Welcome to The Athletic’s 2026 WNBA power rankings. We’re tweaking the format this season to focus a little more on the teams moving up and down, so expect even more movement than usual.
That’s especially true for the start of the season, after the defending champs lost by 33 points on their home court, the runners-up forgot how to play defense in the second half of a back-to-back, and the other two 2025 semifinalists lost heartbreakers at home. It wasn’t just the expansion teams who were unable to deliver their fans opening-day victories — in total, home teams were 2-9 through the first three days.
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Without further ado, let’s get to it.
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Rank |
Team |
|---|---|
|
1 |
New York |
|
2 |
Dallas |
|
3 |
Atlanta |
|
4 |
Phoenix |
|
5 |
Las Vegas |
|
6 |
Golden State |
|
7 |
Indiana |
|
8 |
Minnesota |
|
9 |
Washington |
|
10 |
Chicago |
|
11 |
Seattle |
|
12 |
Los Angeles |
|
13 |
Toronto |
|
14 |
Connecticut |
|
15 |
Portland |
Two teams trending up
New York Liberty
Even if Breanna Stewart never becomes a plus-3-point shooter again, she will remain an MVP candidate and one of the best players in the world. She played the first game of the season as if Aneesah Morrow had personally wronged her, repeatedly scoring over and through the undersized Connecticut Sun forward and providing some vicious blocks on Morrow and Diamond Miller on the other end. The Liberty had an embarrassment of riches compared to the Sun roster, even with their injury absences, and didn’t need a vintage Stewart game, but they got one anyway, to the tune of 31 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. And when New York needed more out of its MVP after Jonquel Jones and Han Xu fouled out against the Washington, there was Stewart, playing all of the fourth quarter and overtime to protect the rim against the Mystics.
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The Liberty also got an unexpected boost from Julie Vanloo in their opener. The expansion of roster sizes with 12 mandatory players and two developmental spots hasn’t yet eliminated the need for hardship players. Due to injury, New York fell below 10 active players and was thus eligible to sign Vanloo and Aubrey Griffin. All Vanloo did was become the 16th player in WNBA history to post at least 12 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds in one game. Two years ago, Vanloo was a 31-year-old rookie who thought she had found a WNBA home in Washington. Instead, she was poached in the expansion draft, then waived from the Golden State Valkyries after winning EuroBasket for Belgium. She landed with the Sparks and then didn’t make it through training camp in Los Angeles, either. But she can still hoop, and this league clearly means a lot to her after the winding road she has taken.
Golden State Valkyries
One of my preseason concerns was how the Valkyries would generate efficient offense, especially after they lost Iliana Rupert and her spacing at the center position. Instead, Golden State has scored at least 90 points in its first two games after recording only four such games in its expansion campaign. Janelle Salaün is shooting the absolute leather off the ball, making 9 of 16 3-point attempts through two games. Kayla Thornton wasn’t a one-hit wonder in 2025 and has resumed her aggressive drives to the basket. Sometimes, it seems like the Valkyries are creating spacing out of thin air since most of their players aren’t historically great 3-point shooters, but it works, and their guards and wings have clean lanes to the basket.
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Golden State hasn’t even needed transition to pad its point totals. Although the Valkyries scored 24 points off turnovers against the Phoenix Mercury — the backcourt of Gabby Williams and Veronica Burton is as ball-hawkish as expected — they had only 12 points off giveaways and two fast-break points in the opener against Seattle. They are manufacturing points in the half court, too, a good sign for a team expecting a return to the postseason.
Two teams trending down
Connecticut Sun
The Sun miss Leïla Lacan. Without Lacan in the 2025 season, Connecticut was historically bad, getting outscored by 18.1 points per 100 possessions. With the rookie French guard on the court, the Sun were basically average with a net rating of minus-0.5. As Lexie Brown lit up the Sun in the second half of the Storm’s win Sunday, it was hard not to imagine what Connecticut could have done defensively with Lacan available. The Sun have a bevy of young ballhandlers but needed someone a little more sure-handed against New York and Seattle’s ball pressure.
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This is a developmental season for Connecticut, so the goal is to determine which of these young players makes sense for the future in Houston. It’s pretty obvious already that Lacan is a cornerstone going forward and the sooner she can get on the court and figure out her chemistry with her new teammates, the better.
Los Angeles Sparks
The Sparks spent the entire preseason talking about their commitment to being a better defensive team. They hired Ebony Hoffman, who architected a top defense in Seattle for three seasons. They brought in former all-defense players Nneka Ogwumike and Ariel Atkins.
And then they fell flat on their face against the Las Vegas Aces. Their one-on-one defense was putrid. They had no rim protection on drives. They lost the 50-50 balls. The effort and execution weren’t there all night. The Aces shot 62 percent from the field and topped 100 points despite making only seven 3s.
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Ogwumike said postgame: “I think that was probably one of my worst one-on-one defending nights … but defense is definitely not something that you guys should be sitting here watching and hoping we get it down by the end of the month. You should see it on Wednesday (against the Indiana Fever).” L.A. has no hope of making the playoffs if the defense doesn’t improve, and quickly.
Rookie of the week
Georgia Amoore, Washington Mystics
What a delight to watch Amoore back on the court for the Mystics. After missing what would have been her rookie season with a torn ACL, Amoore assumed the starting point guard role for a comically young Washington squad — not since 2001 has a team had so many first- or second-year players on their roster — and immediately showed off the playmaking and flair that made her a fan favorite at Kentucky and Virginia Tech before that.
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Amoore had the ball in her hands so often in college, often taking her time to survey the court in a slow-paced system. Now, she gets to play with other creators, and the Mystics are trying to run. That allows Amoore to push the tempo in transition or even make quick decisions off of offensive rebounds. Her seven assists to one turnover in the home opener against New York were a product of some generous scorekeeping from the Washington scoreboard operators, but her passing was creating positive outcomes, even if it was just getting her teammates on the move to the basket.
The Mystics still have Amoore on a 20-minute limit as she returns from injury, and they could have used her in the overtime period against the Liberty Sunday. Nevertheless, it has been a strong debut for the Australian point guard in whatever time she gets on the floor.
Game to circle
Atlanta Dream at Dallas Wings, 8 p.m. (ET) Tuesday
Both Atlanta and Dallas went into enemy territory — the Minnesota Lynx and Indiana, respectively — and captured clutch wins to start their seasons, initially validating their preseason hopes of contention. The Dream are more defensive-minded, especially on the perimeter, than the Wings’ first opponent (Indiana), but Dallas is a much more potent scoring team than Minnesota, giving each team a new challenge during a tough opening schedule.
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty, Seattle Storm, Los Angeles Sparks, Washington Mystics, Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, Las Vegas Aces, Phoenix Mercury, Golden State Valkyries, Portland Fire, Toronto Tempo, WNBA
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