After one month of play, three teams have emerged as frontrunners for the 2021 WNBA championship, but it’s been a competitive-as-hell start to the year for the whole league. Less than two games separate fourth place from 11th, as the playoff race figures to be wild as the season wears on.
There’s a lot of basketball left to play, too, even though we’re one-third of the way through the season. Things could change a lot as injuries have dictated the standings to this point. Elena Delle Donne, Diana Taurasi, Bria Hartley, Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu, Natasha Howard, Nneka Ogwumike, Aerial Powers, and more are sidelined for extended time. Any of their returns could shake the league’s hierarchy.
For now though, let’s rank all 12 teams while factoring in who they’ve been missing and who they’ve played against.
1. Seattle Storm (11-2)
The Storm are rolling. Despite losing Alysha Clark and Howard in the offseason, the Big Three of Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd and Sue Bird are having no issue tearing apart the league all over again. Their only two losses have come to the Wings at the buzzer and to the Aces. After splitting two games against Vegas, Seattle will have a chance to solidify their top spot in the rankings with a third game on June 27.
2. Las Vegas Aces (9-3)
It took a minute, but the Aces are starting to look exactly like the team we were all afraid of before the start of the season — even without All-Star Angel McCoughtry. A’ja Wilson has improved since her 2020 MVP campaign, Liz Cambage is asserting herself in the post, Chelsea Gray is handling point, Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum are boosting the bench, and even 2019 No. 1 pick Jackie Young is starring in her role. Vegas is tough, and the team’s only three losses are to the Storm and Sun (twice).
3. Connecticut Sun (8-3)
The Sun lost their top spot in the power rankings to no fault of their own. MVP frontrunner Jonquel Jones is competing for Bosnia and Herzegovina at EuroBasket and will miss 4-6 games. In their first try without her, the Storm blew the Sun out by 23 points in Connecticut. The schedule won’t get any easier either for them against the surging Chicago Sky in three of their next four games. If the Sun skid, don’t expect them to stay down. JJ will be back.
4. Chicago Sky (5-7)
The Sky are a powerhouse in disguise as a sub-.500 group. The key stat here being the team’s record with Candace Parker (4-0) vs. without her (1-7). It turns out having one of the game’s best talents is really important! Since her ankle sprain, Parker’s had one shaky game and then two dominant ones, including a comfortable win over the Lynx. In her last two showings, she’s scored 32 points on 10-of-20 shooting with 21 rebounds, 11 assists and nine turnovers. She’s on the rise, and should only get more comfortable with her new teammates over time.
5. Dallas Wings (5-6)
A relatively narrow seven-point defeat to the Aces on the road spoiled a three-game winning streak that included a pair of wins over the Mercury and a major upset over the Storm. But the Wings still deserve top-5 recognition if you include their body of work. Allisha Gray has only played in six games, and Satou Sabally has only appeared in five. Dallas might not have hit its peak yet.
6. Minnesota Lynx (4-6)
The Lynx failed their big test against the Sky, losing by 16 points on Tuesday, but are much improved since the return of Napheesa Collier. Injuries to Aerial Powers and Natalie Achonwa, who are both out indefinitely, won’t help Minnesota climb out of the hole the team’s in, but the Lynx now have the star-power to push back to the top of the standings. They play Dallas twice and Atlanta once in their next three games.
7. New York Liberty (6-5)
The Liberty have lost four of their last five, but missing both Ionescu an Howard is an easy enough explanation for why. Three of those four games were also against the Aces and Sun (with Jones). New York’s schedule doesn’t get any easier as the team plays the Aces again and then the Sky twice in their next four games. If Ionescu can’t return by then, they could slide further.
8. Atlanta Dream (5-6)
The Dream are a tough team to figure out for as long as Chennedy Carter’s sidelined, but losing the last four-of-five makes it tough to put them much higher than eighth. A 23-point blowout win against the Mystics might’ve brought out a few believers, but they’ll need to play more consistently. At this rate, Atlanta is likely going to battle for one of the last playoff seeds.
9. Phoenix Mercury (5-7)
The Mercury are missing both Hartley and Taurasi, but they’ve dropped four straight games including one to the Liberty, who were without Ionescu, and one to the Sparks, who were without both Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike. It’s time to at least be a little worried about Phoenix, which hasn’t solved the depth problems that limited them last season or the one before.
10.Washington Mystics (4-6)
News that Elena Delle Donne could sit until August is super discouraging, but Tina Charles is having a season to remember, and deserves a ton of praise for keeping D.C. afloat. Being the only team to lose to the Fever, and then getting blown out by 23 points to the Dream is tough, though. Don’t write them off yet. If Delle Donne returns and if Natasha Cloud and Sydney Wiese can get back to full health, the Mystics could still be a threat.
11. Los Angeles Sparks (5-5)
The Sparks are 3-2 over their last five games, which is as good as they could’ve hoped for without either Ogwumike sister. Two of those wins came against the Parker-less Sky and the slumping Fever, though the win over Phoenix on Wednesday was impressive. Hopefully, Nneka and Chiney will return soon enough for L.A. to stay in competition for a playoff spot.
12. Indiana Fever (1-12)
Yeah. Few games have even been close. It might be time for young players to get more opportunities so the franchise can assess what the future could look like for a team that’s missed the playoffs ever year since 2017.
