The WNBA has endured two epidemics this season. The first, which I discussed two weeks ago, is a surge of injuries around the league. The second is something that almost no one saw coming and became a national headline.
Last week, we learned why lime green adult toys have been thrown onto the courts in over one-third of WNBA cities. A group of crypto traders launched a meme crypto coin that mirrored the toys. To garner attention for their coin, this group coordinated a plan to make sure these toys were thrown across the country.
While representatives from this group claimed that their intent wasn’t to demean women’s sports, that’s exactly what happened. That negative, demeaning attention reached many spheres, with the President of the United States’ son posting an AI-generated meme mocking the players and the league.
This latest prank is representative of how for so long women’s basketball and the WNBA were often treated every single day. The online bullying, the jokes across mainstream media that punched down.
It’s not funny and it never was. Just like most social progress, a step forward is often countered with at least one step back. The WNBA’s growth over the past two years and this prank in response is a case in point. Now that the dust has settled, and arrests and investigations are underway, it’s time to take another step forward instead of retreating.
Now onto the basketball. This week is the continuation of Rivals Week, a new league initiative where the WNBA is spotlighting a bunch of different matchups that feature the most established stars and most intriguing young stars in the league. The WNBA also wanted to be able to spotlight rivalries throughout league history in addition to the potential and bubbling ones of the present while also trying to create some more drama when it comes to playoff positioning.
While the idea is creative and thoughtful in theory, it hasn’t been working out so well in practice. The first 2024 WNBA finals rematch came at the end of July, and the final three matchups, two of which have been scheduled during rivals week, are going to be without both Liberty star Breanna Stewart and Lynx MVP frontrunner Napheesa Collier.
“You never know what's gonna happen with teams and the league didn't know that [Collier]and I were both gonna be out,” Stewart told reporters on Sunday. “But you want to see everybody full throttle. That's the first game of the season, or the second or the third. Not August.”
Is the league trying to do too much in this one week that began on Saturday August 9 and concludes on Sunday August 17? Build rivalries, showcase stars, create playoff seeding tension. It’s a lot to try to accomplish all under the singular umbrella of Rivals Week.
Also, Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve expressed that while the league should be trying to build rivalries, it cannot prematurely assign them based on one highly exciting playoff series. It needs to be organic just like the iconic rivalry between the Lynx and the Sparks of the mid 2010s which gave fans a look into what would happen around a decade later.
“There's a chance, I think by the end of 2025, [Lynx vs. Liberty] becomes a rivalry through what happens during the course of this regular season and then whatever happens in the playoffs,” Reeve said on Sunday. “I don't think we're there yet, but the league says we are.”
The Week Ahead
As noted above, this week is the continuation of Rivals Week, a new WNBA initiative sponsored by bank and prominent women’s sports sponsor Ally. The Liberty play two of their “rivals” over the week in the Minnesota Lynx yet again in addition to the Las Vegas Aces who New York faced in two straight years during the postseason. The Atlanta Dream play the Seattle Storm twice in a two-game mini series that concludes in Canada, which will be the WNBA’s first regular season game in Canada before the expansion team the Toronto Tempo launch in 2026.
Not all of the games played this week during the continuation of Rivals Week represent full fledged rivalries. As Reeve said on Sunday, there needs to be multiple matchups of consequence played between two teams for them to be considered a rivalry that can stand the test of time.
New York Liberty @ Las Vegas Aces
(Wednesday August 13 at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN)
While the dynamics between these two teams have shifted ever since Kelsey Plum left the Aces for the Sparks, this is still a matchup between some of the best talent in the league. And this is still a matchup that both teams will get up for. A’ja Wilson will battle against Jonquel Jones as both players missed time during the second matchup on July 8. The Aces have been on a tear winning four out of their last five games while the Liberty have gone 3-2 in that same span of time without 2023 league MVP Breanna Stewart. Since the Liberty are coming off a back-to-back, the Aces should have the advantage, although the Aces have struggled with consistency in 2025. How will the Liberty handle an Aces team that has played better with Jewell Loyd coming off the bench? And how will Las Vegas handle a New York team with Emma Meesseman? It’s a look Wilson, Becky Hammon and company have yet to see.
Seattle Storm vs. Atlanta Dream
(Friday August 15 at 10 p.m. ET on ION)
The hottest team in the Dream face off against the ice-cold Storm that have lost five straight games including two back-and-fourth offensive slogs against the Aces and the Sparks. Before these two teams face each other in Vancouver, Canada on Friday for the WNBA’s first regular season game in Canada prior to the Tempo’s launch, these two will also play each other in Seattle on Wednesday night. Will new acquisition Brittney Sykes help the Storm find a win to propel themselves out of 8th place in the standings? Without Brittney Griner and Rhyne Howard for most of the Dream’s five game winning streak, first year coach Karl Smesko and Atlanta are making a push to catch the New York Liberty and earn home court advantage.
Las Vegas Aces @ Phoenix Mercury
(Friday August 15 at 10:00 PM ET on ION)
Las Vegas has had Phoenix's number so far this season, beating the Mercury twice during the first half of the season, although both games the Aces have won by a combined 4 points. Even when the Aces struggled with their consistency especially on the defensive end, A’ja Wilson led the way in both contests scoring 14 points in the first matchup and putting up a monster 26/18 double-double in the second. This will be Vegas’ first look at the Mercury with DeWanna Bonner who joined the team on July 8. Via multiple sources familiar with the situation, Bonner was very close to signing with the Aces but then chose the Mercury. I will be curious to see how the Aces play against Bonner for the first time after she passed on them.
New York Liberty @ Minnesota Lynx
(Saturday August 16 at 2:00 p.m. ET on CBS)
The Liberty are put through the ringer this week. After suffering a tough loss to the Lynx on Sunday where Minnesota’s swarming defense created 22 points off 20 turnovers, New York heads west to play a back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday before flying to Minneapolis to face the Lynx on Saturday.
While the Liberty might be exhausted, they’ll at least have a day to practice, something they haven’t had since Emma Meesseman made her debut on August 3. Presumably without Napheesa Collier for the third out of fourth 2024 WNBA Finals matchup, the Lynx will look to win the season series against the Liberty, and they’ll have five days without any games this week to be able to do so. It will come down to which team is most alert: the one in game rhythm or the one without a single game for five days. Will the Liberty learn from their mistakes in the first two games or will the Lynx continue rolling even without their best player?
Atlanta Dream @ Golden State Valkyries
(Sunday August 17 at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBA TV)
Both the Dream and Valkyries are looking to elevate their playoff standings. As of this writing, the Dream are tied by record for second place with the Liberty but New York has the tiebreaker having beat Atlanta twice out of three times that the two teams have played. What’s the difference between second and third place? A lot. First and second place in the standings guarantee home court advantage through at least the first two rounds, while third place most likely just means the first round unless a higher seed is knocked out early. The Valkyries are clinging to seventh, with the Storm and Sparks less than two games back in eighth and ninth respectively. The Sparks will play just hours before this matchup against the Mystics, yet another team that’s currently hanging around in the playoff picture amid the team’s most recent moves prior to the trade deadline. Although it seemed quite clear that those moves communicate the franchise's lack of enthusiasm to try to make the playoffs in 2025.
