This year's WNBA MVP favorite A'ja Wilson reached yet another milestone on Sunday, becoming the first player to ever record 1000+ points in a single season.
The superstar's latest feat — achieved in her 29-point performance in the Aces' 84-71 win over Connecticut — comes just days after she shattered the league's single-season scoring record.
All-but-guaranteed to finish 2024 as the WNBA's single-season points leader, Wilson has put together one of the most impressive statistical campaigns in league history. As of today, she's only three rebounds away from breaking Angel Reese's new single-season rebounds record, set before the Chicago rookie's season-ending injury.
Rookie Caitlin Clark captures two more WNBA records
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark added two more records to her historic rookie season this weekend, breaking the league's single-season assist record on Friday night before setting the single-season rookie scoring record on Sunday.
The Rookie of the Year frontrunner surpassed Alyssa Thomas's 2023 record of 316 assists in Friday's 78-74 loss to the Aces. Clark extended her hold on the league's new record on Sunday, now boasting 329 dimes on the season with one game left.
Also in Sunday's 110-109 Fever victory over the Wings, Clark put up a career-high 35 points, including one that officially broke Seimone Augustus's single-season rookie scoring record of 744 set in 2006. Clark now has 761 points across Indiana's 39 completed games.
Notably, the WNBA's expanded 40-game schedule means that four-time WNBA champion Augustus still holds the rookie record for points per game, as her fallen record was in a 34-game season.
Three-way team tie adds to WNBA playoff race drama
With the Sky's two weekend losses plus the Mystics and Dream splitting their two weekend contests with one win apiece, Chicago, Washington, and Atlanta all sit with 13-25 season records. All three are still in postseason contention with the final WNBA Playoff spot up for grabs.
League tiebreakers give Washington, who currently sits in the coveted eighth-place position, the postseason edge. The Mystics will try to maintain their tenuous hold on that spot when they face the league-leading Liberty tomorrow before closing out their season against a tough Indiana team on Thursday.
The ninth-place Sky and 10th-place Dream face equal uphill battles to usurp the Mystics this week. After playing each other on Tuesday, Chicago will close out their 2024 regular season against the third-place Sun while Atlanta does the same against the Liberty on Thursday.
The Washington Mystics snapped a team-record 12-game losing streak on Tuesday, taking home their first win of the season over the Atlanta Dream.
Brittney Sykes returned from injury and made an immediate impact with game-high 18 points, four assists, and three rebounds. As a team, Washington shot over 50% from behind the arc.
"The feel is it's been coming," coach Eric Thibault said after the game. "I said the other night that we're turning into a good basketball team and we just haven't had the wins to show for it yet. We've been playing better basketball now for a while.
"We're obviously shooting well, but I think the quality of the shots we're getting is really good."
Still, the team’s slow start isn't exactly in the rearview mirror. With star forward Elena Delle Donne sitting this season out, the Mystics were always predicted to face an uphill climb in what has been described as a rebuilding year.
But with a franchise-worst 0-12 record to kick off the 2024 season, the Mystics are likely on track for a lottery pick. However, Washington can point to positive performances from star draft pick Aaliyah Edwards and league newcomer Julie Vanloo.
Elsewhere in the WNBA, the Las Vegas Aces continued their skid with a surprising 100-86 upset courtesy of the Minnesota Lynx. The reigning WNBA champions were shorthanded this week, falling to 5-5 on the season despite MVP-level play from A'ja Wilson, who scored 28 points in Tuesday's loss.
Minnesota shot over 55% as a team, with Alanna Smith leading the team with 18 points. The game marked the Aces' first three-game losing streak since 2019.
"This is a long, long, long season," Wilson said in her postgame remarks. "I'm not going to press the panic button. I'm still going to bet on us. I know exactly what's in that locker room."
Aces stalwart Chelsea Gray has been out with injury since last year's WNBA Finals run. And while she told reporters on Tuesday that she's set to return before the Olympic break, the team can’t get her back soon enough as they continue to struggle with depth.
"I don't want them thinking too much; then you get paralysis [by] analysis," coach Becky Hammon said. "We're just not being solid in our base. Just be solid defensively. We're not a very good team right now, that's just reality. But we know we can get better. I still have a lot of belief in this ball club."
