WNBA Season Preview: Can the Las Vegas Aces run it back?

With the 2023 WNBA season tipping off on Friday, May 19th, many familiar faces return to the league but in new colours, rookies will look to make an impact and most teams will be looking to knock off the defending champion Las Vegas Aces.

For some teams, this season’s roster looks completely different than what it did 12 months ago, whether it be massive free agent signings, new coaches or draft picks. But with all having the same common goal to lift the WNBA Finals trophy at the end of the season, here is one question facing each team in 2023.

Atlanta Dream: Can Atlanta break their postseason drought with new additions?

The last time the Atlanta Dream made the playoffs was 2018, but since then have acquired stellar draft picks like Aari McDonald and 2022 WNBA Rookie of the Year Rhyne Howard who have bolstered the team on both sides of the ball. Howard’s three-point ability and have made the Dream somewhat reliant on her for scoring. Meanwhile, McDonald, despite her small size, her defence fits in perfectly with a defensive-minded Dream squad.

Add to that the addition of Allisha Gray, who previously played in Dallas, and is coming off the best three-point shooting year of her career. She also has the ability to pass the ball with precision on top of being one of the best defenders in the league.

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Forwards Monique Billings and Nia Coffey and guard AD Durr all return to the Dream along with the additions of 2023 draft picks Haley Jones and Laeticia Amihere who have the ability to make the Dream more dynamic as they narrowly missed out on a playoff spot last season.

The Dream finished with six more wins in 2022 than they did in 2022, and roster additions like Iliana Rupert from a waiver claim, after she had a solid season playing in Italy as well as with the French national team in the FIBA Women’s World Cup, will strengthen a team that has only seen improvement with roster and management changes in the last few years.

Chicago Sky: With most of the 2021 core gone, how does the team build around Kaleah Copper?

Just two years ago the Chicago Sky lifted the WNBA Finals trophy at home in front of a packed Wintrust Arena, with Candace Parker winning a title for her hometown, and the first title in franchise history — an emotional event for all players on the team.

Kahleah Copper played lights out and won the 2021 WNBA Finals MVP, and now most of that core around her has left the city, which has Cooper feeling like the lone woman standing in front of a new group that she is the new leader of.

Parker left for the Las Vegas Aces, Diamond DeShields was traded to Phoenix in 2022 and now plays with the Dallas Wings, Courtney Vandersloot became a free agent and signed with the New York Liberty playing along with former Sky center Stef Dolson and Allie Quigley announced she would be taking the 2023 WNBA season off.

That leaves Copper as one of the lone members of that championship-winning squad, with Rebekah Gardner, Dana Evans and Ruthy Hebard returning players who came off the bench last season.

Luckily for the Sky, some of their newest additions are well-rounded, experienced players like Elizabeth Williams, Courtney Williams, Izzy Harrison and Marina Mabrey who can play both sides of the ball and will create depth on the Sky roster whether it be starting or coming off the bench.

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Copper is clearly a hard worker, finds a way to the rim, is aggressive on defence and forces turnovers and bad shots. That tenacity will be the standard for James Wade’s Sky team this season, and judging from their preseason game against the Lynx, all members are on board.

Connecticut Sun: Can the strong Connecticut core keep pushing as “underdogs”?

Making the WNBA semi-finals four years in a row and making the WNBA Finals twice in that span, the Connecticut Sun still seem to be a team that are always looked at as underdogs and have many people have counting them out before they have even made their mark on the season.

One of the biggest moves this off-season was of course the loss of 2021 WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones, who is a versatile two-way player and can make an impact on any team, along with the loss of head coach Curt Miller.

Connecticut still has its core of Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones and also acquired veteran Tiffany Hayes from the Dream, as well as Bec Allen from the Liberty over the off-season.

Thomas has dealt with injuries to her shoulder labrum which has left her without a traditional mid-range jumper game, but she still finds ways to score in transition and gets to the basket which helped her average 13.4 per game last year. Bonner also averaged 13.5 points per game last year adding to the Sun’s scoring options.

Jones’ development with the Sun saw her win the 2021 Most Improved Player award and she can now be seen as a second-best scoring option for the Sun. Meanwhile, Hayes also adds scoring depth, while Natisha Hiedeman, Tyasha Harris and DiJonai Carrington all add impact in different areas for the Sun. Hiedeman had a breakout year last season shooting over 40 per cent from three.

Even Miller’s departure has been filled by Stephanie White who has Finals experience of her own, and the Sun look just as even this year as they did the last.

Dallas Wings: Will a big off-season yield big results in Dallas?

Dallas has been a team that has had some of the best bench play over the last couple of seasons, seeing players like Allisha Gray and Marina Mabrey dominate off the bench, as well as having the scoring power from starter Arike Ogunbowale.

But with Gray and Mabrey both gone, the Wings will need to look for other perimeter players to have the ball in their hands consistently if Ogunbowale doesn’t. Luckily for the Wings, one of their off-season additions was Diamond DeShields, who put up 13.1 points per game in the regular season for the Mercury last season.

