{"id":786598,"date":"2026-07-27T03:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T03:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/786598\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T03:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T03:27:08","slug":"espn-names-caitlin-clark-indiana-fever-favorites-for-wnba-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/786598\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN names Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever favorites for WNBA title"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/category\/wnba\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">WNBA<\/a> season is past half way and the contenders are starting to pull away from the pretenders. ESPN Analytics released its list of teams with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/odds-to-win-wnba-championship-in-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">highest chance<\/a> of winning the title this year, with Caitlin Clark and the Fever at the top.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They have a 24% chance, followed closely by the defending champions, the Las Vegas Aces, at 23%. Rounding out the list are the Minnesota Lynx (16%), New York Liberty (15%) and the Atlanta Dream (13%).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebiglead.com\/new-angle-caitlin-clarks-and-1-play-fever-sun-game-must-see\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">New angle of Caitlin Clark\u2019s and-1 play in Fever-Sun game is a must-see<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The X post has since been viewed by more than 260,000 fans.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Crunch time in the W!<\/p>\n<p>Entering the second half, ESPN Analytics has the league chasing the highest scoring team in Indiana and the reigning champs Las Vegas; giving those two the best chances to win the title this season \ud83c\udfc0 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/63iyAGvUBp\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/63iyAGvUBp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ESPNInsights\/status\/2081439909085364614?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indiana is favored despite only being fifth in the standings with a 17-10 record. However, the team has a three-headed monster of Clark, Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston, along with a formidable bench. Las Vegas, on the other hand, features four-time league MVP A\u2019ja Wilson and are 18-8, good for third place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Minnesota is on top with a 22-6 record, but the Fever will likely enter the playoffs with a healthy Clark. She missed last year\u2019s entire postseason, but her team still reached the second round.<\/p>\n<p>Why Caitlin Clark and the Fever are title favorites<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indiana leads the WNBA in scoring, averaging 94.4 points, along with a league-high 37.7% from beyond the arc. Clark plays a big role in its success. She is producing 21.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists despite playing a career-low 29.2 minutes per game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The three-time All-Star continues to face a minutes restriction. Her team is likely taking a cautious approach to her lingering back issue. If Clark enters the playoffs fresh, and Mitchell and Boston maintain strong performances, the Fever can reach new heights and could go all the way. However, Wilson and the Aces will not back down without a fight and will give their all to defend their crown.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The WNBA season is past half way and the contenders are starting to pull away from the pretenders.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[1760,2839,99,434],"class_list":["post-786598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-indiana-fever","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786598","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=786598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}