WNBA has been up to this season to record the greatest number of accidents during a regular season in recent memory For Lucas Seehafer of Basket IX.
Since 2021, the amount of games played in the regular season has increased by 37.5%. Coming out of the pandemic bubble season in 2020, there were 32 games of the regular season because it was an Olympic year and the imprint of the season had to include a pause of a month in the middle of the season. From 2022 to 2025, the amount of games went from 36 games in 2022 to 40 games in 2023 and 2024 and then in 2025 there are 44 games during the regular season, the most ever. Last season, 2024 was also an Olympic year.
While the amount of games played has significantly increased, the WNBA imprint or the amount of days that include an entire regular season and a playoff program no. Other games are pushed into less time.
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Only last week, six teams from Dream, Aces, Liberty, Mystics, Sun and Wings played everyone in back-to-back games. This prompted the ESPN transmissions analyst and the former Wnba Rebecca Lobo player to dig some searches that showed the dramatic reduction of the average days among the games during the regular season since 2021. The numbers through the researcher Espn Garrett Gastfield show that even in a non -Olympic year, the program is even more brutal than a season ago.
Starting now, WNBA and its players are involved in the current CBA negotiations and the period of time between the games as well as a longer season imprint should be raised on further discussions. While commissioner Cathy Engelbert is preparing To extend next season per month of November due to the 2026 Fiba World Cup which takes place in September, the imprint of the League’s calendar must be expanded in the long term rather than just for a season.
“We want to promote players’ security”, Mercury Forward Sabally They told journalists on June 19th. “I think it’s the biggest thing, and we want to work together with the League, because we are the product, right? And we also understand that it is a business, so finding the best way to make it accommodating for everyone … to make sure you can play all these games and give our best performance.”
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The current model-What plays 44 games in 119 days-and once has led multiple players to be injured at a time when the huge fans and the new audience Bramano seeing their favorite players playing instead of the street clothes on the bench.
The week to come
There is a theme in the games selected for this week. Everyone has specific playoff implications as these are all matches among teams that are very close to each other in the standings.
At the time of drafting this document, the only matchup that I highlighted that it does not include the teams only one game or two apart from each other in the standings is when Liberty finally overlooks Lynx on Wednesday evening.
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Liberty remains 3.5 games behind Lynx, but this should not dissuade anyone from looking at the revenge of the 2024 WNBA finals which presents the first two teams of the championship that took more than two months to be played. In addition, some of the best matchups of this week are television games at national level. This is what deserves the push of the WNBA playoffs.
Las Vegas Aces @ Los Angeles Sparks
(Tuesday 29 July at 22:00 and on NBA TV)
The Aces and the Sparks go to Tuesday’s matchup who have all won a game of the team’s seasonal series. At the time of drafting this document, the axes are 13-13 and there are 1.5 games on the sparks 11-14. Los Angeles has a momentum that rides a series of five games in which they defeated the sun and mystics twice and then defeated freedom on a Rickea Jackson Buzzer Beater Saturday. While the sparks improved in a particularly offensive way, their series of victories has come against the teams that are negative in the net evaluation or in the case of Liberty has just come out playing the day before. While the axes exploded the 12th place Dallas Wings Sunday, Las Vegas is still looking for consistency. Ago Jewell Loyd Outing the bench help the axes go on? In addition, the sparks will be welcomed on Tuesday. Cameron BrinkThe total choice of 2024 n. 2 who torn his ACL and meniscus last season and has not played in a game since then.
New York Liberty @ Minnesota Lynx
(Wednesday 30 July at 20:00 et on Espn)
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There is good news and bad news. First the good. After more than two months, the moment when most of the Wnba fans waited is almost here: the first revenge of the 2024 ending of the end of 202 which went to five games and in the extraordinary twice. The bad news is that the New York Liberty will most likely play this game Breanna StewartThat seemed to filter his leg at the bottom right in the first quarter against the sparks. Furthermore, freedom will most likely be without finals Game 5 Hero Nyara Sabally Who second The Madeline Kenney of the New York Post will come out between two or three weeks. While the lynx has fought with fewer injuries, they will not yet be completely healthy. They have lost the filming of Karlie Samuelson on the wing since she went down with an injury to the season. Regardless of who is inside and who is out, there is still very talent on the floor that will fight him on Wednesday. But without Stewart, it will be difficult to know after this week how these teams match each other in 2025. Some good news is that both teams will play three more times in August.
Golden State Valkyries @ Washington Mystics
(Thursday 31 July at 19:30 et on Prime Videos)
The valchias and mystics have both fought in recent times. Both teams were swept away by the opponents on Sunday and both sit at the bottom of the photo of the playoffs. Starting from Monday, Golden States only spends Washington for half a game for the eighth final, and if the Valkyries still want to do the post-installation, which is certainly not considering their all-star Kayla Thornton It is out for the season, this is an important game for them to win. With a victory on Thursday evening, the Valkyries would have had the advantage in the seasonal series against Mystics, even if these two teams are played two more times before the end of August.
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Phoenix Mercury @ Atlanta Dream
(Friday 1 August at 19:30 et su ion)
When these two teams were addressed on July 23, Brittney GrinerThe return to Phoenix was sprinkled with a competitive juice as well as some authentic emotions. He wanted to show and defeat the franchise I wanted to go in a different direction After playing for the mercury for over a decade. Griner was successful in both tasks. He had 18 points and eight rebounds in the victory of his 90-79 of his dream over Mercury. I expect Griner to want to show again when Mercury will face the dream in Atlanta on Friday. But in addition to the pride associated here, there are also playoff implications. Mercury are only a game above the dream in the standings starting from Monday, and if the dream defeats Mercury again on Friday evening, Atlanta could conquer the seasonal series, a precious advantage of sowing if the two teams end up with the same record at the end of the season.
Indiana Fever @ Seattle Storm
(Sunday 3 August at 15:00 Et on Espn+)
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The fever and the storm have inverse one of each other. The fever has the third best crime in the championship, but the inconsistency on the defensive part of the ball has led to being sixth in the standings. The storm, however, has the second best defense and the ninth offense. Seattle has scored 58 points against the mystics that have a mediocre defense, classified Seventh best in the championship. The storm offense remains so inconsistent. Starting from Monday, the fifth place storm has a edge of a game on the ranking in the standings. The fever has the advantage in the seasonal series and if they defeat the storm on Sunday, the Indiana will have the advantage of sowing if these two teams also end up in the last day of the season.