Explore every episode of the podcast Ball Up Top: A Women’s Basketball Podcast

Ball Up Top is loaded for bear ahead of the second weekend of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. In order to properly walk you through all of it, Tyler and Andrew are joined by The Ringer WNBA Show’s Seerat Sohi.

If you enjoy Ball Up Top, please let us know on Apple and/or Spotify. We’d love it if you left us five stars and a nice review to help spread the good word of ball knowledge!

The show opens with a discussion on the WNBA’s new collective bargaining agreement, which is set to take effect this season. Seerat reported and dug into the various proposals throughout the marathon session of last-minute negotiations between the league and PA. All three discuss some of the intricacies of reporting on constantly evolving-and-breaking stories as well as some of the bigger implications of the deal.

After wrapping that discussion up, the trio preview the entire Sweet Sixteen field of the NCAA Tournament. They wonder if UConn and UCLA are winning in big fashion, why Tyler can’t lose regardless of how Oklahoma does against South Carolina and if Louisville can do the improbable…

0:00 - Show Introduction.

1:16 - WNBA CBA review.

9:20 - Sweet Sixteen preview.

Our musical intros are brought to you by Denver’s King of Mile HiFi, DLZMKSBTS. You can check out his music on Spotify and YouTube.

⬇️ Get our free No Cap Space WBB newsletter ⬇️ One short email with women’s hoops storylines, bracket edges, NIL moves, and must-watch games—delivered during the tournament and all year. 👉 Sign up free: https://nocapspacewbb.com—ABOUT THIS VIDEO Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, and Angel Reese make their Team USA Senior Team debut! Tyler and Greer bring their immediate reactions!MORE NO CAP SPACE WBB 🎧 Podcast / Shows: http://bit.ly/4qNn2uk📲 Follow us on X: https://x.com/NoCapSpaceWBB📸 Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/nocapspacewbb/🎥 More WBB videos: youtube.com/channel/UCpmd_Zg-9RxoJvXZLyCzsFQ/BUSINESS / CONTACT For partnerships, features, or media inquiries: nocapspacewbb@gmail.com

On Wednesday afternoon, members of the Dallas city council grilled Rosa Fleming, the Director of Convention and Event Services for the city, on a number of issues regarding delays and cost overruns with the larger Kay Hutchinson Convention Center project. The Wings are a key part of the redevelopment plan, operating as an anchor tenant in a renovated downtown arena and getting a brand new purpose-built practice facility in the West Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas.

Now the motion heads to a council committee before returning to the general council for a vote.

The initial cost of the project started at roughly $54 million and has risen to over $81 million amid cost delays. For their part, the Wings have agreed to front the additional $27 million and cover any cost overruns necessary to get the facility built.

Andrew has all the information here in a new flash pod.

Ball Up Top is getting ready to turn the corner into Tournament season and that means it’s time to look towards the end-of-year award lists. It’s one of the deepest All-American fields the sport has had in at least five years and that means there will be some players that have cases for the first-team that may not make it. Who has the best case to overcome that crowded field? Our crew breaks it down.

If you enjoy Ball Up Top, please let us know on Apple and/or Spotify. We’d love it if you left us five stars and a nice review to help spread the good word of ball knowledge!

The show jumps right in with a long discussion about the Player of the Year race. Who has the edge? Is it UConn’s Sarah Strong or Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes? After crunching the numbers and laying out the narratives, the attention turns to the First-Team All-American list. This is where Andrew starts to workshop what may be one of the hottest takes of all: Azzi Fudd may not be a first-team All-American. Naturally, Greer disagrees and a good, long debate ensues.

The show wraps up with a brief look at the Coach of the Year race. Greer makes a case for Shea Ralph, Andrew makes one for Dawn Staley while the entire crew looks at some of the underrated names that deserve consideration. Does Krista Gerlich, Molly Miller or Katie Abrahamson-Henderson have a legitimate case? We take a look.

0:00 - Show Introduction.

1:21 - National Player of the Year race…

26:58 - Projected First-Team All-American lists…

51:30 - Coach of the Year lists…

Our musical intros are brought to you by Denver’s King of Mile HiFi, DLZMKSBTS. You can check out his music on Spotify and YouTube.

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As we round the turn into the final stretch of the NCAA women’s basketball regular season, Chauny, Tyler and Andrew ponder who might be the most underrated and underseeded teams ahead of March Madness.

And after an insanely dramatic week that ventured into the uncouth between LSU and South Carolina, the crew discusses the battle between Kim Mulkey and Dawn Staley and why MiLaysia Fulwiley is now caught in the crossfire. They examine the dynamic guards transfer to Baton Rouge first through a basketball lens and then through a more global one.

