Early WNBA power rankings: Who will be the best team next season? Liberty or Lynx?

The New York Liberty are the 2024 champions, and the chase for a repeat begins now.

As we close the book on a spectacular WNBA season, one that changed the ceiling for the league moving forward, here is our first look ahead at how the 2025 season stacks up. For now, the Golden State Valkyries will be excluded, since they have yet to assemble a roster.

The champions get the top spot by default, but also because they figure to retain the entirety of their core from 2024, since Breanna Stewart has essentially committed to returning on a one-year deal. Stewart and WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones are in their primes, while Sabrina Ionescu keeps getting better. Plus, Nyara Sabally and Leonie Fiebich should take big leaps forward. Everyone else who played rotation minutes is under contract other than Courtney Vandersloot and Kennedy Burke. New York will need another backup point guard during the regular season if Jaylyn Sherrod isn’t ready to assume the role full-time, but veterans like Odyssey Sims and Lindsay Allen should be lining up to chase a ring. The Liberty also get to add the No. 7 pick in a deep draft thanks to a 2023 trade that gave them swap rights with Phoenix (and brought Fiebich to New York).

Napheesa Collier may not have secured the “best player alive” belt, but she is in the conversation now with Stewart and A’ja Wilson, and that makes Minnesota contenders no matter who surrounds her. Fortunately for the Lynx, the whole band is guaranteed to come back, other than unrestricted free agents Natisha Hiedeman and Myisha Hines-Allen. Hiedeman has spoken glowingly about her time in Minnesota, and Hines-Allen’s potential departure would be mitigated by growth from Dorka Juhász and the return of Jessica Shepard. Minnesota can also bring along Diamond Miller and Alissa Pili during the regular season for more dynamism and depth. Even after losing a player to the expansion draft, this roster is loaded with talent and has showcased the chemistry necessary to win.

The Aces are back on the hunt. After the league spent two years chasing down — and eventually catching — Las Vegas, the recent champs will resume the role of underdog. They still have A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and presumably Kelsey Plum, who is an unrestricted free agent but can be cored. Alysha Clark, Sydney Colson and Tiffany Hayes all told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that they are open to returning, keeping most of the bench intact. The front office needs to figure out some solutions in the frontcourt; perhaps that’s more Megan Gustafson and Kate Martin, or 2024 draftee Elizabeth Kitley, or a new addition. They also have a hole to fill on the sidelines with the departure of assistant coach Natalie Nakase to Golden State. Regardless, the core of the Aces keeps them formidable, especially in a non-Olympic year.

As long as Caitlin Clark is in Indiana, the Fever are going to have an elite offense. They had the best offense in the league after their 2-9 start and figure to get more comfortable with another year of reps for Clark, Aliyah Boston, Lexie Hull and Kelsey Mitchell. The final frontcourt starting spot is an open question, but Indiana has proof of concept now and should be the most attractive free agency destination in the WNBA. Would Nneka Ogwumike be interested in playing next to Clark and Boston? Could the Fever throw a godfather offer at Dallas for Satou Sabally? The goal for Indiana in 2025 should be hosting a playoff series, but the defense has to take a step forward to make that happen. The bet is that the Fever can get to league average with more continuity. Until then, they’re a tick below the true contenders.

The Sun are the trickiest team in the league to evaluate with their bevy of free agents, including Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner and Bri Jones. Of that group, only Thomas can be cored, and her public dissatisfaction about elements of the Connecticut Sun experience (like sharing practice space with public events) suggest that Thomas could be looking elsewhere. Even if we assume that most of the band runs it back in Connecticut for one more year before the new CBA completely changes roster building, and that the backcourt of Marina Mabrey, DiJonai Carrington, Ty Harris and Veronica Burton continues to flourish, it seems easier to bank on Indiana and Las Vegas leapfrogging the Sun in 2025 than Connecticut remaining in the top four.

In Year 2 under coach Nate Tibbetts, the Mercury should execute better in his systems and ideally have better health for their best players. They had only 11 games of their preferred starting lineup and went 7-4 in those contests. Phoenix finally managed to foster some young talent in Natasha Mack, Mikiah Herbert Harrigan and Celeste Taylor, and the potential retirement of Diana Taurasi could also help the team’s depth, as her maximum salary slot can be split into multiple role players. The Mercury still haven’t demonstrated enough consistency during the regular season in recent years — even their 2021 WNBA Finals run came as the fifth seed — to warrant a higher placement.

It might seem unfair to knock the Storm down two spots from their regular-season finish, but this is an older roster, and it’s hard to see the offensive upside, especially if Ogwumike walks in unrestricted free agency. Jewell Loyd hasn’t shot efficiently in three seasons, Ezi Magbegor hasn’t proven she’s able to take on a larger offensive role, and their best (only?) young prospect, Jordan Horston, doesn’t project as a primary scorer. Plus, Gabby Williams’ domestic availability is always in question. Seattle had an excellent free agency in 2024 and will need to replicate that to add to its talent pool in 2025. Otherwise, defense-first only gets you so far in the modern WNBA.

For now, the last spot in the 2025 playoff picture goes to the Mystics, who have oodles of young talent and could add two more top-six draft picks to their rotation. Their young players saw dramatic improvement over the course of the 2024 season, and if Brittney Sykes plays the bulk of next year, she’ll provide the steadying hand needed to guide Washington to the postseason. Of course, the Mystics could decide that making the playoffs isn’t in the franchise’s long-term best interest, but the way they closed out 2024 makes that unlikely.

It was tough to knock Atlanta out of the top eight, especially since the Dream had so many high-profile injuries in 2024. However, with the uncertainty of their coaching staff (there’s a theme among these bottom four teams), it’s tough to know what Atlanta will look like in the upcoming season. Tina Charles was an unexpectedly important part of the Dream’s success in ‘24 at age 35, but she was very close to former head coach Tanisha Wright and is not under contract for next year. The young core of Jordin Canada, Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray and Naz Hillmon has promise, but the pieces around them don’t make a ton of sense right now.

The Wings don’t have a point guard. They’re losing Natasha Howard, who announced on social media that she won’t be returning to Dallas. They have about 27 percent of their salary cap committed to an outdated center rotation that isn’t equipped to handle the current style of play in the WNBA. They also don’t have a head coach. The duo of Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally is a great foundation, but stars have been asking out of Dallas for years, and it would be unsurprising if Sabally becomes the latest. The Wings can core her and get some assets in return, but don’t expect those players/picks to help immediately.

A team that doesn’t control its 2026 first-round pick would like to get out of the lottery in 2025. For now, however, the Sparks return most of the roster that finished 9-31 and just fired a head coach who did well to develop young players. Los Angeles has very exciting young talent in Rickea Jackson, Rae Burrell, Cameron Brink (once she returns from the torn ACL), and a high pick in 2025, but the organizational instability will make it difficult to attract a quality head coach.

Although the Sky arguably have better talent than the Sparks, they have a delicate mix of personalities that will be difficult for any new coach to manage. If Teresa Weatherspoon wasn’t deemed capable of controlling the locker room, best of luck to whoever has that responsibility in the coming season. Chicago also struggled mightily after the All-Star break, with the worst overall net rating in the league (L.A. was 11th). Their early-season success seems flukier with the benefit of hindsight, and without any meaningful spacing on their roster, the Sky head into the offseason with more questions than other teams.

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, WNBA

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