Azzi’s debut, Angel double-doubles in Atlanta, and Flau’jae shows out: Pop Base recaps the start of the WNBA season

The Pre-Pre-Season

Even after free agency ended, teams were making major moves. 

The Sky waived 2025 picks Hailey Van Lith, Maddy Westbeld, and Aicha Coulibaly. Hailey was picked up by the Sun, while Westbeld and Coulibaly are still teamless. 

Natasha Cloud was picked up by the Sky, after much speculation that the guard had been not picked up due to her outspoken activism. Liberty GM tried to put that rumor to rest, saying: “What she stands for is what I stand for. I believe in speaking up for the voiceless. There is no better embodiment of that than Natasha Cloud, and she puts her life on the line every single day with saying what she believes.” The Athletic reports that the vet guard was in talks with three teams before joining the Chicago organization. We’re glad Cloud found her place in the Sky. In other pun-related news, Skylar Diggins, seven-time all-star, also joined up with the Sky. The two additions—along with DiJonai Carrington, Courtney Vandersloot, and Rachel Banham—give this year’s roster a backcourt to be reckoned with. 

Valkyries waived Kate Martin, who was on their inaugural roster. Days later, she got a development deal with the Sparks. But she’s been suffering from a hamstring strain and didn’t play for the Sparks during tipoff weekend. 

Every team had to slim down their roster before the season tipped off. The Wings waived six players—including Amy Okonkwo, Grace Berger, and veteran guard Lindsay Allen—ahead of the season. 

Injury report: 

Sabrina Ionescu rolled her ankle during a preseason game, and is expected to miss the first few weeks of the Liberty’s season before being re-evaluated.  

After injuring both ankles last season and undergoing surgery in late March, Napheesa Collier’s current return to the Lynx is scheduled for early June. with Dorka Juhász also sidelined after being injured playing in her EuroLeague MVP season, Natasha Howard and Emma Cechova will have to hold it down in the paint for the Lynx this season. 

Azura Stevens, DiJonai Carrington and Courtney Vandersloot did not play in the Sky’s season opener, riddled with knee and foot injuries. Stevens could be back in a few weeks, while Sloot is still working on getting her ACL back to full health and DiJonai is still in a boot. More bad luck for the team out of Chicago. 

The Aces’ Dana Evans is working on rehabbing her knee, which underwent surgery in October. The team hasn’t offered a timeline for her return. 

Saying goodbye to a legend: 

Tina Charles announced her retirement after her 14 year career in a heartfelt statement online. 

The league thanked her in their own statement. She has yet to announce what she’ll do next. Thanks for everything, Tina! 

Pre-Season Ramps It Up

Four pre-season games were nationally streamed for the first time, allowing the W to reach its biggest audience yet. All the games were free on the WNBA app. Fever-Liberty peaked at over 800k viewers. For a preseason game. But the hype around the league isn’t just talk—it translates into dollars and cents.

New kids on the block

The two newest additions to the league, the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo, each lost both their preseason games. But they looked good doing it—check out these court designs: 

Plus, the Tempo’s opener was the most-watched WNBA regular season game ever in Canada, according to WNBA Canada.

And Portland one-upped the Valkyries by breaking their record for attendance at an expansion team’s home opener, with over 19k fans in attendance. Nice. 

Tipping Off the Season

Tip-off weekend was thrilling—rookies and vets alike were put to the test. Let’s dig in. 

Friday

Sun 75 - Liberty 106

Breanna Stewart shot 10-17 for 31 points and 10 rebounds to power the Liberty to their first win of the season. Julie Vanloo (with 7 rebounds herself), Jonquel Jones, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, and Marine Johannes also put up 10+ points. It was a real team effort. Despite the 30-point loss, Diamond Miller and Aneesah Morrow put up 16 and 15 respectively. Nothing to be ashamed of. 