Teaira McCowan was also an improvement to the Wings’ roster last year, as when she was named a starter midway through the season she averaged 16.2 points and 10 rebounds per game in the team’s final 13 games. McCowan will also get frontcourt help from Natasha Howard who averaged 15.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 2022.

The Wings finalized their roster with three of their draft picks from the 2023 class – forwards Maddy Siegrist and Ashley Joens, and guard Lou Lopez Sénéchal. Siegrist made history and led the country in scoring with her offensive ability at Villanova while players like Sénéchal operate well off-ball, which a guard-heavy team like Dallas can use.

Indiana Fever: Is Aliyah Boston the answer to the Fever’s recent problems?

The Indiana Fever are a franchise that has seen just one playoff game since making it to the WNBA Finals in 2015. After a first-round loss to Phoenix in 2016, they have failed to make the playoffs and have won double-digit games in a season just once.

Safe to say that when the Fever had a chance to draft the consensus best player in the 2023 class in Aliyah Boston, they didn’t think twice about it. They add Boston’s two-way ability to bolster a team whose scoring power is led by Kelsey Mitchell, as the guard averaged a career-high 18.4 points and 4.2 assists per game for the Fever in 2022.

Erica Wheeler and NaLyssa Smith round out what could be a “big four” for Indiana, as Smith had a breakout year averaging 13.5 points and 7.9 rebounds last year while Wheeler returns to Indiana after playing for the franchise from 2016-2019, which included becoming the first ever undrafted player to win All-Star Game MVP in 2019.

Indiana has been a team in desperate need of more than two stars on their roster, and now it seems they have four. The new-found star power should likely put them in competition for a playoff spot as long as their roster depth can hold its weight and Boston can continue to produce the way she did at the NCAA level.

Las Vegas Aces: With the core returning and adding Candace Parker, do the Aces repeat?

WNBA Champions. First-year head coach Becky Hammon got the job done. The core of A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray are all returning with the addition of Candace Parker. Seems like the Aces have the formula to once again be unstoppable, right?

The Aces have been caught up in some off-season drama as it was announced that the WNBA has rescinded the Aces’ 2025 first-round draft pick for violating league rules regarding impermissible player benefits, and suspended Becky Hammon for two games without pay. However, it won’t impact any of their on-court play for now except for the loss of Hammon.

Despite a lot of other teams shuffling around and adding depth, star power and other factors that will make them competitors, the Aces get the added benefit of having the chemistry of a championship-winning team with the exception of Parker. Though as Chicago saw just two years ago, adding Parker usually yields good results.

The Wilson-Parker frontcourt will be just one factor to the Aces’ dominant play, as Wilson was named the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year, Plum led the league in three-pointers made and averaged 20.2 points per game and Gray simply shifted into another gear and was one of if not the team’s biggest threat in the playoffs.

It seems the biggest obstacle in the way of the Aces running it back is that the New York Liberty also has the assets to make another super team, adding to an already strong core of Sabrina Ionescu, Betnijah Laney, Marine Johannès and Stef Dolson. It’s not clear if New York will get the chemistry right, but Las Vegas sure has.

Los Angeles Sparks: Will a new coach and new additions give the Sparks life again?

The last two years post-Candace Parker have not gone the way that the Los Angeles Sparks would have hoped. They didn’t qualify for the postseason in the last two years without her, and parted ways with coach and general manager Derek Fisher.

Luckily for the Sparks, they reinforced with Curt Miller, who has proven he can take a team to the WNBA Finals and is ready to work with a roster full of talent including Chiney Ogwumike, Nneka Ogwumike, Lexie Brown, Dearica Hamby, Azurá Stevens, Jasmine Thomas and Jordin Canada.

The Sparks added Hamby, Stevens and Thomas while building around their strong core of players. The key for them this season is how far their depth can take them as they look to have the best team they have had since 2019.

Chiney and Nneka Ogwumike are the veterans of this team and their style of play and ability won’t be in question, nor will the production from the new additions that are talented and have accolades of their own. The biggest question is facing the Sparks is how the pieces will fit together.

Minnesota Lynx: What does the post-Sylvia Fowles era hold for Minnesota?

“It’s hard when you lose Syl, it’s not necessarily that Syl was just one of the best players to ever play this game, but it’s one of the best people, and I think that to replace that is impossible,” said Lynx guard Kayla McBride when asked about what the post-Fowles era looks like in Minnesota.

To replace a player who on the court was a WNBA champion, WNBA Finals MVP and regular season MVP, WNBA All-Star and WNBA Defensive Player of the Year to name just a few of her accolades is one thing. But to replace a veteran who was a leader to rookies and veterans alike, who was having another coach on the bench and who understood the game like many others can’t is another thing.

McBride is one of the veterans on the team who will be looked at as a leader as well as a playmaker, along with Napheesa Collier, Aerial Powers and Bridget Carleton to name a few. The Lynx also added Tiffany Mitchell from the Indiana Fever who has already been a sharpshooter and playmaker early for the Lynx.

