{"id":666269,"date":"2026-05-26T15:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/666269\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T15:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:50:08","slug":"2-overachievers-2-disappointments-through-the-first-month-of-wnba-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/666269\/","title":{"rendered":"2 overachievers, 2 disappointments through the first month of WNBA action"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s difficult to project how a roster will translate from on-paper t0 on-the-court. And, through the first three weeks of the regular season, several teams have vastly exceeded external expectations, while some teams have fallen short.<\/p>\n

Here are two surprises \u2014 and two disappointments \u2014 throughout the first two weeks of WNBA action.<\/p>\n

Positive surprise No. 1: Minnesota Lynx<\/p>\n

The Lynx are 4-2 (tied for the second-best record in the WNBA). They\u2019ve also outscored opponents by 6.4 points per game, the third-best net rating in the WNBA. That\u2019s despite the fact that they lost Natisha Hiedeman, Alanna Smith, Jessica Shepard, and Bridget Carleton in the offseason, and that\u2019s even though Napheesa Collier remains sidelined as she recovers from ankle surgeries.<\/p>\n

Anchored by Natasha Howard, Minnesota has been elite defensively. Olivia Miles has looked like a Rookie of the Year frontrunner. Courtney Williams is averaging 15.8 points per game, the second-highest clip of her career.<\/p>\n

Kayla McBride, the team\u2019s third-leading scorer, has gushed about Miles\u2019 contributions thus far as the rookie point guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she is one of the most naturally gifted players that I\u2019ve seen come into the league as a rookie,\u201d McBride said, per Andrew Dukowitz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Positive surprise No. 2: Portland Fire<\/p>\n

The Fire are 4-3 and winners of back-to-back games for the first time this season. They have beaten the New York Liberty \u2014 twice \u2014 and seen big-time contributions from players like Bridget Carleton, Carla Leite, and Sarah Ashlee Barker.<\/p>\n

As a result, the WNBA\u2019s newest expansion team is one of the most overachieving teams through the early days. They\u2019ve pulled out three clutch-time victories, in large part due to late-game heroics from Leite and Ashlee Barker, among others.<\/p>\n

And, the unorthodox style of head coach Alex Sarama has been resonating \u2014 a style that includes no morning shootaround, no individual 1-on-0 skills work, and other methods that, so far, have resulted in success.<\/p>\n

Disappointment No. 1: Connecticut Sun <\/p>\n

The Connecticut Sun weren\u2019t supposed to be good this year. Still, they\u2019ve been the worst team in the league, and it hasn\u2019t been particularly close. They\u2019re 1-7 on the season, and have been outscored by an average of 14.7 points, by far the worst mark in the league.<\/p>\n

Head coach Rachid Meziane has changed lineups quite a bit \u2013 Saniya Rivers was starting at point guard to begin the season, then Hailey Van Lith, and now it\u2019s Charlisse Leger-Walker. The Sun used a different starting lineup in each of their first 7 games this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need more time to establish my starting five, and I need to see more from my players,\u201d Meziane said before Monday\u2019s 97-70 loss to the Golden State Valkyries, per Winsidr reporter Madisyn Cunningham.<\/p>\n

Aneesah Morrow has (probably) been the team\u2019s most consistent player, but her minutes have also been inconsistent. The Sun are trying to figure out what\u2019s working, and right now, it feels like not much is working.<\/p>\n

The good news is that help is on the way. Leila Lacan was the team\u2019s most impactful player last year as a rookie, and she\u2019s yet to make her season debut. That\u2019s expected to take place in the coming days. Still, no team has struggled as much as Connecticut in the early days.<\/p>\n

Disappointment No. 2: Phoenix Mercury <\/p>\n

The Phoenix Mercury were a WNBA Finals team last season who toppled a talented Lynx squad to punch their ticket to the Finals. They brought back Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper and added Jovana Nogic, a 28-year-old undrafted rookie out of Serbia who has quickly established herself as one of the best first-year players in the WNBA.<\/p>\n

But, without Satou Sabally (now on the New York Liberty) and several other rotation players, the Mercury are 2-5, losers of three straight. As such, they have undoubtedly been one of the league\u2019s most disappointing teams in the early days.<\/p>\n

Kahleah Copper has been very inefficient; she\u2019s shooting just 34.4% from the field and 15.4% from three. Alyssa Thomas is putting up Alyssa Thomas number (18 points, 8 assists, 7.9 rebounds), but it just hasn\u2019t been enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s difficult to project how a roster will translate from on-paper t0 on-the-court. And, through the first three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-666269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}