Aaliyah Edwards made rookie history on Thursday as her Washington Mystics made some WNBA history of their own — and not the good kind.
With 23 points and 14 rebounds, Edwards became the first rookie this season with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in a single game. She also had four blocks, becoming only the fourth rookie in WNBA history to record a game with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks within her first 10 career games, per ESPN.
The former UConn star has now led the Mystics in points and rebounds in consecutive games, joining Chamique Holdsclaw as the only two rookies in franchise history to do so.
"I just need everyone to know when everyone’s talking about the rookie class, don’t forget her name," Shatori Walker-Kimbrough said of her teammate after the game. "She made a statement today. She makes a statement every day. She comes in, she works. She puts her head down and works. She needs a little bit more talk, and she doesn’t let that affect her."
While Edwards has been finding her groove, the Mystics have been unable to mirror the No. 6 overall draft pick's performance. Despite a halftime lead, they lost 79-71 to Chicago to fall to 0-10 on the season. It marks the worst start in franchise history.
"Extremely frustrated," coach Eric Thibault said postgame.
The Caitlin Clark effect is quickly making its mark on the big leagues, as WNBA host teams around the country rush to upgrade their Fever games to larger arenas in order to accommodate surging ticket sales.
With Clark mere weeks away from her Indiana Fever debut, both the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have officially relocated their scheduled home games with head coach Christie Sides' squad. On Thursday, the Mystics became the latest to adjust their plans, moving their June 7th matchup from Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southwest DC to the more centrally located — and much larger — Capital One Arena "due to unprecedented demand."
The Mystics home court's capacity taps out at 4,200, while Capital One Arena — home to the Wizards, Capitals, and Georgetown Hoya's Men's Basketball — can fit nearly five times that crowd at some 20,000 spectators.
"The move to Capital One Arena will allow for additional fans in the stands as well as premium hospitality options, including Suites and the all-new all-inclusive courtside Hennessy Lofts," the team announced via Thursday's press release.
The Aces were one of the first teams to switch venues, aiming to take on the Indiana Fever in front of as many as 20,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena on July 2nd. That’s a sizable a boost from their home venue, which holds just 12,000.
For those still planning to face the Fever in their home arenas, ticket prices have skyrocketed. Previously scheduled construction has already forced the LA Sparks to relocate their first five games — including their May 24th clash with the Fever — to Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. The temporary venue is quite the downsize, holding just 4,000 in comparison to Crypto.com Arena's near-19,000. As of Friday, the get-in price for that game started around $400.
Despite fans launching a Change.org petition urging relocation, the Chicago Sky say they're unable to move their June 23rd Fever meeting from Wintrust Arena's 10,000-seat facility to the 23,500-seat United Center due to a concert. Tickets for that game start around $325 as of Friday.
Elena Delle Donne could be on the move.
While the Washington Mystics extended a core qualifying offer to Delle Donne on Jan. 13, a number of teams have inquired about the availability of the guard, according to Khristina Williams. Among those teams are the Phoenix Mercury.
SOURCES: The Mystics are seeking draft pick compensation for Elena Delle Donne, if a trade were to be completed. https://t.co/a3x3gWfUxr
— Khristina Williams (@Khristina) January 22, 2024
Any type of deal would have to be completed via a sign-and-trade, and according to Williams, the Mystics are seeking draft pick compensation for the star.
Currently, the Mercury hold the No. 3 overall pick in the draft, as well as the No. 13 pick and the No. 25 pick.
Delle Donne is one of the top free agents this offseason and has played for the Mystics since 2017. In that time, she won a WNBA championship with the team, but appeared in just 53 total games of her contract due to injuries.
Under the core tag, Delle Donne cannot talk to teams unless given the okay by the Mystics. A trade by the team would have to happen with her agreement.
The Washington Mystics aren’t letting Elena Delle Donne go just yet.
Per the WNBA’s transactions page, the Mystics extended a core qualifying offer to the forward. It comes after a report from The Next Hoops last week that Delle Donne was going to sign with another team in the offseason.
Delle Donne is one of the league’s top free agents and has played for the Mystics since 2017. In that time, she won a WNBA championship with the team and was a four-time WNBA All-Star. But she appeared in just 53 total games of her contract after a back injury kept her limited from 2020 through the 2022 season.
