We’re almost a week into the WNBA season, and already, some teams look better than expected, and some teams look worse. Only two teams remain undefeated (the Chicago Sky and Atlanta Dream) and only two are winless (the Los Angeles Sparks and Connecticut Sun).
WNBA winners, losers from the first week of action
The Chicago Sky and Portland Fire have exceeded expectations, while the Los Angeles Sparks and Connecticut Sun had a forgettable first week.
Noa Dalzell is a senior writer covering the WNBA and all of women’s basketball for Breakaway, SB Nation’s women’s sports vertical, as well as the Celtics for CelticsBlog.
Here are some early winners and losers from the first week of WNBA action.
Winners: The Chicago Sky
The Sky were one of the league’s worst teams last season, and pretty much overhauled their roster in the offseason, adding Rickea Jackson, Skylar Diggins, Jacy Sheldon, and Natasha Cloud, trading Angel Reese, and drafting Gabriela Jaquez.
So far, it’s a risk that’s paid off. Jackson is thriving — she’s averaging 18.5 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists through two games — and Diggins is running the show as well as she ever has, averaging 18 points. 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. Kamilla Cardoso has been dominant — averaging 15 points and 10.5 rebounds — and Sheldon and Jaquez have looked like great complementary pieces. It’s early, but a 2-0 start is a good sign for the Sky.
Losers: The Los Angeles Sparks
The Sparks are talented — Kelsey Plum, Nneka Ogwumike, and Dearica Hamby are all All-Stars, and Ariel Atkins, Rae Burrell, and Cameron Brink make up a strong supporting cast. But something isn’t clicking. After failing to make the playoffs last year, Los Angeles hasn’t looked great to begin the season. They got blown out by the Las Vegas Aces at home to begin the year, and followed that up with a 9-point loss to the Indiana Fever.
Winners: The Portland Fire
The Fire are 1-1 to begin the year, after getting their first win of the season off a Sarah Ashlee Barker buzzer-beater. That game was awesome: Moda Center was loud, Carla Leite was clutch, and Bridget Carleton was every bit the superstar the Fire hoped she’d become. A win over the New York Liberty is always a positive, but it’s particularly impressive that the Fire have been able to be so competitive as an expansion team in the early days. Head coach Alex Samara appears to be running a smooth operation.
Losers: The Connecticut Sun
It’s not a huge deal that the Sun are 0-3 to begin the season; they’re without point guard Leila Lacan, and are a rebuilding team, after all. But Connecticut hasn’t been competitive in two out of their three games so far this season; they lost by 31 points to the Liberty on opening night and fell by 29 to the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday. The Sun were more competitive in a 7-point loss to the Seattle Storm, but it’d be great to see them hang in there more against some of the league’s premier teams.
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