We’re officially over two weeks into the WNBA season, so hopefully you’ve been getting the hang of the fantasy game by now. If you’re 2-0, congratulations! If you’re 0-2, no need to stress — there’s still plenty of time to turn your season around.

Let’s get caught up on everything you need to know from the last week in the ever-changing fantasy landscape.

Risers

These are the top risers in fantasy ranking over the past week. We’ve only included players here who were ranked a week ago, meaning they had already played a game at that point. Notably, that excludes players like DeWanna Bonner (currently ranked 15th) who returned from their overseas seasons since then.

3. Shakira Austin: 25 spots (current 46th, previous 71st)

The Mystics were willing to give up Rhyne Howard to fall back and draft Austin, so it’s no wonder they’ve been upping her playing time as she transitions to the pro game. Austin averaged 20-plus minutes in all three games this week after reaching that mark just once in her first four contests. With veteran players Elena Delle Donne and Alysha Clark continuing to sporadically miss games due to load management, you can expect the Mystics to rely upon Austin and her young energy even more as the season goes on.

Austin kicked off the week with a 20-point showing on an incredible 9-of-11 shooting, and she followed that up with two more efficient games in double figures. All told, the rookie shot over 70 percent last week while averaging nearly 15 points and seven rebounds, and she blocked more than a shot a game to boot.

We just started & @Theylove_kira is already heatin' up 🔥#Mystics25 // #TogetherDC pic.twitter.com/YpEkW2Op4h

— Washington Mystics (@WashMystics) May 20, 2022

2. Natisha Hiedeman: 38 spots (current 53rd, previous 91st)

Hiedeman is another player whose minutes increased this past week, despite the fact that backcourt mate Courtney Williams returned at the beginning of it. And after Tuesday’s announcement that Jasmine Thomas will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL, there may be even more minutes for the taking in Hiedeman’s near future.

Hiedeman was already the top bench producer for Connecticut prior to this week, and since then head coach Curt Miller has decided to use his bench even more. Miller has been known to ride his starters and did just that in the first two games, but if he taps into his depth this season the way he has in the most recent three games, Hiedeman may be in line for a fantasy-friendly workload.

1. Moriah Jefferson: 46 spots (current 37th, previous 83rd)

The Lynx underperformed to start the season due to a lack of ball-handling, and then signed a legitimate point guard who has immediately contributed and helped them turn their season around. Where have we heard that before?

Last year, it was Layshia Clarendon; this year, it’s Moriah Jefferson. The former Wings player has stepped into the starting point guard spot in Minnesota and paid instant dividends for Minnesota. While Cheryl Reeve’s team is still at the bottom of the standings and has a lot to figure out, the outlook looks much more promising than it did pre-Jefferson. A competitive second half against the Sky in Jefferson’s Lynx debut followed by a road win over the Sparks and a solid showing in Las Vegas have quelled the talk of a 2023 Lynx lottery pick for now.

Fallers

On the flip side of the risers, you have the fallers — those players whose rank has dropped off in the last seven days.

3. Riquna Williams: 29 spots (current 73rd, previous 44th)

It’s early enough in the season that one game can still have a big impact on a player’s rankings. That’s the culprit for Riquna Williams’ slide: Williams managed just four points in her one game of the week before sustaining another foot injury that kept her out the rest of the week.

If the Aces’ prognosis is correct, Williams won’t be returning for at least a few more weeks, so she’ll have to fill your injured reserve (IR) spot or take up a bench spot for the time being if you choose to hold onto her.

2. Jasmine Thomas: 29 spots (current 77th, previous 48th)

There is starting to be a sad theme to this list. Connecticut’s perimeter defensive stalwart was unable to return after exiting Sunday’s game against the Fever due to a knee injury in the first half. Thomas recorded just eight fantasy points in eight minutes on the court, plummeting her ranking in the process.

Fantasy owners will have to look for full-time replacements now that she’s out for the remainder of the season.