If you enjoy Ball Up Top, please let us know on Apple and/or Spotify. We’d love it if you left us five stars and a nice review to help spread the good word of ball knowledge!

While the show was supposed to start with discussion about the WNBA CBA and recent developments, the WNBA decided to wait until the literal 11th hour on Tuesday night to, more or less, kill any momentum both sides were making in the negotiating process.

If you’d like to see Tyler and Andrew’s late night reactions, check out our video on our YouTube channel.

Finally, if you haven’t heard…

We’re going to be LIVE in Austin! On February 21, 2026, No Cap Space WBB will be hosting, in conjunction with Texas women’s basketball, Longhorn Legends Live, in the auditorium at the Moody College of Journalism. Tyler will emcee, Chauny will host and a who’s who of Texas hall-of-famers from the legendary 1986 team will be on a rotating panel to discuss their time in Austin and the legacy they left as the first NCAA women’s basketball champions to go undefeated.

If you want to brush up on that history, check out our Legendarium installment, Team of Destiny, by clicking here.

0:00 - Show Introduction.

:58 — LSU vs. South Carolina, Kim Mulkey vs. Dawn Staley and where MiLaysia Fulwiley fits in…

30:17 — Underrated and underseeded potential NCAA Tournament teams.

Our musical intros are brought to you by Denver’s King of Mile HiFi, DLZMKSBTS. You can check out his music on Spotify and YouTube.

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Ball Up Top is back for 2026 and ready to roll.

Tyler and Andrew are back on the show this week to discuss the recent happenings with the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement negotiation. Were the players too late for calling a strike? Is there a way that things can be salvaged for the players now that a delay to the start of the season feels inevitable?

If you enjoy Ball Up Top, please let us know on Apple and/or Spotify. We’d love it if you left us five stars and a nice review to help spread the good word of ball knowledge!

The show continues with a deep dive into Kim Caldwell’s postgame comments after the Lady Vols loss to South Carolina in which she said that there were ‘quitters’ on her team. Was she right to say it? Does she even have the credibility to call out her team like that? Andrew and Tyler discuss and debate.

Both hosts wrap the show with a discussion about the National Player of the Year in women’s college basketball. Does Mikayla Blakes have enough juice to catch up to UConn’s Sarah Strong?

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0:00 - Show Introduction.

3:50 - The state of WNBA CBA negotiations and if the PA was late to calling a strike.

29:00 - Kim Caldwell’s Tennessee growing pains.

51:00 - Is Mikayla Blakes vs. Sarah Strong a real Player of the Year race in women’s college basketball?

Our musical intros are brought to you by Denver’s King of Mile HiFi, DLZMKSBTS. You can check out his music on Spotify and YouTube.

Facilities, Finances and the Firing of Teresa Weatherspoon. We give you the rundown on how the story of the Chicago Sky's issues came together and where the franchise goes next.

The 2026 WNBA Schedule, Budding NCAA Rivalries And Vic Schaefer On The Mic Again| Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast

With so many games on this weekend’s dockets and several individual previews coming on YouTube this week, we decided to switch things up on Ball Up Top. Chauny, Tyler and Greer hold things down and react to the WNBA schedule release, examine which NCAA women’s basketball rivalry could be the next great one and wonder why Vic Schaefer keeps trying to fight an imaginary battle with the media.

If you enjoy Ball Up Top, please let us know on Apple and/or Spotify. We’d love it if you left us five stars and a nice review to help spread the good word of ball knowledge!

The show opens with a discussion about the WNBA schedule and which matchups stand out. In usual hater fashion, Chauny has a potential Paige vs. Caitlin matchup circled while some of the other games on the list, including a Fever vs. Dream rivalry maker game, are discussed by Greer and Tyler.

After touching briefly on the growing rivalries in the WNBA and some of the attempts to manufacture them, Chauny poses the question of which rivalries in the college game need to be nurtured. Ahead of Tennessee vs. UConn this weekend, the crew runs down their list of who can take the mantle of “pre-eminent women’s hoops battle” in today’s landscape.

The pod wraps with a discussion on Vic Schaefer, who once again decided to defend his team to drastic degrees in his weekly media availability.

0:00 - Show Introduction.

1:13 - WNBA Schedule Reactions.

19:24 - Which Rivalries Are Going To Be The Next Great One?

Greer’s Pick: USC vs. UCLA

Tyler’s Pick: Iowa vs. Iowa State

34:40 - Vic Schaefer In The Press. Again.

Our musical intros are brought to you by Denver’s King of Mile HiFi, DLZMKSBTS. You can check out his music on Spotify and YouTube.

