The 2025 WNBA season has entered the final stretch, with the playoff picture starting to come into clearer focus. With teams continuing to jockey for postseason positions, the last few games of the regular season are imbued with an added sense of drama.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just teams making their case; players are also being more closely evaluated as the end-of-season awards ballots are set to be cast. The MVP race has heated up as A\u2019ja Wilson leads the Aces on a miraculous late-season revival. Meanwhile, Napheesa Collier hasn\u2019t missed a beat after being sidelined for three weeks with injury. Which will voters find more impressive? Wilson\u2019s ability to do it all for her team and lift Las Vegas out of an early slump? Or Collier\u2019s status as the centerpiece on the league\u2019s best team?\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the MVP debate rages on and stats are poured over, the stars will likely be focused on leading their respective teams into the postseason with momentum.<\/p>\n
Previous ranking: 1 <\/p>\n
The Lynx are cruising into the postseason as the No. 1 seed, leading the standings by six games. In even better news for Minnesota: Its star, Collier, is firing on all cylinders following a 20-day absence due to injury. She\u2019s averaging 23 points per game and shooting 55.76% from the field in her four outings since returning to the floor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Previous ranking: 3<\/p>\n
The Aces\u2019 late-season push continues, with Becky Hammon\u2019s group riding a 12-game winning streak. Over that stretch, Las Vegas has the WNBA\u2019s highest net rating, and Wilson leads the league in points, averaging 26.8 per game and shooting 50.4% from the field. The Lynx may be the team to beat, but the Aces are quickly becoming title favorites, too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Previous ranking: 2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Dream\u2019s only two losses in the last seven games came at the hands of the Aces. Still, there is a lot to be optimistic about in Atlanta, with Allisha Gray the consistent piece for the Dream. She ranks eighth in the league in +\/- (5.7), averaging 18.6 points per game as the motor for one of the WNBA\u2019s top offenses.<\/p>\n
Previous ranking: 4<\/p>\n
Alyssa Thomas can do it all\u2014and she is for the Mercury. On Aug. 26, Thomas recorded her seventh triple-double of the campaign in Phoenix\u2019s win over the Sparks, breaking her own single-season triple-double record. Not only is she a scorer, averaging 16 points per game, but she also facilitates, leading the league in assists (9.2). Wilson and Collier may be MVP favorites, but don\u2019t count out Thomas and her unprecedented year.<\/p>\n
Previous ranking: 6<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a golden year for Golden State, with the expansion side on the precipice of a playoff appearance in its inaugural season. Recent wins over the Mystics, Wings, Fever and Liberty have the Valkyries in pole position for the No. 6 seed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Despite losing to the Valkyries on Tuesday, Breanna Stewart (center) and the Liberty clinched a playoff spot. \/ Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Previous ranking: 5<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a tough stretch for the Liberty, with Sandy Brondello\u2019s team hampered by injury.\u00a0 Breanna Stewart returned to the floor after being sidelined for a month, just as Sabrina Ionescu incurred a toe injury, missing the last three games.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not championship-level basketball at this point and everybody needs to recognize that and understand that we need to get there,\u201d said Stewart after New York\u2019s 80\u201363 loss to Phoenix<\/a> on Saturday, \u201cand that starts with the mindset and then putting it onto the court.\u201d<\/p>\n Previous ranking: 9<\/p>\n The Storm are once again navigating turbulent waters. Just days after beating the Lynx on their home court, they fell to the Sparks in a critical matchup with playoff seeding implications. Skylar Diggins & Co. will look to finish out the regular season strong with home meetings against Golden State and New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n Previous ranking: 8<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the position Indiana envisioned it would be in at the start of the season. The Fever had championship aspirations<\/a>, but after a string of injuries and the departure of DeWanna Bonner, they\u2019re fighting for the last few postseason spots. Stephanie White\u2019s team will hope to lock up a postseason berth\u2014which is in reach\u2014and get Caitlin Clark healthy for a playoff run<\/a>.<\/p>\n Previous ranking: 10<\/p>\n The Sparks\u2019 playoff hopes are still alive, if ever so slightly. After losing to the Phoenix and Indiana, Los Angeles pulled out back-to-back wins over Washington and Seattle. Cameron Brink is still averaging around 13 minutes since returning from her ACL injury, with Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum continuing to carry the load. Hamby logged 27 points and 11 points, shooting 72.2% from the field in the Sparks\u2019 big-time win over the Storm.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Previous ranking: 7<\/p>\n The Mystics have lost seven consecutive games and are eliminated from playoff contention. Still, there is plenty to be optimistic about in Washington, mainly the success of rookie duo Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen. Citron showed what a problem she can be for opposing teams in the Mystics\u2019 Aug. 28\u00a0 loss to the Liberty, scoring 18 points on 50% shooting from the field, while registering two blocks.<\/p>\n Previous ranking: 12<\/p>\n The Sun may not be in playoff contention, but they are finishing the season stronger than they started it. Connecticut\u2019s August featured wins over the Liberty, Sky, Mystics, and Wings, with Le\u00efla Lacan logging back-to-back 22-point performances last week.<\/p>\n Previous ranking: 13<\/p>\n There is little silver lining in Chicago, with the Sky losing four consecutive games, going 1\u20139 in their last 10. If one wanted to harness optimism, Angel Reese\u2019s five straight double-doubles are a bright spot in a challenging situation.<\/p>\n Previous ranking: 11<\/p>\n It\u2019s not necessarily surprising that the Wings are in last place, with a full rebuild underway in Dallas. Paige Bueckers has proven herself to live up to billing and then some, giving the Wings a solid foundation on which to build their future (which includes the best odds at another No. 1 draft pick in 2026).\u00a0<\/p>\n More WNBA on Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 WNBA season has entered the final stretch, with the playoff picture starting to come into clearer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-116934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}