1. Myisha Hines-Allen: 32 spots (current 65th, previous 33rd)

And the theme continues. The good news in Hines-Allen’s case is that she has already returned to action after her injury. The bad news is that she still hasn’t looked quite like herself in recent games. In 11 minutes against Chicago on Sunday, the Louisville product failed to make a shot and pulled down just one rebound.

For Hines-Allen fantasy owners, it will be important to closely monitor her health and production moving forward. We’ve seen Hines-Allen put up serious numbers at her peak, but a lingering injury or other factors can quickly derail that progress.

Adds and Drops

One of the most important aspects of winning a fantasy title is attentiveness. If you want to have a shot, you’ve got to stay on top of the latest trends and news and make sure you’re fielding the best possible team at any given moment. What looked like the best combination of nine players you could put together a week or two ago may no longer be the case today.

Here, we give you the best widely-available players to consider picking up, as well as the players potentially worth cutting to free up that roster spot. Keep in mind, this may vary a little depending on your league size: A player worth rostering in a 10-team league isn’t necessarily viable in an eight-team league.

Adds

Moriah Jefferson

We’ve already discussed how Jefferson has jumpstarted the Lynx, and she’s likely available to jumpstart your fantasy team as well.

it's a bad idea to leave MO open pic.twitter.com/gDcV8k5vbK

— Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) May 22, 2022

Despite averaging more than 32 minutes a game over her four games with Minnesota so far, Jefferson is still available in over 80 percent of ESPN fantasy leagues. Those minutes haven’t been empty by any stretch; she’s posting averages of 15.5 points, 5.5 assists and 2.0 steals since joining the Lynx. Were it not for the one game she played for the Wings pulling her averages down, those numbers would rank 18th, 5th and 7th in the WNBA, respectively.

Go grab her while you can.

Danielle Robinson and Victoria Vivians

We’re giving you a 2-for-1 here, because these Fever teammates are putting up stats for a similar reason: volume.

In last week’s betting piece, we took a look at Indiana’s historic pace of play to start the season. Robinson and Vivians are each playing nearly 30 minutes per game over the past week, and when you see the floor that much for a team that loves to run, you’ll get plenty of opportunities to fill the stat sheet.

Vivians is owned in just 21.2 percent of ESPN leagues, while Robinson is rostered in fewer still. If you are in one of the 19.1 percent of leagues in which Jefferson is owned and you’re in need of a guard, turn to the Fever for help.

Drops

Teaira McCowan

Before ESPN entered the fold, the leading fantasy WNBA website was an obscure foreign site called Sports.ws. That site had a system in which a player’s fantasy points per minute mattered far more than their fantasy points per game.

Under that system, McCowan was and is a beast. The former No. 3 overall pick has always been extremely efficient with her minutes, and moving to Dallas has done nothing to change that. Her per-minute scoring and rebounding averages extrapolated to 30 minutes a game would essentially make her a 15/10 player.

In Dallas, however, she’s been averaging a mere 7.6 minutes per contest, and under ESPN’s scoring system, totals rule the day. McCowan is owned in over 70 percent of ESPN leagues, and until she starts consistently seeing the floor, that number is just too high.

Layshia Clarendon

This is a tough decision considering what Clarendon has been able to do when given an opportunity (and how easy of a person they are to root for). But fantasy sports, like real sports, is a harsh business, and if you’re not on a real roster, you probably shouldn’t be on a fantasy one.

Clarendon is still owned in almost half of the ESPN leagues, which is well over double the percentage of leagues owning the player who replaced Clarendon as Minnesota’s point guard. Here’s hoping she gets signed at some point this season and shows up in the “adds” section of a later version of this piece.

Fantasy performances of the week

Diana Taurasi, 43 fantasy points (May 19 vs. Dallas)

For Diana Taurasi to still be capable of putting up more fantasy points than her age is beyond impressive. The league’s all-time leading scorer became the first player aged 39 or older to ever record a 30-point game with her 31-point showing in this one.

Shockingly, this wasn’t even one of the top two performances of the day, nor was it the best in this game. More on that in a minute.