Ball Up Top is back and in this week’s episode it is time to take stock of where some of the top teams in the country currently stand. Have Vanderbilt, who announced a home and home with UConn starting in 2027, and LSU done enough to enter the top four conversation? Is there a Big 10 team that looks like they can take down UCLA?

If you enjoy Ball Up Top, please let us know on Apple and/or Spotify. We’d love it if you left us five stars and a nice review to help spread the good word of ball knowledge!

On top of those teams is a Tennessee team that currently stands tied at the top of the SEC with South Carolina and Vanderbilt. Tyler and Greer discuss if there has been enough shown to start buying stocks in the Lady Vols.

0:00 Intro

1:16 UConn Vanderbilt Scheduled

9:54 Are Vanderbilt and LSU Contenders?

22:38 Is Tennessee Back?

29:00 UCLA vs Iowa and Ohio St in the Big 10

36:28 The Future of Neutral Sites in WBB

Ball Up Top is back for 2026 and ready to roll. Chauny, Greer and Tyler hold things down this week, recapping a messy week for SEC coaches, preview one of the biggest matchups of the NCAA women’s basketball season (and our first 10/10 Must-Watch game on the Watch Guide) and take a straw poll on midseason All-Americans.

If you enjoy Ball Up Top, please let us know on Apple and/or Spotify. We’d love it if you left us five stars and a nice review to help spread the good word of ball knowledge!

The show jumps right in with a retelling of Texas head coach Vic Schaefer’s comments regarding his gauntlet road trip (@ LSU and @ South Carolina on back-to-back games). Tyler, Chauny and Greer lay out their opinions and their disapproval of the Longhorns coach’s agenda setting ahead of a big game against the Gamecocks.

After the crew touches on Schaefer’s scheduling comments and Ole Miss head coach Yolette McPhee-McCuin’s issue with her team’s lack of movement in the AP Top 25, the discussion pivots to midseason All-Americans and which players are on the top of that list.

If you want to read about one contender, consider a Ball-Knower’s subscription to get the full story on Richmond superstar Maggie Doogan and her ascent to the top of NCAA women’s hoops!

The show wraps up with a preview of South Carolina vs. Texas, one of the biggest women’s college basketball games of the year and a rematch of one of last season’s Final Four pairings.

0:00 - Show Introduction.

:46 - Vic Schaefer vs. The SEC, Coach Yo vs. The AP…

22:45 - Who are the Midseason All-Americans?

32:56 - South Carolina vs. Texas preview.

Our musical intros are brought to you by Denver’s King of Mile HiFi, DLZMKSBTS. You can check out his music on Spotify and YouTube.

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This week on Ball Up Top, it’s a full house as No Cap Space welcomes in the new year. In order to fully turn the page and enter 2026, we have to make sure the best moments of 2025 get their flowers. Let us know in the comments what your favorite thing about the year in women’s basketball was. Could be the WNBA, NCAA, Euroleague or your local AAU team! This week is about celebrating what was in the world of women’s hoops and toasting to a New Year ahead!

If you enjoy Ball Up Top, please let us know on Apple and/or Spotify. We’d love it if you left us five stars and a review to help spread the good word of ball knowledge!

0:00 - Show Introduction.

:53 - Chauny’s Best Moment: Las Vegas wins the 2025 WNBA Title.

14:40 - Greer’s Best Moment: A Big Year for No Cap Space WBB.

26:52 - Tyler’s Best Moment: Aaliyah Chavez Makes History With Oklahoma commitment.

38:56 - Andrew’s Best Moment: The Drama of the Dallas Wings, live and in person.

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This week on Ball Up Top, Chauny caught wind of Super Secret White Guy Chat and immediately mustered the full crew for a pre-holiday podcast. It’s a full boat with Andrew, Chauny, Greer and Tyler on hand to break down a great week of Team USA basketball, the WNBA’s continuing labor fight and a close look at the NCAA Player of the Year race.

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If you enjoy Ball Up Top, please let us know on Apple and/or Spotify. We’d love it if you left us five stars and a review to help spread the good word of ball knowledge!

The show opens with a quick update on the ongoing WNBA collective bargaining agreement dispute. With Caitlin Clark’s comments at Team USA camp followed up by a conciliatory tone by NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday, it feels as though there’s an opportunity for both sides to have a 2026 season after all.

Our crew then dives into Team USA camp, the changing of the guard that may be happening and some of the deeper dynamics — sometimes jokingly called The Storrs Mafia or the-UConn-Media-Industrial-Complex — that go into selection and national team discussion.

That dovetails perfectly into a conversation about the NCAA Player of the Year races in women’s college basketball. While Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd continue to lead the way, our team asks if there are enough narratives in Big East play for UConn to build a case for their players? And where do other talented players from South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards to Richmond’s Maggie Doogan fit in?