Last season, she averaged 16.7 points and 5.4 rebounds, although she did miss time with injuries.
The core tag doesn’t mean that Delle Donne couldn’t realistically sign with another team in the offseason, it just makes it more difficult. Under the core tag, Delle Donne has been offered a one-year, supermax contract by the Mystics. A different deal can still be negotiated with the Mystics.
Delle Donne cannot talk to other teams, unless the Mystics were to give the okay. She can still be traded by the team, although it cannot happen without her agreement.
In September of last year, both sides indicated that the decision about Delle Donne’s future with the team would not be an easy one. Delle Donne, for her part, said she still feels like she has “a lot of really good basketball left in her.”
“I think you always need to take a little bit of time to just kind of reflect and see what your next steps are going to be,” Delle Donne said.
“I just want to win. That’s truly what I care about most. It’s been my whole career, but especially coming back from all the back stuff and feeling like I’m really the strongest I’ve ever been. I’m in great shape. I feel like I have a lot more basketball to play, and I want to win.”
Elena Delle Donne could be on the move.
The two-time WNBA MVP’s contract with the Washington Mystics ended this season, and The Next Hoops has reported that Delle Donne is expected to sign with another team in the offseason.
She’s played for the Mystics since 2017, when she was traded from the Chicago Sky. In that time, she won a WNBA championship with the team and was a four-time WNBA All-Star. But she appeared in just 53 total games of her contract after a back injury kept her limited from 2020 through the 2022 season.
Injuries also caused her to miss time last season, although she still proved to be impactful, averaging 16.7 points and 5.4 rebounds on 48.5 percent shooting.
Both Delle Donne and the Mystics have remained relatively mum about her free agency.
“[Transition] is a word that can be used a little bit,” Mystics head coach Eric Thibault said last September. “I think we have to make a decision about what this is going to look like going forward. And it’s not an easy one.”
“I think the most encouraging thing is that she clearly views herself as having a lot of really good basketball left in her,” Thibault continued. “And that gives me a lot of confidence that that’s true, quite frankly.
Team general manager Mike Thibault also said something similar.
“Any time you have some of your players getting older, whether [Delle Donne] was a free agent or not, we need to make sure that we have other players that we can make focal parts of what we do,” Thibault said. “It can’t just be one player.”
For her part, the seven-time All-Star and two-time WNBA champion has stressed that the most important thing for her at this point in her career is winning.
“I think you always need to take a little bit of time to just kind of reflect and see what your next steps are going to be,” Delle Donne said.
“I just want to win. That’s truly what I care about most. It’s been my whole career, but especially coming back from all the back stuff and feeling like I’m really the strongest I’ve ever been. I’m in great shape. I feel like I have a lot more basketball to play, and I want to win.”
Kristi Toliver is joining the WNBA coaching ranks for the 2024 season as associate head coach for the Phoenix Mercury.
A two-time WNBA champion and three-time All-Star, Toliver played for the Washington Mystics in the 2023 but tore her ACL in September. She has not formally announced her retirement, though her move to the Mercury bench would seem to signal a career transition.
Toliver, 36, brings ample WNBA experience to her new role as an assistant to Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts, who came to the team with no women’s basketball experience. Tibbetts was hired in October to succeed interim head coach Nikki Blue, who took the helm after Phoenix fired head coach Vanessa Nygaard in June.
In Toliver’s 14 seasons in the WNBA, she played for the Mystics, the Los Angeles Sparks and the Chicago Sky. She won titles with the Mystics in 2019 and with the Sparks in 2016, and she was named the WNBA’s Most Improved Player in 2012.
Toliver also brings coaching experience, as she spent four seasons as an NBA assistant coach. She became the first active WNBA player to do so in 2018, when she joined Scott Brooks’ staff with the Washington Wizards. And then she spent two seasons on Jason Kidd’s staff with the Dallas Mavericks.
The Las Vegas Aces clinched a second consecutive title, winning the battle of the superteams against the New York Liberty in the 2023 WNBA Finals.
The defending WNBA champions, the Aces locked down the No. 1 seed in the playoffs for the second consecutive season. They dominated the Chicago Sky in the first round, then swept the Dallas Wings in the semifinals. The Liberty defeated the Washington Mystics and then the Connecticut Sun to reach the championship series.