Aerial Powers, 44 fantasy points (May 19 vs. Las Vegas)

While Taurasi was draining buckets for the Mercury, Aerial Powers was a few hours up the road putting on a Vegas-worthy show of her own. After feeling under the weather and texting Michael Jordan for advice earlier in the day, Powers had the best fantasy output of her career thanks to 25 points, six boards and six assists.

In fact, Powers is the only player thus far in 2022 to post 25/6/6 in a game, and when you factor in the two blocks and three 3s, she’s just the eighth player in league history with that line.

Arike Ogunbowale, 53 fantasy points (May 19 vs. Phoenix)

Remember when Ogunbowale showed up in the “fallers” section of our last fantasy piece and we told you not to worry? If you weren’t convinced yet, surely this game provided enough reassurance.

The young Dallas star outdueled Taurasi in this epic battle, one-upping the veteran’s 31 points with 37 of her own and carrying the Wings to a 10-point win. For good measure, she dished out five assists and made all 10 of her free throws, becoming the first player in WNBA history to do both of those things in a 37-point game.

Your favorite player's favorite player dropped a WNBA season-high 37 points last night.#AllForTexas | @Arike_O pic.twitter.com/33i3ge7ma6

— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) May 20, 2022

Miscellaneous fantasy stat of the week

Candace Parker didn’t quite make the cut for top fantasy performances of the week — her 41 fantasy points on Sunday were two short of Taurasi’s aforementioned May 19 total — but it’s still worth shouting out a legend in this space for what she accomplished against the Mystics.

With her 16 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, Parker became the first WNBA player ever with multiple regular season triple-doubles. She also joined Sheryl Swoopes and teammate Courtney Vandersloot as the only players with two of them at all, and she set a new mark for the oldest player with a triple-double at 36 years of age.

Parker has been open about contemplating retirement, so there’s a chance we are witnessing her final season. She’s proven she can still ball at a remarkably high level (the triple-double was only her second-best fantasy score of the season) so let’s enjoy the ride for however much longer we get to watch her play.

Calvin Wetzel is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports, covering basketball and betting. He also contributes to Her Hoop Stats, CBS SportsLine and FiveThirtyEight. Follow him on Twitter at @cwetzel31.

Thursday night's NCAA basketball action spotlights a tense SEC rematch, as No. 2 South Carolina hosts No. 4 Texas in conference play following the pair's nonconference Players Era Championship matchup in November.

The Longhorns just edged the Gamecocks 66-64 in the Las Vegas competition's title game, but the tide has since shifted, with South Carolina now riding a 10-game winning streak into Thursday's matchup while No. 6 LSU served Texas a season-first loss last Sunday.

"I'm really disappointed in the league for putting us in that position, but we play whoever is in front of us," Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer said of his team's grueling road trip. "It's one monster after another."

The pair's sole 2025/26 conference matchup could end up determining the SEC basketball regular-season title — South Carolina and Texas split their two 2024/25 SEC clashes to tie for last season's honor before the Gamecocks ousted the Longhorns from both the conference tournament and the Final Four.

While injuries have impacted both sides, South Carolina anticipates a roster boost from 6-foot-7 French international Alicia Tournebize, who recently joined the Gamecocks after playing pro ball in Europe.

"She looked good," South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley said of her team's midseason addition. "She'll play, she'll definitely play."

How to watch Texas vs. South Carolina on Thursday

The No. 4 Longhorns will tip off against the No. 2 Gamecocks in Columbia at 7 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage airing on ESPN2.

The NWSL Players Association is speaking out, filing a grievance against the league's new "High Impact Player" rule on Monday after claiming that the mechanism violates both the CBA and US labor laws.

"Player compensation is a mandatory subject of bargaining," the union said in its Wednesday statement. "The League has no authority to unilaterally create a new pay structure that bypasses negotiated rules."

The union requested "immediate rescission of the HIP Rule, an order requiring the League to bargain in good faith over any proposed Player compensation rules prior to implementation, and to make-whole relief for any Players impacted by the League's unilateral actions."