Mystics 68 - Tempo 65 

In the Tempo’s season opener, they held their own against the Mystics, with Marina Mabrey putting up 27 points and 7 rebounds. Rookies and former UCLA teammates Lauren Betts and Kiki Rice played against each other, with neither getting points on the board in their first game in the W. Rookie Cotie McMahon has been sitting out for the Mystics with an elbow injury she sustained in the preseason. 

Valkyries 91 - Storm 80

The Valkyries beat the Storm by a couple points in the preseason, but this game was a more decisive victory. Every player with more than 4 minutes scored at least one point. Flau’jae Johnson put up 12 in her rookie debut—the fourth highest of the night for the Storm. Fellow Storm rookie Awa Fam is finishing up the post-season in Spain before joining the WNBA season in progress. 

Saturday 

Wings 107 - Fever 104 

Azzi Fudd struggled in her rookie debut, putting up just 3 points in 18 minutes in her rookie debut. Her Wings teammates picked up the slack: Paige Bueckers and Odyssey Sims had 20 apiece, Arike Ogunbawale scored 22, and newbie Jessica Shepard had 13. Fever rookie Raven Johnson shot 100% from the field, scoring 4 points in 12 minutes. Caitlin Clark had 20 points and 5 rebounds and Kelsey Mitchell put up 30 points with 5 assists, but couldn’t best the Wings. 

P.S. The winning doesn’t stop there for the Dallas team:

Mercury 99 Aces 66 

The Mercury pulled off a win over the Aces with 10+ points scored by each of their starters, including 20 by powerhouse forward Alyssa Thomas. A’ja Wilson had 19 and Jackie Young had 12 for the Aces, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the lack of scoring by the rest of the roster. 

Dream 91 - Lynx 90 

The Atlanta Dream exercised Angel Reese’s fourth year option during the preseason, and this game demonstrates why. Angel put up 11, a little less than her regular-season average, but had 14 rebounds, more than any other player this weekend. At one point, the Lynx led the game by 19 points, but ended up losing after a 24-point masterclass by Allisha Gray. There was no lack of scoring on the Lynx side, though. Rookie Olivia Miles put up 21, making her the biggest scorer of the game for the Lynx, and tying Kayla McBride and Seimone Augustus for the second-most points in a Lynx rookie debut. 

Sky 98 - Fire 83 

Three of the five Sky starters scored 19+ to lead the Sky to a win over the brand new Portland Fire. Number 5 picked rookie Gabriela Jaquez started and put up 10 points and 7 rebounds. The Fire looked good but got outscored by the Sky, only leading 6% of the game. 

Sunday 

Storm 89 - Sun 82

The headline: Flau’jae puts up 16 points in her second game in the W. Lexie Brown put in the work alongside Johnson, with 17 points of her own. The Sun stayed in the game but ultimately gave it away, giving up 19 points on turnovers. 

Liberty 98 - Mystics 93

Kiki Iriafen double-doubled with the Mystics on Sunday—her 18th in just two seasons. Shakira Austin double-doubled as well, with 16 points and 12 rebounds. But it wasn’t enough to take control of the Liberty in their second game, with Breanna Stewart and Marine Johannes putting up 23 and 25 respectively. 

Aces 105 - Sparks 78

Chennedy Carter had 22 off the bench for an Aces team that managed to shoot 62% from the field. Kelsey Plum had 27 and Nneka Ogwumike had 19 for the Sparks, but couldn’t overcome a 12-4 run by the Aces in the 3rd quarter. 

Mercury 79 - Valkyries 95 

After beating the defending champion Aces on Friday, the Mercury fell to the Valkyries by almost 20 points. Kayla Thornton and Gabby Williams put up 19 apiece and 8 combined rebounds to get it done. 

A story to watch: officiating has seemingly become stricter this year in the W, with teams averaging 22.3 foulsso far, up from 17.5 last season. Sports Illustrated chalks it up to a new emphasis on freedom of movement for players. Check it out: 

Plus, a few highlights since tip-off weekend… keep your eye on the W. 

— Jules Yaeger

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