The Aces became the first team to win back-to-back titles since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001 and 2002. The Liberty failed to disrupt their plans, despite entering the playoffs with a 3-2 advantage in the season series against Las Vegas. Both teams entered the playoffs as clear favorites to reach the Finals.
Just Women’s Sports has the full breakdown of the bracket, schedule and results from the Aces’ title run.
The official bracket for the 2023 #WNBAPlayoffs presented by @Google ⬇️
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 10, 2023
First Round begins Wednesday September 13th at 8pm/ET on ESPN2 #MoreThanGame pic.twitter.com/Jc90UfZUKt
2023 WNBA playoffs: Full results
First round
- (1) Las Vegas Aces eliminated (8) Chicago Sky, 2-0
- Game 1: Aces 87, Sky 59
- Game 2: Aces 92, Sky 70
- (2) New York Liberty eliminated (7) Washington Mystics, 2-0
- Game 1: Liberty 90, Mystics 75
- Game 2: Liberty 90, Mystics 85 (OT)
- (3) Connecticut Sun eliminated (6) Minnesota Lynx, 2-1
- Game 1: Sun 90, Lynx 60
- Game 2: Sun 75, Lynx 82
- Game 3: Sun 90, Lynx 75
- (4) Dallas Wings eliminated (5) Atlanta Dream, 2-0
- Game 1: Wings 94, Dream 82
- Game 2: Wings 101, Dream 74
Semifinals
- (1) Las Vegas Aces eliminated (4) Dallas Wings, 3-0
- Game 1: Aces 97, Wings 83
- Game 2: Aces 91, Wings 84
- Game 3: Aces 64, Wings 61
- (2) New York Liberty eliminated (3) Connecticut Sun, 3-1
- Game 1: Sun 78, Liberty 63
- Game 2: Liberty 84, Sun 77
- Game 3: Liberty 92, Sun 81
- Game 4: Liberty 87, Sun 84
Finals
- (1) Las Vegas Aces lead (2) New York Liberty, 2-1
- Game 1: Aces 99, Liberty 82
- Game 2: Aces 104, Liberty 76
- Game 3: Liberty 87, Aces 73
- Game 4: Aces 70, Liberty 69
Free agency is looming large for Elena Delle Donne.
The Washington Mystics were eliminated from the playoffs Tuesday, bringing their 2023 season to an end. And Delle Donne’s time in Washington could be coming to an end as well. Her four-year contract is up, meaning that the Mystics and Delle Donne have choices to make.
“[Transition] is a word that can be used a little bit,” head coach Eric Thibault said Wednesday. “I think we have to make a decision about what this is going to look like going forward. And it’s not an easy one.”
Delle Donne arrived in Washington in 2017, having been traded to the Mystics from the Chicago Sky. She helped the team to a WNBA championship in 2019 and was named league MVP that year. Since then, though, she has struggled with injuries, missing the 2020 season and playing just three games in 2021. She returned to form in 2022, averaging 17.2 points in 25 games. This season, she averaged 16.7 points in 23 games while also dealing with some nagging injuries.
A seven-time All-Star with two WNBA championships under her belt, Delle Donne previously has expressed her interest in staying in Washington. But on Wednesday, her tune was a bit different.
“I think you always need to take a little bit of time to just kind of reflect and see what your next steps are going to be,” Delle Donne said. “I just want to win. That’s truly what I care about most. It’s been my whole career, but especially coming back from all the back stuff and feeling like I’m really the strongest I’ve ever been. I’m in great shape. I feel like I have a lot more basketball to play, and I want to win.”
While this season wasn’t her best, Delle Donne still feels as though she has a lot left to give.
“I think the most encouraging thing is that she clearly views herself as having a lot of really good basketball left in her,” Thibault said. “And that gives me a lot of confidence that that’s true, quite frankly.
“I don’t think it’s fair necessarily to ask her to carry the load she carried when she was 27, 28, 29. But she can still be a big-time player, there’s no doubt about that.”
Even still, it’s time for both the Mystics and Delle Donne to evaluate how they want to move forward.
“I think that’s the discussion we’re having, and I really can’t give you that answer,” general manager Mike Thibault said. “I would say that anytime you have some of your players getting older, whether she was a free agent or not, we need to make sure that we have other players that we can make focal parts of what we do. It can’t just be one player.”