The WNBA season has officially tipped off and as it does with every start of a new campaign, franchises are optimistic about what they can achieve. As we know, over the course of a long, grueling season, title hopefuls separate themselves from the pack and put forward their case as worthy championship contenders.<\/p>\n
Last year saw the rise of the Las Vegas Aces<\/a>, who surged to a ring over the Phoenix Mercury<\/a> in dominant fashion – and the championship conversations are already heating up yet again.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Currently, legends of the game are weighing in on who they think could propel themselves into championship heights and one of those voices belongs to WNBA Hall of Famer and Australia icon Lauren Jackson, who told Basketball Network she believes the Aces could repeat.<\/p>\n “I think my predictions are going to be very boring pretty much what everybody thinks already. I’ve sort of said New York and Las Vegas. I think they’re going to be there the main contenders this year. I’d love to see Seattle do well I love it I love watching but it’s like when the WNBL is on here it’s every day I’m in front of my TV that is like my favorite so um it’s awesome when you working for me as a team I just love it,” Jackson said.<\/p>\n Aces primed to go back-to-back<\/p>\n Jackson jokingly labeled her picks as “boring”, mainly because she sides with the general sentiment around the basketball community. If anything, the Aces grew stronger this summer and no one would be remotely surprised if team captain A’ja Wilson powered them to another title following her dominant Finals MVP success just seven months ago.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n As Jackson smartly references, however, they’ll have elite-level competition to overcome, namely the likes of the New York Liberty<\/a> waiting in the wings. The Liberty re-signed Breanna Stewart<\/a>, Jonquel Jones<\/a> and Sabrina Ionescu<\/a> to multi-year deals and strengthened the roster with the acquisitions of Satou Sabally<\/a>, Rebecca Allen<\/a> and Raquel Carrera.<\/p>\n A soft spot\u00a0<\/p>\n Naturally, Jackson is hoping her beloved Seattle Storm<\/a> does well, too. Lauren spent 12 illustrious years with the franchise, resulting in a Hall of Fame career consisting of two titles, three MVPs, a Finals MVP, a Defensive Player of the Year award, eight All-WNBA First Team selections, seven All-Star nods, three scoring titles, a leader in rebounds in 2007 and five All-Defensive honors.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Her career up north resulted in her number 15 jersey being deservingly retired by the organization and becoming the first player in franchise history to do so.<\/p>\n Even now, years removed from being a member of the team, her face still lights up when talking about them; her ties with the franchise remain as strong as ever. Her excitement around the current state of the WNBA also reflects the growing momentum of women’s basketball globally.<\/p>\n Related: \u201cHe got thrown out of the game early\u201d – Emmanuel Acho on why the NBA should not suspend Victor Wembanyama for Game 5<\/a><\/p>\n Time to prove it\u00a0<\/p>\n For the Aces, the pressure now shifts from chasing a title to defending one. For the Liberty, they enter the new campaign with the world of expectations on their shoulders, hoping they can live up to the talent that is boasted throughout their roster.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n If Jackson’s predictions prove accurate, we could have a potential heavyweight showdown on our hands. Either way, the former Australian international will be watching closely every step of the journey, continuing to embrace and celebrate the league she played such a significant role in helping build.<\/p>\n Related: “Suicide runs every time” – Sophie Cunningham reveals Fever\u2019s brutal drills for the new season<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on May 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the WNBA<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WNBA season has officially tipped off and as it does with every start of a new campaign,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[148052,4657,49,48,245087,12200,3460,133572,3457,3461,24527,4644,4659,1611,82,630],"class_list":["post-663450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-a39ja-wilson","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dominant-fashion","tag-jonquel-jones","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-lauren-jackson","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-rebecca-allen","tag-sabrina-ionescu","tag-satou-sabally","tag-seattle-storm","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663450","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=663450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}