WNBA Power Rankings: Even A’ja Wilson can’t un-yuck the Aces

Not even Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson can un-yuck her team right now.

Welcome to the Week 4 edition of For The Win’s 2025 WNBA power rankings. If you’ve been paying attention to the Aces, you might notice they don’t quite look like themselves. Despite an above .500 record, Las Vegas has been playing anything but championship-level basketball. Two of their three losses this season have been by 20 points or more, including a 27-point rout against the Golden State Valkyries.

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What’s more, Wilson leads Las Vegas in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, which might explain why the Aces, as a team, are ranked eighth or worse in multiple league categories. (She can’t do it all.) For example, Las Vegas is dead last in assists per game (16.9), 12th in field goal percentage per game (39.2), ninth in rebounds per game (33) and eighth in points per game (80.1). That’s a lot of gross for a team that is only one year removed from winning back-to-back championships. It’s still early, but goodness gracious, the Aces might be in trouble.

Here’s For The Win’s WNBA power rankings for Week 4:

13. Dallas Wings (1-9)

The Dallas Wings can’t seem to get out of their own way. They haven’t been able to put together a complete game. If they manage to find offense, their defense lags. If they come with defense, they can’t buy a bucket. Finishing matchups has been a major issue ― *cough* the Minnesota Lynx survived losing a 17-point lead against the Wings to finish the game up 14 ― and good teams have made them pay.Head coach Chris Koclanes admitted he’s done a “poor” job thus far. “Just trying to figure it out, and it seems we can’t get everybody on the same page,” Koclanes recently said. “No, I’m not going to make excuses. I won’t chalk it up. It hurts when you don’t have a Paige [Bueckers] and a Ty Harris …” If Dallas doesn’t start winning some games soon, Koclanes could find himself on the hot seat.

12. Connecticut Sun (2-7)

The Connecticut Sun bounced back from a 48-point blowout loss to the New York Liberty with a gritty eight-point upset win over the Atlanta Dream. Guard Marina Mabrey, center Tina Charles and rookie Saniya Rivers were fantastic, and the team showed real resolve. Unfortunately, it was short-lived.

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Two days later, they let the Washington Mystics hang 104 points on them in a 37-point loss. Ouch. Veteran guard Brittney Sykes was a one-person wrecking crew and dropped 17 points in the third quarter alone, finishing her day with 28 big ones. There were also five other Mystics players in double figures. This is the rollercoaster ride that comes with being a rebuilding team. Buckle in, Sun fans. It could be a long season.

11. Chicago Sky (2-5)

The Chicago Sky look pretty rough. Chicago simply doesn’t have enough consistent shooting and depth, and it’s costing the team games. Additionally, head coach Tyler Marsh has yet to figure out how to properly space center Kamilla Cardoso and forward Angel Reese (a common issue dating back to before Marsh’s arrival), and the floor is quickly becoming congested. Teams are regularly bringing double teams or extra help defense, forcing both bigs to put up lower-quality shots to create separation.

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Unfortunately, the Sky are also without their starting point guard, Courtney Vandersloot. Vandersloot tore her right ACL during a June 7 matchup against the Indiana Fever, ending her 2025 season. That immediately puts a ton of pressure on rookie Hailey Van Lith to be the team’s floor general, and also puts the front office in scramble mode to support her.

10. Los Angeles Sparks (3-6)

The Los Angeles Sparks did what they had to do against the Dallas Wings this week. Every starter was in double figures, including 20-point outings from forward Dearica Hamby and forward/center Azurá Stevens.

The team also got back forward Rickea Jackson, who had been out with a concussion and then missed time for personal reasons. Perhaps what stood out the most was guard Kelsey Plum had nine assists, which means that the ball is out of her hands, and she’s getting help to create a balanced offensive attack.

9. Washington Mystics (4-6)

Even with losses to the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty this week, the Washington Mystics are so fun to watch. They dropped over 100 points on the Connecticut Sun in a bounce-back game, and barely broke a sweat as veteran Brittney Sykes led the scoring parade. Ten Washington players scored, and that’s a good indication that the team and head coach Sydney Johnson are figuring it out.

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The win wasn’t the only good news of the week. Forward Kiki Iriafen recently won Rookie of the Month for May and had the numbers to back it up: 13.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1 assists per game. Fellow rookie Sonia Citron is hooping, too. She and Iriafen have scored in double digits through the first 10 games of the season. That’s some serious consistency to start WNBA careers with.

8. Las Vegas Aces (4-3)

The Las Vegas Aces are a big ball of yuck. In their lone game of the week, the Aces were steamrolled by the Golden State Valkyries. Golden State swarmed center A’ja Wilson every chance it got, and then forced the rest of the team to beat them one-on-one, and it worked. Only two starters, Wilson and Chelsea Gray, were in double figures, and the team shot a miserable 35.5 percent en route to a 95-68 blowout loss.

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Post-game, coach Becky Hammon didn’t shy away from just how bad things looked, and that Vegas showed a pure lack of effort. “It’s us being soft mentally and letting people punk us … and whining instead of buckling down and saying, ‘OK, if that’s what it’s going to be, let’s go,'” Hammon told the media. But she didn’t stop there. “Right now, we not only have a heart issue, but it’s a head issue.”

Vegas is a long way away from the championship standard they set two years ago, and if something doesn’t shake soon, it could be a long time before they get back there.

