This season, the WNBA’s offensive numbers are up. Way up!
There are over nine teams with an offensive rating above 105, while last season only six teams reached that mark. In 2025, the No. 1 offensive rating went to the Lynx at 109.5. Fast forward a year, and the same rating would make a team the sixth-best offense in the WNBA.
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The other side of this coin is, of course, defense.
With scoring is up, stopping anyone is suddenly down. Only one team has a defensive rating under 100 on the season, and that’s Minnesota at 98.1. In seecond place is the New York Liberty at 103.5; last season, that would have made New York the 10th-best defense.
So why has defense suffered so much early on? Well, here are three possible reasons why.
1. WNBA teams aren’t trying (or trying hard enough) to defend
Defense is a complicated subject. It’s a combination of effort, execution, reaction and game plan. All of it has to come together in harmony to turn a disadvantage into an advantage when a team doesn’t have the ball.
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The first part of this recipe is effort. And according to Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve, teams aren’t starting with the desire to be great on defense in 2026. Here’s what she said recently:
I don’t think players are playing as much defense as they have in the past. We’ve become very very offensive centric in the mindsets of, I would say, the majority of the teams. So we can’t figure out whether we’re actually that good defensively or if nobody else is really that interested.
Those are some harsh words from Reeve, who is the longest tenured coach in the WNBA and has her team playing the best defense in the league.
Not only do the above stats about rising defensive ratings back up Reeve’s assessment, but so do other defensive metrics, many of which are also down compared to last year.
For instace, teams are scoring easier inside. When it comes to opponents’ points in the paint, teams are averaging 37.8 points compared to last year’s 35.6. The numbers are gradually rising and show no signs of slowing down.
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2. WNBA officiating changes are making things difficult for defenders
Before the season started, it was made clear that games would be officiated differently, as the WNBA introduced new points of emphasis that were intended to allow more freedom of movement for offensive players.
In short, the kind of physically that previously characterized WNBA games would no longer fly.
These kinds of adjustments can be hard to spot, as a blown call could be mistaken for a change in officiating, but one ramification of the adjustment is clear: free throws are up.
Last year, the Washington Mystics led the league in free throw attempts, taking 20.7 per game. This season, that same total would make a team 11th in the WNBA. Such a stark contrast can be attributed to officiating changes and teams struggling to adapt, leading to more players being beaten and to more fouling when such breakdowns happen.
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Funnily enough, Washington has adjusted well. They remain the No. 1 team in free-throw attempts, but are now taking 26.7 shots per game from the charity stripe.
3. The WNBA’s young offensive stars are just too good
Beyond what’s happening with teams’ strategies and officials’ emphases, part of the reason for the lack of defense could also be that players are just more skilled now.
Unlike the men’s game, women typically play four years in college and enter the league ready to make an impact. Recent players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Olivia Miles and Paige Bueckers are able to enter the WNBA as bona fide All-Stars on day one.
Perhaps their youth is actually an advantage, with veteran players struggling to slow down these skilled and speedy youngsters.
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Typically, rookies do a lot more watching than playing, but this class already has nine players scoring 10-plus points per game, and three of them are shooting over 50 percent from the field. And the sophomores are also improving ,with 10 scoring in double figures and two making over half of their shots.
These things have a way of balancing themselves out.
To win at the highest level, a team still will need to be elite at both offense and defense. Additionally, while we currently are experiencing an increase in scoring, it likely will settle down, and defenses will adjust and catch up.
For now, though, it would be nice if more teams could find ways to get more stops so that games don’t just become a race to 100—and beyond.