0:00 - Show Introduction.

1:07 - Caitlin Clark, Adam Silver and the thawing WNBA Labor Fight…

12:01 - Unrivaled’s start and the leverage of player coalitions…

22:38 - Team USA Camp thoughts & reactions

41:20 - NCAA Player of the Year ladder

Our musical intros are brought to you by Denver’s King of Mile HiFi, DLZMKSBTS. You can check out his music on Spotify and YouTube.

This week's Ball Up Top opens with a discussion about A’ja Wilson winning TIME Athlete of the Year, how both hosts feel about the feature story and the storytelling around the Aces forward. Andrew expresses his distaste for the dialogue surrounding Wilson and Caitlin Clark and why it’s time for everyone to let 2023 go.

If you enjoy Ball Up Top, please let us know on Apple and/or Spotify. We’d love it if you left us five stars and a review to help spread the good word of ball knowledge!

After dispensing with the pleasantries, the basketball talk begins with a preview of Wednesday night’s Cy-Hawk rivalry game between No. 10 Iowa State and No. 11 Iowa. The duo discuss how the Hawkeyes plan on defending superstar center Audi Crooks and if this is the Jada Williams breakout game basketball fans have been waiting three years for.

There were also some eye catching upsets in the last week of NCAA women’s basketball, from Kansas State managing to defeat No. 17 Ole Miss and Wisconsin pulling off a huge win over No. 20 Michigan State. Andrew and Tyler talk about their favorite moments in those games.

The show wraps with a couple more bigger basketball and culture discussions as Tyler breaks down his experience in Norman, Oklahoma so far covering star freshman guard Aaliyah Chavez before the duo get some jokes off about the fun trash-talking moment between LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson and Duke head coach Kara Lawson.

0:00 - Show Introduction.

1:05 - A’ja Wilson wins TIME Athlete of the Year.

18:50 - Iowa vs. Iowa State Preview

28:32 - Upsets of the week.

39:40 - The emerging movement of athlete led by Aaliyah Chavez.

51:15 - Flau’jae vs. Kara Lawson and the fun of ethical hate.

Our musical intros are brought to you by Denver’s King of Mile HiFi, DLZMKSBTS. You can check out his music on Spotify and YouTube.

0:00 Intro2:23 UConn vs Texas for #1 22:30 Buying and Selling Coaches Stocks35:33 ACC vs SEC Challenge Preview
Check out our website to catch our written coverage and podcast! https://www.nocapspacewbb.com/

The WNBA season is over so we decided to do something special for this week’s Ball Up Top. Tyler, Andrew and Greer are at the sticks and decided to draft their best moments of the 2025 season.

Below are each staff member’s selection but we’d love to hear from you! Let us know in the comments or share our lists with your friends to figure out who can make the best moment list of the year.

Greer:

Paige Bueckers breaks the single game rookie scoring record with 42 points.

Skylar Diggins doing the electric slide in Minnesota.

Napheesa Collier’s unsung 50-40-90 season.

Pink wigs in the Target Center.

The back and forth battle brewing between A’ja Wilson and Dominique Malonga

Andrew:

A’ja Wilson’s WNBA Finals game three winner vs. Phoenix.

Napheesa Collier destroys Cathy Engelbert in exit interview.

Caitlin Clark’s high point: 32 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists vs. New York.

The mess of June’s Wings vs. Aces game.

The Rachid Meziane agenda ends on a positive note.

Tyler:

Studbudz take over All-Star weekend.

Players make a statement with ‘pay us what you owe us’ shirts.

Paige Bueckers and Haley Jones’ legendary meme.

Jacy Sheldon vs. Sophie Cunningham: The showdown.

Indiana’s playoff run.

Missed By Us (But We Wish We Had Back)

Ballhalla

Angel Reese vs. The Chicago Sky

Alyssa Thomas sets triple-double record

Kelsey Mitchell second half explosion vs. Connecticut

Kiki Iriafen vs. Sophie Cunningham preseason

Kiki Iriafen and Stef Dolson make a meme

If you love the show, we’d love and appreciate a five star rating on Apple podcasts as well as a kind review if you’ve got the time! We’re also on the road to 6,000 subscribers on YouTube and 3,000 followers on TikTok so if you enjoy our content here, tell a friend to tell a friend to follow us on their preferred platform!

Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is brought to you in part by Homefield. Just this past week they revealed the full Can’t Miss Kickoff release schedule with hundreds of new football themed products to get you ready for the fall! Want some women’s hoops merch instead? Check out our No Cap Space WBB collection, a curated page of all of Homefield’s best WBB shirts, jackets, jerseys and more!