7. Indiana Fever (4-4)

Perhaps the Indiana Fever saw our WNBA power rankings from last week, calling them out for just how bad they looked because they’ve secured back-to-back wins. Without starting guard Caitlin Clark, the Fever had no problem blowing past the Washington Mystics and dismantling the Chicago Sky to go up 2-0 in the season series.

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Perhaps one of the best parts of the Fever’s season has been just how well guard Aari McDonald has played with Clark out, and how much guard Lexie Hull has improved since last year. Hull currently leads the league in 3-point shooting percentage with a blistering pace of 60 percent from the field and is averaging career highs in nearly every major statistical category. Keep calm and Hull on.

6. Golden State Valkyries (3-5)

The Golden State Valkyries have entered the chat. For days, it’s been unclear who the Valkyries wanted to be. Just a day before getting its first signature win of the season, Golden State let the Phoenix Mercury steal a win by finishing a matchup on an 18-1 run during the final four minutes. The collapse was a festering wound attached to a four-game losing streak that admittedly showed no signs of stopping. However, the Valkyries pulled off the grittiest and (most surprising) upset of the week with an emphatic unraveling of the Las Vegas Aces.

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Forward Kayla Thornton had a 22-point double-double on 50 percent shooting, guard Veronica Burton also had a fantastic double-double with 14 points and 12 assists, and guard Kate Martin had a standout day with 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Furthermore, the Valkyries beat Vegas in all the categories they typically hound other teams in: rebounds, assists, fastbreak points and points in the paint. If Golden State was unsure about who it was before now, it might have found its identity.

5. Seattle Storm (5-4)

The Seattle Storm are in the middle of a win-three-games, lose three-games and then win more games streak, and it’s hard to get a read on who they truly are. Something that feels odd, and could point to what’s going on, is that starting point guard Skylar Diggins has been up and down to begin games. Sadly, Diggins has often found herself in poor shooting territory and foul trouble. She’s had to try to climb out of it like she did in the second half of a recent Phoenix Mercury matchup. (Diggins had 22 second-half points.) That’s less than ideal, nor is it sustainable throughout a season.

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Furthermore, forward Gabby Williams has tried to help ― Williams has led the team in scoring in three of the last five games ― but Seattle is just 2-3 during that stretch. For now, until the Storm gets more consistent, we’re side-eyeing them until further notice. They haven’t been able to truly separate themselves as one of the premier teams of the league yet.

4. Atlanta Dream (5-3)

Atlanta Dream guard Jordin Canada is back. Canada made her 2025 WNBA season debut against the Connecticut Sun on June 6 after missing time with a knee injury. As expected, she looked pretty rough getting back on the court. Canada had several good looks, but couldn’t get them to fall, finishing the day 0-for-7. However, it wasn’t all bad. She looks to be at full speed and was able to have some impact, dishing out three assists and unleashing a very solid block. Atlanta will need her help after it tries to right the ship following an 84-76 loss to the Sun, which included a 50 percent shooting day from Connecticut and a mammoth 34-point outing from Marina Mabrey.

3. Phoenix Mercury (6-4)

The Phoenix Mercury have alternated wins and losses over the last six games, and though it’s to be expected without Kahleah Copper and Alyssa Thomas (or even Natasha Mack) on the floor, it does make us wonder if the quiet toll of games is slowly impacting the roster, particularly forward Satou Sabally. (Fun fact: she leads the league in usage with 33 percent and already has six 20-point games.)

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Sabally called out WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert over the weekend about the league’s scheduling. “I think this is a conversation that can also be important for the next CBA,” she shared with the media. “Cathy [Engelbert] added a lot of games, and us as players, recovery is so important. We put our bodies on the line every single time. We had nine games in 18 days. It’s not really responsible for a commissioner … It’s just a lot of things we could clean up in terms of scheduling.”

2. Minnesota Lynx (9-0)

The Minnesota Lynx are still undefeated after surviving a scare from the Dallas Wings. Minnesota was up by as much as 17 on June 8 when the Wings came storming back, getting the game down to just a one-point lead heading into the fourth. But the Lynx staved off Arike Ogunbowale and company in the second half and forced Dallas into outside shots late in the game. When the Wings couldn’t nail them, Minnesota had a three-point party of its own as it cruised to a 14-point victory.

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Unsurprisingly, before the matchup, forward Napheesa Collier was the first scoring leader in WNBA history to average 50/40/90 through the first eight games of the season: 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent from the free throw line. She continued her early MVP campaign with a lovely 28 points and 10 rebounds, plus four assists, three blocks and three steals against Dallas.

1. New York Liberty (8-0)

Another week of the New York Liberty being undefeated and looking like a machine. There isn’t much that fazes New York at the moment. They’ve managed to climb out of every possible hole they’ve gotten themselves into. Also, because they’ve been playing so well, it’s probably gone unnoticed, but forward Jonquel Jones is averaging a double-double, the only player to do so this season. (Jones is averaging 13.9 points and 10.3 rebounds. But no one should really be surprised by that. She was the 2024 WNBA Finals MVP for a reason.)

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Truthfully, the only thing outward that might stop New York from continuing its winning streak is Jones not being on the floor. She’s currently dealing with an ankle injury that could make her miss time. There’s really no reason to panic because New York has shown that it has enough depth to withstand these sorts of unforeseen events, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: WNBA Power Rankings: Even A’ja Wilson can’t un-yuck the Aces