We have arrived at the midpoint of the WNBA season. The regular season itself doesn\u2019t end until Sept. 24 because of the 17-day FIBA World Cup break, but the number of game days is half over.<\/p>\n
As a result, Tuesday is the WNBA\u2019s midseason cutdown date, after which every player still on a 12-player roster has a contract guaranteed. Usually at this point of the season, a flurry of action occurs as teams part ways with players at the end of their rosters to create roster and cap space for better fits for the stretch run. Last year, more than half of WNBA teams waived a player within a week of the cutdown date.<\/p>\n
This season\u2019s cutdown date has not yet been as frenetic. That could be because teams are required to carry 12 players at all times instead of 11 as was the case under the previous collective bargaining agreement. Waiving a player means having another option ready to go almost immediately \u2014 though that can be on a seven-day contract, not a rest-of-season deal \u2014 and that is even more challenging when 180 players are already rostered with 15 franchises and 23 are on developmental contracts.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, if a player is unexpectedly cut over the next two days \u2014 keep an eye on the ones who haven\u2019t been in rotations recently \u2014 don\u2019t be surprised by the timing. This is standard practice for teams to retain flexibility during the second half of the season; it\u2019s easier to make trades before that Aug. 2 deadline with a little more cap space, for example. And players who make it past 5 p.m. ET Tuesday without being waived can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing they\u2019ll still have a paycheck for the next two months.<\/p>\n
Here are this week\u2019s power rankings:<\/p>\n
Trending upDallas Wings<\/p>\n
The Wings didn\u2019t need to make things so difficult against the Connecticut Sun, in what was something of a homecoming game for Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd in Hartford, Conn. But it\u2019s hard to be disappointed at Dallas\u2019 playing a close game when it allows Bueckers to take over in the fourth quarter. Let the Wings play with their food if it forces Bueckers to go supernova.<\/p>\n
The beauty of Bueckers\u2019 game is she reads the floor well and always makes the right play, even if that means setting up her teammates. When the moment demands it, she\u2019s a tremendously skilled individual scorer with the bite to back up her bark. Bueckers can drive into the teeth of the defense and hit Jessica Shepard for an open free-throw jumper, but she can race off of hand-off and finish at the cup in between Le\u00efla Lacan and Brittney Griner. In the final three minutes, Dallas\u2019 offense was: a Bueckers layup in transition, a Bueckers and-1 jumper from the free-throw line, a Li Yueru 3, two more Bueckers free throws, a Fudd jumper and then another Bueckers trip to the foul line before Connecticut was forced to intentionally foul someone other than her.<\/p>\n
The Wings\u2019 second win of the week didn\u2019t require heroics, but Bueckers still provided the theatrics.<\/p>\n
oh<\/p>\n
[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Steve Jones (@stevejones20.bsky.social<\/a>) July 5, 2026 at 3:39 PM<\/a><\/p>\n It was 10 days earlier that Bueckers had a more impressive run in the fourth quarter and overtime against the Seattle Storm (17 points in that stretch), prompting coach Jose Fernandez to instruct his star after a late timeout to show she was the best player in the world. The win over the Sun didn\u2019t produce the same soundbite, but the outcome from Bueckers was the same. For the season, Bueckers is averaging 6.4 fourth-quarter points on 61.8 percent shooting and 47.6 percent from beyond the arc. No matter the defensive challenges, particularly on the interior, Dallas always has a chance with Bueckers on the floor.<\/p>\n New York Liberty<\/p>\n No one needed to get back home quite like the Liberty, who lost three out of four on an eight-day West Coast swing. Back in the friendly confines of Barclays Center, New York has won its last two, though the Commissioner\u2019s Cup victory doesn\u2019t count toward regular-season standings or statistics. Beating the Las Vegas Aces without A\u2019ja Wilson, and needing a fourth-quarter flurry to do so, might not have been the most inspiring performance, but a 13-point victory over the Minnesota Lynx was convincing enough.<\/p>\n Like her fellow UConn alum Bueckers, Breanna Stewart is also fun to watch when she reminds the world she is capable of just about anything. She made 23 of 35 field goals (66 percent) over the past two games for 61 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks, picking up another Commissioner\u2019s Cup MVP trophy in the process \u2014 making her the only player with two.