WNBA power rankings: Dallas’ young cast looks like a strong support for Paige Bueckers

This weekend’s announcement of the All-Star Game reserves provided an interesting button to one of the more controversial moves of the offseason: Chicago’s trade for Ariel Atkins. The Sky sent the No. 3 pick in the 2025 draft (along with first-round swap rights in 2027) to bring in Atkins; put another way, four years of cost control on a rookie for a one-year rental.

These swings work when the veteran player is good enough in the present to counteract the future value lost. The Los Angeles Sparks made a similar risk in trading the No. 2 pick for Kelsey Plum. However, when the player Atkins was ostensibly traded for, Sonia Citron, is already out-producing the veteran in Year 1 — voted an All-Star alongside her rookie teammate Kiki Iriafen — it poses some questions about team-building.

In Chicago’s defense, the Mystics and the Connecticut Sun were the only teams with the courage to attempt a rebuild this season. With the rollicking momentum the WNBA is experiencing, it’s challenging to sit out a year and watch other teams pass you by. The Sparks, though Plum is at least outperforming Dominique Malonga, haven’t experienced the success they hoped for with their veteran acquisition either.

The best teams in the WNBA are generally built through multiple top draft picks. In recent vintage, the Seattle Storm won in 2018 and 2020 with the 2015 and 2016 No. 1 picks — plus Sue Bird from way back in 2002. Las Vegas had the top selections in 2017, 2018 and 2019. New York drafted only one top pick in Sabrina Ionescu but brought in Breanna Stewart and traded for another MVP in Jonquel Jones. Indiana is building toward contention with two consecutive top picks of its own. Having one great rookie, even if she put up historical numbers like Angel Reese, generally isn’t enough to get the job done.

And the idea of punting the present for the future may not even apply anymore. The current generation of college stars is more ready for the pros than previous groups; a great four-year collegian might be able to produce as well as an established veteran.

Team-building is an art. Not all franchises can follow the same template. However, to lose a win-now trade in the present is a tough pill to swallow, the kind of outcome that might make teams a little more conservative moving forward.

Three standouts

1. The future has arrived in Dallas

The Wings started a lineup of four rookies plus Li Yueru, who is in her third season, on Thursday against Phoenix. Against a trio of Mercury All-Stars and all-WNBA players, the youngins held their own. As Dallas has dealt with a rash of injuries, the absence of the veterans has clarified who fits around Paige Bueckers. Every decision the Wings make from here on out should be to optimize Bueckers, and the rookies seem to match her playing style.

JJ Quinerly and Aziaha James play with pace and make quick decisions with the ball. Quinerly is always pushing the tempo of makes and misses, while James immediately knows how she wants to attack, whether that’s with a shot or a drive. Luisa Geiselsöder is a little more methodical in the half court, but she’s a useful screening and handoff partner — the pairing of Bueckers and Geiselsöder has a better true shooting percentage than any other Bueckers duo. In the win against Phoenix, Dallas got 72 points from rookies, the most of any WNBA team since 1999, per Across the Timeline. It was also the first time in league history that three rookies have had at least 15 points and five assists.

The pecking order is clear with no veterans — Bueckers is the best player on the team, and she shouldn’t have to defer to players with more experience. Quinerly, James and the young bigs know where they stand — they play through Bueckers. When Bueckers tells Quinerly to “go” on a jump ball late in the game, Quinerly starts running to the spot before the ball gets there.

The Wings got a gift in the NaLyssa Smith trade, an opportunity to build up assets while also clearing out minutes for players who will be part of the future. With the way the rookies are performing, it might be worthwhile to move out more veterans by the Aug. 7 trade deadline.

2. It’s Miller time in Minnesota

Now that Karlie Samuelson is out for the season with a foot injury, Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve has to start trusting Diamond Miller. Natisha Hiedeman can’t be the only guard off the bench, and 20-year-old Anastasiia Kosu won’t be ready in time for the postseason. It has to be Miller.

After Miller got hurt and lost her starting spot to Bridget Carleton in 2024, she only reached double-figure minutes eight times over 36 games. Two of those were contests that Napheesa Collier missed. Miller hasn’t had a lot of time to prove herself, but if she is to be counted on in the postseason, Reeve has to start building trust in her now. To wit, Miller has averaged 13 minutes since Samuelson went out.

Miller still looks like she doesn’t know how to play off Collier; the cuts and off-ball movement in the halfcourt don’t come naturally to the third-year guard. The comfort comes in transition, where Miller is an absolute freight train. She has more juice attacking the basket against even a set defense than anyone else on the Lynx. Miller’s 3-point shot also looks smooth as the release is quick, and she’s hit 3-of-6 during this stretch.

There have been defensive lapses. Her inability to get around a screen at the top of the key against the Valkyries forced a rotation that led to Tiffany Hayes’ open 3-pointer. A couple possessions later, Miller inexplicably doubled off Kate Martin in the corner, and the ball found its way to Martin in two passes. But when she puts in the effort, Miller has so many athletic gifts. Janelle Salaün looked genuinely stunned at the quality of a Miller closeout in the fourth quarter.

3. Dominique Malonga takes it to Breanna Stewart

Malonga is Seattle’s highest draft pick since 2016, when the Storm lucked into Stewart, the greatest college player of her generation. Seeing the present go up against the past has to make Seattle feel good about its future. Malonga played only 10 minutes against the Liberty, a few of which came in garbage time, but she came to play on national television.

Not a lot of rookies can bump Stewart off her spot and then hit a fadeaway, but Malonga managed that during a seven-minute stretch when she scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Storm extended a six-point lead to 19. Malonga is massive around the rim and makes what should be easy finishes impossible for the opposing team. She is hit-or-miss in terms of her impact, but early in her career, Malonga has already had productive stretches against Stewart and Collier. The magnitude of the matchup doesn’t faze her.

Rookie of the week

Makayla Timpson, Indiana Fever

A lot of rookies already have gotten shine this week, so let’s turn the focus to one who may be falling out of the rotation soon. With DeWanna Bonner waived, Damiris Dantas with Brazil at the AmeriCup and Brianna Turner relatively ineffective, Timpson has become the bench big of choice for Indiana coach Stephanie White. It’s easy to see why White trusts the rookie, because Timpson has a high motor on defense, and the Fever have had to rely on their defense in Caitlin Clark’s absence. Timpson is incredibly disruptive. She comes up high on screens, she pushes ballhandlers out to the perimeter and she has a good sense of where loose balls will end up.

The all-energy, all-the-time philosophy is more useful on offense than defense. She had a couple mis-timed reads on passes and attempted to post up Chelsea Gray (a surprisingly sturdy paint defender) this past week. Yet Timpson has her moments, including a flash off a Natasha Howard post-up and a nice left-handed take against the Sparks. She has the best on-off differential for the Fever this season (plus-12.4 points per 100 possessions); all of that value comes from the defensive end.

With Dantas on her way back, White has more options at her disposal again. Timpson has proven that she can hold up, even if it’s shorter shifts. That manic defensive presence comes in handy.

Game to watch

Dallas at Indiana, 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday, ESPN+

The Wings have won five of their last seven, and the Fever are starting to figure some things out defensively, which they did to great effect in the Commissioner’s Cup title game. Nonetheless, let’s not bury the lead — with any luck, this is the first time Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark will face off as WNBA players. After the drama of their final meeting in college, when a moving screen call helped Clark and the Hawkeyes advance to the national title game, and Clark missed the Fever’s first game in Dallas, the anticipation to see the last two No. 1 picks on the court together is high. Let’s see how two of the future faces of the league match up.

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, WNBA

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