Our intro music is made by Denver’s own DLZMKSBTS, the King of Mile Hi-Fi. Check out all his music on Spotify here and on Instagram here.

This week we have a special edition of Ball Up Top for you all. A day late but certainly not a dollar short. As discussion around a possible work stoppage in the WNBA intensifies, we sought out some guidance on how the dynamics at play and the mechanics of a collective bargaining agreement negotiation.

Tamika Tremaglio is now the Managing Director for the private equity firm Secretariat but was once the Executive Director of the National Basketball Players Association. In 2021, she was selected by NBA players to replace Michele Roberts and helped lead the union to a CBA with the league in 2023. Back in 2020, she also served as an advisor to the WNBPA in their 2020 negotiation.

Over the course of this podcast, she discusses the component of trust in negotiations, why the players feel like their leverage is the greatest and, perhaps most interestingly, whether the league should just scrap their existing CBA and start over completely.

If you love the show, we’d love and appreciate a five star rating on Apple podcasts as well as a kind review if you’ve got the time! We’re also on the road to 5,000 subscribers on YouTube and 2,500 followers on TikTok so if you enjoy our content here, tell a friend to tell a friend to follow us on their preferred platform!

Scroll ahead to hear…

0:00 - Show introduction.

1:15 - Tamika Tremaglio’s background.

3:04 - The art of a labor negotiation.

4:40 - How both sides view their leverage.

6:35 - What happens when trust is broken during a labor negotiation.

10:15 - The uniqueness of the WNBPA’s bargaining position.

13:38 - The idea of risk-reward as it pertains to the WNBA’s business.

17:02 - Where pure business and professional respect intersect in negotiations.

21:30 - The strategy of exercising leverage and why the WNBPA is doing it now.

24:13 - How WNBA revenue share works.

26:35 - How the NBA’s ownership of the W makes labor negotiations unique.

29:14 - Balancing the business with the humanity of a negotiation.

32:13 - How Unrivaled fits into the calculus of the labor fight.

34:54 - Could you rip up the CBA and effectively start over?

39:36 - Is the WNBA’s labor fight a microcosm of a broader labor movement in the United States?

Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is brought to you in part by Homefield. Just this past week they revealed the full Can’t Miss Kickoff release schedule with hundreds of new football themed products to get you ready for the fall! Want some women’s hoops merch instead? Check out our No Cap Space WBB collection, a curated page of all of Homefield’s best WBB shirts, jackets, jerseys and more!

Our intro music is made by Denver’s own DLZMKSBTS, the King of Mile Hi-Fi. Check out all his music on Spotify here and on Instagram here.

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This was, in essence, the messiest day of the WNBA season this year. Napheesa Collier went scorched earth on league commissioner Cathy Engelbert, prompting widespread support from other players in the W. Sports Business Journal then reported that Engelbert may be on the way out as commissioner at the end of the season. Chris Koclanes was let go as the head coach of the Dallas Wings and, if that wasn’t enough, we had a win-or-go-home matchup in the WNBA semifinals.

The Ringer WNBA Show’s Seerat Sohi joins Tyler, Chauny and Greer as they react to the Aces heading back to another WNBA Finals as well as all the other madness of the day.

If you love the show, we’d love and appreciate a five star rating on Apple podcasts as well as a kind review if you’ve got the time! We’re also on the road to 5,000 subscribers on YouTube and 2,500 followers on TikTok so if you enjoy our content here, tell a friend to tell a friend to follow us on their preferred platform!

Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is brought to you in part by Homefield. Just this past week they revealed the full Can’t Miss Kickoff release schedule with hundreds of new football themed products to get you ready for the fall! Want some women’s hoops merch instead? Check out our No Cap Space WBB collection, a curated page of all of Homefield’s best WBB shirts, jackets, jerseys and more!

Our intro music is made by Denver’s own DLZMKSBTS, the King of Mile Hi-Fi. Check out all his music on Spotify here and on Instagram here.

Man, has this WNBA postseason delivered. Every game night it feels like we get some new piece of drama, some legacy performances and matchups that go down to the wire. Much like the bars Stefon would recommend on Saturday Night Live, these playoffs have everything. Maybe even Dan Cortese. Who’s to say?

Our Playoffathon coverage continues over on YouTube where you can subscribe to our channel. We are live every night after each playoff game and will be doubling down as we head into the WNBA Finals at the end of this week. Who will meet the Phoenix Mercury there? That will be decided on Tuesday when the Indiana Fever and Las Vegas Aces play a win-or-go-home game in Michelob Ultra Arena. It doesn’t get any better than this and, to add on to the craziness that has been the WNBA postseason, the NCAA women’s basketball season starts in just over a month as well.