<\/p>\n Sabrina Ionescu finally looks healthy again. In the Cup final, she had the touch on her drives and the legs for her 3-ball. Against the Lynx, she once again was all layups and 3s and added six assists, four of them coming in the restricted area and one for a Jonquel Jones 3-pointer. The Liberty could afford to ease Ionescu in because Pauline Astier has been dynamite in her rookie season. The 24-year-old\u2019s rim pressure and defensive ball pressure are a unique combination on New York\u2019s roster, and she\u2019s been hyperefficient.<\/p>\n The Liberty bench has had its struggles, but with the current starting lineup of Ionescu, Astier, Leonie Fiebich, Stewart and Jones taking no prisoners \u2014 plus Satou Sabally having a strong season before her concussion \u2014 there is still better depth in New York than anywhere else. The star power doesn\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n Trending downAtlanta Dream<\/p>\n A five-game losing streak for Atlanta has the Dream outside the contender tier, and the return of Brionna Jones can\u2019t come soon enough. Naz Hillmon is on a minutes restriction, and she\u2019s been a little out of sorts coming off the bench (which is admittedly funny to say about the reigning Sixth Player of the Year). Atlanta hasn\u2019t gotten enough from spot starters Sika Kon\u00e9 and Isabel Borlase. The more pressing issue seems to be Atlanta has lost its last four fourth quarters, a surprising stat for a Dream team that still has the best fourth-quarter plus-minus in the league.<\/p>\n Coach Karl Smesko said he believes Atlanta is playing well enough to win games, and the Dream just aren\u2019t making shots. That\u2019s certainly true, as they\u2019re not hitting on 2s, 3s or free throws. Against the Washington Mystics, Atlanta didn\u2019t have the best shot selection down the stretch, and then Hillmon committed a baffling foul down 1 with 12.5 seconds to play even though the shot clock was about to expire. In the next contest against the Golden State Valkyries, the only \u201cmistake\u201d was when Rhyne Howard gambled on a steal at the top of the key, and the Dream\u2019s rush to rotate behind her created an open corner 3; that put Golden State up 5 with 1:04 to play.<\/p>\n The margins are pretty thin in the WNBA standings, and Atlanta is costing itself a chance at homecourt in the postseason with its latest tumble. Maybe the Dream can start making shots; the problem is, other than Jones, none of their best players has historically been a consistent shot-maker.<\/p>\n Rookie of the weekAlicia Fl\u00f3rez, Washington Mystics<\/p>\n (Reminder: This isn\u2019t the best rookie of the week, rather a player who caught my eye.)<\/p>\n Fl\u00f3rez is one of the early success stories of the developmental player contracts in the new CBA. She didn\u2019t make the original 12-player roster in Washington, but the 22-year-old impressed enough to earn a full roster spot within a month of signing, and she\u2019s become increasingly relied upon as the Mystics have dealt with injuries to their starting backcourt of Sonia Citron and Georgia Amoore. Fl\u00f3rez was arguably Washington\u2019s second-most important player in an upset win over Atlanta without Citron last week.<\/p>\n Fl\u00f3rez has great chemistry with her bigs. She worked well on give-and-gos with Shakira Austin and Kiki Iriafen and made the decisive plays in the fourth in the pick-and-roll with Iriafen. Fl\u00f3rez is also decisive in attacking the basket. She resembles Amoore from a distance (the ponytails and the fist pumps are similar), and she even dribbles the ball the same way, but Fl\u00f3rez has the size to make all the passes Amoore can\u2019t and provides a necessary scoring threat from the perimeter, and Amoore mostly scores as a last resort. That\u2019s especially helpful when Citron is out.<\/p>\n Fl\u00f3rez also had some nice defensive plays to close out the win, including taking a charge on Angel Reese and stonewalling Jordin Canada\u2019s drive. The Mystics justifiably brought in Amoore during the intentional fouling portion of the contest, because Fl\u00f3rez\u2019s free throws are an adventure, to put it mildly. In every other facet of the game, Fl\u00f3rez has been the best point guard in Washington.<\/p>\n Florez rookie highlight<\/p>\n Sabreena Merchant<\/p>\n Game to circleConnecticut Sun at Minnesota Lynx<\/p>\n 7:30 p.m. ET Monday<\/p>\n Cheryl Reeve has an opportunity to become the winningest coach in WNBA regular-season history, passing Mike Thibault with 380 wins. It would be surprising for Minnesota not to get the job done at home, and the Lynx haven\u2019t lost back-to-back games all season, but Connecticut has been playing better lately with two wins in the last four games; the two losses came by a combined 7 points, 1 in overtime. Olivia Miles is questionable for this one, denying a potentially fun rookie matchup with the rapidly improving Charlisse Leger-Walker, but Dorka Juh\u00e1sz is at least probable to make her season debut as Minnesota gets closer to being whole on the injury front.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We have arrived at the midpoint of the WNBA season. 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