The Lynx also added Diamond Miller in the draft, who scored 19 points in her first pre-season game with the Lynx, and adds aggression to the court as the wing brings athleticism and length who will need to fine tune her ball handling and jump shot.

The Lynx bench can be deep with players like Damiris Dantas, Rachel Banham and draft pick Dorka Juhász as the Lynx have the potential to bounce back as a fierce competitor after missing the playoffs last season.

“It’s about us creating our own identity, we know what Syl meant to this franchise, but also what that dynasty looked like with her, so creating our own everything is kind of nice starting from scratch,” said McBride.

New York Liberty: Will the “super team” additions work for New York?

The New York Liberty already had a strong core of Sabrina Ionescu, Betnijah Laney, Marine Johannès and Stef Dolson. They went and added Breanna Stewart, Courtney Vandersloot and Jonquel Jones to that dominant lineup.

Seems like the perfect recipe for a super team a star at every position and some depth too. Not so fast. While the pre-season is only an incredibly small sample size, the performances seen out of the Liberty were not anything to get ultra excited about, including a loss to Las Vegas.

That being said, Vandersloot suffered a head injury on her first day of training camp and Stewart missed the first week of camp after winning a championship in Europe.

On paper, this team has everything it takes to win, even dethroning the Aces. All three of the new additions can score on a team that already has a great rotation of shooters, and Stewart and Jones add a lot of length while also being two of the best players in the league.

A lot of the bench depth looks different with the loss of Michaela Onyenwere, Bec Allen and Natasha Howard, but regardless the star power alone makes it look like the Liberty are trying to be a top-two seed this season all things considered.

Phoenix Mercury: With Brittney Griner home, can Phoenix get their chemistry back?

Speaking of super teams, the Phoenix Mercury were a team last season that seemed to have all of the pieces on paper but the chemistry simply would not click. Tina Charles completed a contract divorce with the team and Skylar Diggins-Smith seemed to have tension with not only head coach Vanessa Nygaard but also teammate Diana Taurasi.

Add to that the tension of Brittney Griner missing the 2022 season while being detained in Russia, and Phoenix finished fourth in the West sitting at 15-21 and got swept by Las Vegas in the first round of the playoffs.

This year, the team hopes to have a better year under Nygaard in her second season with the team, and bringing back a core of Taurasi, Griner, Brianna Turner, Sophie Cunningham, Shay Peddy and Megan Gustafson, while also adding off-season acquisitions Moriah Jefferson and Michaela Onyewere.

Griner being at 100 per cent, Taurasi’s age and injury history and Diggins-Smith being out on maternity leave are all the question marks that surround this Mercury team. But a lot of this mercury team was also present at the WNBA Finals two years ago and have the same skillset and drive to return, they just need the chemistry to work this time.

Seattle Storm: What does the Seattle core look like with Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart gone?

The retirement of Sue Bird and the departure of Breanna Stewart left the Seattle roster depleted to the point where only three players return this season from last year’s roster.

Jewel Loyd, Ezi Magbegor and Mercedes Russell are the new big three in Seattle after the four-time WNBA champion Storm said goodbye to two of the greatest WNBA players of all time. Magbegor had a stellar season as she averaged 9.5 points, 1.8 blocks, 1.4 assists, and 5.6 rebounds on top of solid defensive play.

Loyd averaged 16.3 points per game last year and is looked at as a quiet leader now that Bird is gone, and will look to help acclimate new additions Kia Nurse, who has played under head coach Noelle Quinn with Canada Basketball, and Sami Whitcomb who returns to Seattle after fine-tuning her game in New York for two seasons.

Rookies will look to get significant playing time and grow their game as Australian point guard Jade Melbourne and the No. 9 pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft Jordan Horston look to fill the vacancies left on the Storm.

More experienced players in Yvonne Turner, Kaila Charles, Arella Guirantes, Jasmine Walker, and Theresa Plaisance fill out the storm roster with experience, size, leadership and ability on both sides of the ball. They are building from the ground up in Seattle, but Quinn is determined to build something that can win.

Washington Mystics: Can Elena Delle Donne stay healthy enough this season?

Finally, the Washington Mystics. A team that has seen some phenomenal players come and go in the last few seasons, had the league’s best defence last year, and also has the mainstays of Elena Delle Donne, Natasha Cloud, Shakira Austin and Ariel Atkins.

Add to that roster the additions of Kristi Toliver, Amanda Zahui B., and Brittney Sykes to name a few. Toliver was part of the Mystics 2019 championship run, Zahui B. brings floor spacing as well as the capability of making shots and Sykes is a standout guard defender and will add to an already tough defensive squad.

One of the biggest questions that has loomed over the Mystics the last few years is Delle Donne’s health, as she played 25 games last year but just three the year before. Her impact was apparent during the playoffs, not only in her scoring ability but also in the way the Mystics looked without her on the floor.

Former head coach Mike Thibault announced in November that he would retire from coaching, and his son, Eric was named the head coach of the Mystics in his place. Thibault will need to develop some of the younger players and even veteran players as they lack shooting and finishing ability, but with the talent on both sides of the ball, the Mystics have a chance to make a real playoff run.

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