So if you’re considering signing up for our paid subscription tier, which gives you access to our Discord chat, exclusive content and Boots on the Ground features, you won’t be losing a thing when the W is done. We just move right into the next season because the basketball never stops.

Now, onto the column!

1. The Mercury Deserve Their Flowers As An Organization

To quote the venerable Dril, ‘under no circumstances do you gotta hand to them’. But in this case you do, in fact, have to hand it to Mat Ishbia.

What’s fascinating is that you can be from Phoenix and have two totally different opinions of the debutante owner depending on which basketball team you follow more closely. In a lot of ways, Ishbia feels somewhat reminiscent of James Dolan and his ownership of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers. As a fan, it’s felt that whichever of the two teams Dolan is more hands-off with is the team that ends up being more successful. While Ishbia has spent much of his tenure with the Suns appearing to meddle in the day-to-day affairs of the NBA franchise, he’s kept a relatively low profile in the W, writing the checks and allowing the Mercury to run smoothly.

That’s resulted in a state-of-the-art team facility that was able to play a role in attracting free agents like Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas. It’s also given General Manager Nick U’Ren, the Ball-Knower’s Executive of the Year, the latitude to build out the team as he sees fit. Trading for Thomas and Sabally was a masterstroke but, perhaps more importantly, it all came together in year one. It’s exceedingly rare in this league where free-agent or trade-driven superstar cores gel like this immediately. New York made it to the WNBA Finals in their first season with Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones but it took until 2024 for them to look the part of a champion. Seattle’s microwaved championship core never made it to the Finals before Noelle Quinn was let go as head coach. Shoot, even L.A., Dallas and Chicago, who tried to load up with veterans to hunt for a playoff spot, ended up not living up to their billing.

Yet somehow in Phoenix, where the offense runs through Alyssa Thomas in a way relatively unique in the W’s history, they are four wins away from a title. There may be a lot of flaws in Mat Ishbia as an owner. His organization has dealt with a few different lawsuits and now is on the receiving end of a slew of not-so-rosy stories about allegedly forcing employees to sign paperwork effectively waiving their right to sue for anything. The Suns look like a bit of a clown show and had to deal away Kevin Durant after a nothingburger of a tenure. And yet, things look about as good as they can on the women’s side of things. They flipped over their roster completely with a coach who has proven to be one of the better in-game tacticians in the league while also making the needed investments to compete.

If you choose to look at this with a glass half full mindset, it is a great precedent and signal to the next set of expansion teams coming into the league. Basically, if you invest appropriately, you too can be a Golden State, a Phoenix, Las Vegas or New York. The teams that are putting their money where their mouths are happen to be the ones succeeding. For a league and a sport that has been saying that investment will lead to success for over two decades, it’s nice to see that axiom be proven true time and time again.

2. Alyssa Thomas Is Having Her Legacy Postseason

I know that Alyssa Thomas and her play style aren’t for everyone. It’s important to note that that indeed is okay. To me, the more play styles you have in a sports league, the more interesting things can be from a schematic perspective. College football fans may hate to see a triple option or flexbone team but I sure love to see coaches try to figure it out. In the same vein, there just aren’t a lot of WNBA teams running inverted pick-and-roll with a physically gifted power forward who is a regular triple-double threat. It’s fair for some people to not enjoy the shoulder checks or the bull rushes down the floor. But I feel that it adds something to the game and forces great players and coaches to do something different. It can get to a point where it’s not so fun and that’s something that falls at the feet of officials (more on that in a moment).

I write that long preamble to say that we can’t discount Alyssa Thomas when all is said and done. Would it be fun if she had a more consistent jumper? Sure. But what the 33 year old Mercury superstar is doing this postseason is everything most of her detractors have been asking for for years. In this last semifinals series, Thomas averaged 20.5 points, 8.25 rebounds, 9.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game on 51% shooting from the field. For starters, those are MVP caliber counting stats. But beyond that, it shows a new willingness to shoulder the scoring load for her team. In past years, we’ve gotten 20+ point bursts out of AT but most playoff matchups had her finishing with anywhere between 13 and 18 points. This time around, Thomas is more than willing to go to the basket, try to get calls and feel comfortable taking it herself in crunch time. Usually when we’re assessing players at the MVP caliber level or higher, we like to see that extra gear in the playoffs. Something of a takeover gene, if you will.

This season, Thomas has given us that effort and what we’ve been treated to is a totally different player than who we typically see in the playoffs. Don’t believe me? I quite literally compared AT to Rudy Gobert earlier this year, remarking that they’re similar in that they can own a regular season but have clearly exploitable deficiencies come the playoffs. These last two weeks, the Mercury’s star forward has shut me up good.

