WNBA action posed as many questions as answers last weekend, as perennial contenders like the Las Vegas Aces reckon with new challenges while rosters continue to gel.
The 2023 champions suffered a surprise 95-68 blowout loss to expansion side Golden State on Saturday, with the Valkyries stifling Las Vegas's star-studded offense.
Only two starting Aces cracked double-digit scoring: Reigning MVP A'ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray put up 17 and 16 points, respectively, though 2025 second-round draftee Aaliyah Nye impressed off the bench by adding 13 of her own.
Golden State, on the other hand, had a banner afternoon with three double-doubles among the Valkyries' five double-digit performers, led by forward Kayla Thornton's 22-point, 11-rebound outing.
"They outplayed us in every aspect of the game," said Aces head coach Becky Hammon after the loss. "Just really one of the worst games I've seen from us."
Gap widens between 2024 finalists and rest of the WNBA
Currently in fifth place in the WNBA standings, Las Vegas isn't the only team still searching for an identity in the 2025 season, as a clear divide is widening at the top of the league.
The still-undefeated 2024 WNBA finalists — the Minnesota Lynx and reigning champion New York Liberty — lead the pack by a growing margin, as the third-place Atlanta Dream sit a full three games behind the league leaders less than four weeks into the 2025 season.
Along with Las Vegas, the Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm, and Indiana Fever are all hanging tough with records at .500 or higher, though none are riding more than a two-game winning streak.
Despite setting a franchise attendance record of 19,496 fans at Chicago's famed United Center on Saturday, the Sky fell to an injury-laden Fever squad 79-52 to remain in 11th place in the standings.
Also struggling at the bottom of the table are the Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings. Along with the Sky, the WNBA weekend action has the trailing trio sitting multiple games below the 2025 playoff line.
How to watch Monday's WNBA action
Hoping to harness the momentum of their massive Saturday win, Golden State will travel to LA to take on the Sparks at 10 PM ET on Monday.
The game will stream live on WNBA League Pass.
The 2025 WNBA preseason put together an exceptionally strong start this weekend, earning stellar viewership led by the fan-favorite Indiana Fever.
In the league's first-ever fully broadcast preseason, Sunday's exhibition between the Fever and the Brazil women's national team earned ESPN an average audience of 1.3 million viewers, with a peak at 1.6 million fans.
That average represents a 13% increase over the network's 2024 WNBA regular-season viewership per game.
Even more, Sunday's Fever audience surpassed the viewership marks of every NBA preseason matchup on ESPN since 2018, as well as topping the then-record number of fans who tuned into Game 1 of the 2024 WNBA Finals.
Sunday's pregame show WNBA Countdown also saw a big boost, averaging 571,000 viewers to mark a 71% year-over-year increase.
Fever, Clark fuel WNBA-leading attendance, viewership
The 108-44 Indiana victory was a homecoming for 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark, with the exhibition taking place at her alma mater, Iowa.
Like the clamor to tune into the game, all 15,500 seats at Carver-Hawkeye Arena — where Clark's No. 22 jersey was raised into the rafters in February — sold out in just 24 minutes.
The fanbase surrounding Clark and the Fever is notoriously enthusiastic, with demand for tickets to see Indiana on the road surpassing all other WNBA teams this season.
Similarly — as evidenced by Sunday's exhibition — the Fever drives significant viewership numbers. The WNBA is strategically capitalizing on that trend, granting Indiana more national broadcasts and streams than any other team in the league this season.
Aiming to add even more most-watched games to the network's docket, ESPN platforms snagged 10 of the Fever's 41 national broadcasts this season, including an ABC airing of Indiana's 2025 opener against regional rival Chicago on May 17th.
Elevating games to ESPN's flagship channel, Clark says, "really helps" grow the WNBA.
"As a competitor, these are the moments you live for, when the spotlight's on," Clark told reporters before Sunday's preseason clash. "We're on ESPN. This is a great opportunity for our team."
The WNBA will be lighting up the NBA’s biggest arena this summer, with the Chicago Sky announcing on Friday that the United Center will host their 2025 home matchups against regional rival Indiana Fever.
With room for nearly 21,000 fans, the world-famous home to the NBA's Chicago Bulls will hold its first-ever WNBA game on June 7th, with the Fever returning for the second United Center clash on July 27th.
"Chicago Sky fans have consistently shown up for the team and the city, and we want to reward their passion and dedication by bringing this excitement to an expanded capacity," said Sky president and CEO Adam Fox in a team statement.
An upgrade from their usual 10,387-capacity Wintrust Arena, the move provides the Sky an opportunity to break the all-time attendance records for both the team and the league.
Chicago's current record-setting game was a 77-67 loss to the LA Sparks in 2016, when 16,444 fans broke the franchise mark at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
The overall WNBA record belongs to the Washington Mystics, who narrowly defeated Indiana 92-91 in front of 20,711 fans inside the larger Capital One Arena last September.
Clark's Fever crowds fuel 2025 WNBA venue boosts
The upcoming upgraded Chicago games will be the second and third meetings between the Sky and Fever on deck for the 2025 WNBA season. Buoyed by NCAA rivals-turned-2024 WNBA All-Stars Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, the pair will clash five times across this year's campaign, with Indiana hosting three of the matchups.
In addition to the aforementioned record-setting clash with the Mystics, Indiana helped an impressive two other 2024 WNBA games break through the 20,000 attendance barrier. Even more, last season saw the Fever shatter the league's single-season home attendance mark with nearly 341,000 fans — a 36% boost over the previous record of 250,565 set by the NY Liberty in 2001.
In anticipation of the Indiana faithful again showing out in 2025, both the Mystics and the Sun — like the Sky — have moved their upcoming home matchups against the Fever to larger venues.
Washington shifted those games to the 14,000-seat CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, Maryland, while Connecticut will meet Indiana at the NBA's Boston Celtics home of TD Garden.
How to see the Fever vs. Sky WNBA game at the United Center
Fans hoping to catch the Fever and the Sky at Chicago's United Center this summer — and potentially be a part of a WNBA record-breaking crowd — can snag tickets to the upgraded games beginning at 12 PM ET on March 11th.
Tickets will be available both online and via the United Center Box Office.