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With the future of stars like Trinity Rodman hanging in the balance, the "High Impact Player" rule allows clubs to exceed the salary cap by up to $1 million so long as players qualify under specific criteria — measures that a mere 27 current NWSL athletes currently meet.

The NWSLPA instead suggested simply raising the overall salary cap by $1 million, with the NWSL going on to institute the rule despite union objections.

"We want to make sure everybody has a level playing field," NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke told The Athletic in December. "If the league can come in here and put their thumb on the scale…they can put their thumb on the scale of any player's contract negotiation."

With free agency heating up, players making moves, and the 2026 NWSL preseason kicking off, the pressure is mounting for both sides to figure out a lasting fix.

USWNT star Sam Coffey has sealed the deal, with WSL side Manchester City announcing on Wednesday that they've signed the 27-year-old through 2029.

Manchester City reportedly paid $875,000 in transfer fees for the midfielder, after Coffey led the Portland Thorns to one NWSL title in her four years with the NWSL club.

"Sam's reputation as one of the world's best speaks for itself," said Man City director of football Therese Sjögran in the WSL club's announcement. "We're delighted she's chosen to come here ahead of other potential suitors."

"Sam is playing at the top of her game, and I think her decision to come here shows the incredible progress we've made as a Club and the ambitions we have moving forward," added Sjögran.

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City's ambitions are rising alongside their place on the WSL table, where the Citizens currently sit six points clear atop the standings thanks to global stars like Bunny Shaw and Vivianne Miedema.

Coffey's move, however, continues to tip the USWNT's scales away from the NWSL, with over half of the starting XI from the 2024 Olympic gold-medal match now playing club football in Europe — at least for now.

"For as long as I've kicked a ball, I've always dreamed of playing professional soccer in Europe," Coffey said in an emotional letter to Portland on social media. "I would never forgive myself if I didn't go try."

How to watch Manchester City this weekend

Though the date of Coffey's European debut is still unknown, Manchester City will next take the pitch against third-flight club Bournemouth in the fourth round of the 2025/26 FA Women's Cup at 8 AM ET on Sunday before facing a top-tier battle against WSL champion Chelsea in the League Cup semifinals next Wednesday.

WSL action for the Citizens will then resume on Sunday, January 25th, when Man City takes on the London City Lionesses at 6:55 AM ET on ESPN+.

The upcoming Netflix feature film about the 1999 USWNT World Cup team has landed a lead, with Deadline confirming on Wednesday that the streaming giant is tapping actor Emily Bader to play star forward Mia Hamm in The 99'ers.

The 29-year-old most recently starred in People We Meet on Vacation, which made its debut at No. 1 on Netflix last week.

Bader previously enjoyed a breakout turn in the Prime historical drama My Lady Jane, which dropped in June 2024.

Calling her role in The 99'ers "a dream come true," Bader celebrated her Netflix casting in her Instagram Stories on Wednesday.

"Growing up playing soccer and being so inspired by @miahamm," she wrote.

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Netflix first acquired the rights to The Girls of Summer: The US Women's Soccer Team and How It Changed the World — a 2000 book by Jeré Longman — back in 2020, with the project officially going into development in May 2025.

Known for her directorial prowess on Sirens on Netflix as well as her Emmy and Director's Guild Award-winning work on HBO's Watchmen, Nicole Kassell will direct The 99'ers.

Kassell will work off a script penned by Katie Lovejoy (Love at First Sight, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before 3), Dana Stevens (The Woman King, Fatherhood), and Peter Hedges (Ben Is Back).

Helmed by Liza Chasin from 3Dot Productions, The 99'ers boasts a production team that includes Hayley Stool, Ross Greenburg, Marla Messing, Jill Mazursky, and Krista Smith.

While no timeline for production or distribution are available, Netflix will likely aim to use the film to bolster its coverage of the the upcoming World Cups in light of the streamer recently snagging the exclusive US broadcast rights to both the 2027 and 2031 tournaments.