If Phoenix manages to go the distance, it completely changes how we talk about Thomas and her impact in the WNBA. On some level, it’s reductive to distill legacy down into whether or not you win rings, but I do think part of winning championships as a superstar level player involves you having to find that gear of greatness. So far, AT has given us that gear and even a bit more. Regardless of how the Finals go, I do hope that Thomas finishes the season with a few more fans on her bandwagon. Count me among them. It’s been a phenomenal playoff run and deserves its flowers even while it’s happening.

3. A Gamecock Rivalry And Building The Hate Ethically

Here at No Cap Space, we often joke about this concept of ethical and unethical hate. As Chauny describes it, “Ethical hate is letting people know up front where you stand so if they choose to engage that’s on them. Basically a heads up that this argument isn’t being made in the the best faith so proceed with caution.”

In essence, knowing where the lines are between playful banter and personal attacks. If you’re someone who thinks they have a good concept of where that line is (which is the vast majority of fans, to be clear), then this postseason was tailor made for you. For the most part, a lot of the banter between teams has been relatively low impact in terms of depth. Napheesa Collier’s injury does cast a pall over some of this but generally, the beef all feels pretty self contained to basketball. Within that, I think we can all afford to let things be fun for a second. Take A’ja Wilson and Aliyah Boston, for instance. I love the fact that the four-time-and-reigning back-to-back MVP is airing out a former Gamecock heir apparent about a perceived special whistle. It’s great to see an up and coming superstar not scared at all of incurring the wrath of one of the faces of the game. These are good things that foster good discourse around the game. There is always a conversation to be had around some of the more specific ways sports and culture intersect and how they power public opinion. We should welcome those takes and critical views of the things we enjoy.

At the same time, however, we should be allowed to indulge in the sheer competition of it all. There are legacies on the line here and it feels like both Wilson and Boston know that. There is the connective tissue of South Carolina and Dawn Staley. There’s Wilson’s own hero’s journey that is woefully underdiscussed even though it underscores how remarkable her ascent has actually been. And then there’s Boston who, since a cruel-at-best-coded-at-worst framing as soft and a crier, has stepped into her power and embraced the title of tough player to go against. Everything that we like in sports is here. The drama, the backstory, the human emotions that power superhuman athletic performances culminating in an ending that is truly unknown to us until the moment it happens. This is the exact type of thing the WNBA has been asking for and it’s been delivered organically. Is it the size of the other rivalries the league office seems to prize? Maybe not. But it’s certainly a healthy foundation with which to build upon.

Whether it’s been Indiana vs. Las Vegas, Minnesota vs. Phoenix or any of the first round games, we’ve been given competitive matchups, elite trash-talk pre, during and post game and the most smoke anyone has had is for the officiating. It’s exactly what people have been asking for and I hope we appreciate it for what it is. Rivalries and legacies are being built here and everyone involved with the games seems to know it. Maybe larger scale media doesn’t but that’s okay. The Ball-Knowers know. And that’s enough for me.

4. The Possible Revolution (And Unintended Consequences) in WNBA Coach Hiring

Happy Trails, Noelle Quinn and Sandy Brondello.

The Seattle Storm, after a first round exit against Las Vegas, parted ways with Quinn while the Liberty did the same with Brondello after New York’s game three loss to Phoenix. The two don’t have a ton in common, when you line up their backgrounds and circumstances. But they are alike in that they’re both WNBA lifers who have been let go amid what seems to be an ever-shortening leash for coaches in the league. Let me be clear, I think it was time for Noelle Quinn to go. Whatever critiques one may have for Storm general manager Talisa Rhea and how this roster was constructed, it had the top end talent to be a WNBA Finals contender. When you line up the starting fives on paper, the Storm should’ve matched up well against anyone. Quinn’s rigidity in not utilizing her bench while also dealing with consistent allegations of fostering a negative locker room culture, it just didn’t feel like Seattle had a lot of good to point to heading into a pivotal offseason. Now, you at least can do a proper search, hire the right coach and be able to promise a vision when free agency comes around.

As for Sandy Brondello, it is quite a statement to fire your coach one season removed from a WNBA championship and then say in a press conference that she was on the block that season too. However people try to massage General Manager Jonathan Kolb’s statements, it was a revealing look at what the calculus actually was in parting ways. I can’t imagine Breanna Stewart is too pleased.

I’m intrigued about the possible clash of visions when it comes to Sabrina Ionescu. One of Kolb’s exit interview quotes concerned the pairing of his former No. 1 pick and Natasha Cloud. While he was careful to not say Ionescu’s dip in numbers were an indictment on Cloud, he did cite problems with Sabrina’s off-ball involvement. If Brondello felt that Ionescu wasn’t a true point guard but Kolb felt the opposite, how much does that clash of visions lead to a somewhat surprising parting of the ways? In any case, a WNBA expansion franchise is going to get a proven coach that can probably establish a high floor early.

