I’ll go out on a limb and offer that Cathy Engelhart’s least favorite NBA teams are the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets. Had the respective 2023-24 and 2022-23 champions merely cooperated and lost their respective elimination games over the last two nights the 29th season-opening weekend for her WNBA would have been completely unencumbered by competition from that old-school men’s stuff.
But thanks to some creative scheduling, there’s still opportunity for you to at least partake in some of the first weekend’s bigger storylines. AS’ Paul Reidy reminded his readers yesterday why it is worth your while to find a TV or device a half-hour ahead of the anticipated start time of Celtics-Knicks Game 6 tonight:
Paige Bueckers is counting down the days towards the start of her WNBA career, which officially begins May 16 when the Wings host none other than Bueckers’ hometown team, the Minnesota Lynx, on opening night.
The UConn star and first pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft could play a pivotal role in rebooting the Dallas franchise that missed the playoffs in 2024 with a underwhelming 9-31 record. Bueckers was brought into an organization that hasn’t won a WNBA title since 2008, when it was then known as the Detroit Shock.
And barring anything like overtime or, more likely, a bloody brawl you’ll be able to have a nightcap with history of sorts being made in San Francisco, where that men’s team did cooperate by seeing their season come to an end Wednesday night, leaving this storyline that REUTERS’ Amy Tennery reported on yesterday out in the clear:
Their first hire, president Jess Smith, was equal to the Herculean challenge: A day-one member of the Angel City FC front office, she helped build the 2020 NWSL expansion club into the world’s most valuable women’s professional team in a few years.
The WNBA grew enormously in 2024, spurred largely by interest in Caitlin Clark. The league set records across the board, from viewership to attendance and merchandise. This season, the WNBA has the opportunity to show it wasn’t just a one-year spike—especially with its 11-year, $2.2 billion media deal kicking in next year.
The preseason provided a positive indicator for the WNBA as the Indiana Fever’s exhibition blowout win over the Brazil women’s national team drew more than the network’s average for regular-season games last year. Following a .500 season, the Fever are in the hunt after adding several star veterans. But perennial contenders also made moves: The defending champion New York Liberty replaced Courtney Vandersloot with Natasha Cloud, and the Las Vegas Aces traded Kelsey Plum for Jewell Loyd. Brittney Griner signed with the Atlanta Dream, and the Phoenix Mercury replaced her and a retired Diana Taurasi with Satou Sabally and five-time All-Star Alyssa Thomas. The Minnesota Lynx, last year’s runners-up, led by Unrivaled cofounder Napheesa Collier, were the pick of 60% of WNBA GMs to win the 2025 Finals. 1.3 million viewers on ESPN,
Each team will play a record 44 games this season, up from 40 last year. The WNBA Finals will also be a seven-game series for the first time in history, while the three-game first-round will now have a 1-1-1 format, allowing each team to play at least one home game.
This pretty much assures it will be a rare day between tonight and the waning days of the NBA preseason without a professional game to look forward to. 44 games may be closer to a half-marathon considering it’s a bit more than half the length of the NBA season and less than a third the tedium of MLB, but it sure ain’t no sprint.
So you’ll be forgiven if you don’t show up tonight fully engaged. But with the Liberty set to receive their championship rings a subway ride away from where the Knicks will be tangling, and with Clark and Angel Reese set for the first of their many blood feuds as part of an ABC doubleheader tomorrow afternoon–well in advance of the Nuggets-Thunder Game 7–no such rachmunis is forthcoming–or warranted– going forward.
Courage…