While understandable (on some level) decisions, there is an interesting trend popping up in the W these last few years. Beyond the clear and sharp drop of black women coaches in the league — a necessary thing to point when a supermajority of the league are black women — there has also been a shift towards more modern coaching systems. The Atlanta Dream and L.A. Sparks found analytically driven motion-offense coaches in Karl Smesko and Lynne Roberts. The possible New York Liberty targets all have some type of NBA bonafides to them. If the trend continues and the so-called ‘old guard’ of WNBA coaches is phased out entirely, what does that mean for the coaching pipeline?

There’s an argument to be had here that new systems will, over time, permeate through coaching trees and make the technical side of the game better at every level. New York could hire a coach from the NBA like Lakers assistant Lindsay Harding and her system will filter to her assistants and whatever jobs they may take and assistants they may have. It’s one of the few places where trickle-down does tend to work. That move into the future of the game won’t come without consequence, however. If you allow the perception that longtime WNBA coaches don’t have the juice to contend with a new schematic revolution in the league, it will become shared reality eventually. Not only does that hurt people like Brondello but it hurts the next generation of coaches like Briann January or LaToya Sanders. They would also have to fight that perception.

Change is good but, like many things, it has to be done with respect to what is being changed. The revolution is here in the WNBA but it doesn’t mean everything (and everyone) has to be wiped away in the process. It may not be a concerted push or mandate to do so but even unconscious biases can eventually mutate into calcified worldviews. Food for thought as we discuss merits and risks during this coaching carousel.

5. Can You Actually Fix the Officiating Problem?

Before I start, I want to lay out what I think balance is in officiating. Effectively, I think of a well-officiated game is one where I don’t see officials disrupt the flow on the floor. If they are c

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Wednesday, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard.

As the WNBA playoffs roll on, our crew has been hard at work giving you day-of previews and night-of recaps every single night of games. As it just so happens, game two of the Semifinals, featuring the Indiana Fever, Las Vegas, Phoenix Mercury and Minnesota Lynx, landed on our typical Ball Up Top recording night. Tyler and Chauny take the mic and break down everything that happened in game two as well as some of the major coaching changes, from Sandy Brondello in New York to Noelle Quinn in Seattle, and what comes next for both franchises.

If you love the show, we’d love and appreciate a five star rating on Apple podcasts as well as a kind review if you’ve got the time! We’re also on the road to 5,000 subscribers on YouTube and 2,500 followers on TikTok so if you enjoy our content here, tell a friend to tell a friend to follow us on their preferred platform!

Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is brought to you in part by Homefield. Just this past week they revealed the full Can’t Miss Kickoff release schedule with hundreds of new football themed products to get you ready for the fall! Want some women’s hoops merch instead? Check out our No Cap Space WBB collection, a curated page of all of Homefield’s best WBB shirts, jackets, jerseys and more!

Our intro music is made by Denver’s own DLZMKSBTS, the King of Mile Hi-Fi. Check out all his music on Spotify here and on Instagram here.

The WNBA’s marathon of playoff games continue and our postseason coverage at No Cap Space tries to keep up with the blistering pace of women’s basketball news. In the last week, we were treated to a slate of regular season awards (and the discourse that inevitably follows it) as well as some of the broader discussions around the W from the Connecticut Sun to the Chicago Sky.

Noelle Quinn and her staff were let go in Seattle, New York Liberty players seemed mum on their commitment to the franchise ahead of a box office free agency period as some of the best elimination playoff games in recent WNBA history were played. In short, there’s never been a better time to be a women’s basketball fan and a subscriber to No Cap Space. As our W coverage rolls here and on YouTube, we also are ramping up our NCAA coverage heading into October.

Our Luxury Tax interview series continues this week, with South Carolina superstar Joyce Edwards and UConn transfer Serah Williams join the show. Those that pay into the ‘Ball-Knower’ tier here on NCS will get early access to those interviews along with a companion feature on each player. Keep an eye out and stay tapped in with us on all ends of the WBB spectrum!

Now, to the column…

1. Let’s Talk About Awards Season…

A’ja Wilson made history with her fourth WNBA MVP honor, making her the first player in league history to earn such a distinction. On top of that, she joins Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lebron James as the only American professional basketball players to win four MVP’s before the age of 30. And how’s this for a cherry on top? Wilson is the first player in the history of the W to average over 20 points and 10 rebounds in two straight seasons.

That’s the kind of dominance we make GOAT arguments for.

Personally, I find it hard to root against Wilson. She, in a lot of ways, has the pro athlete hero’s journey that we ask of our athletes. While the former South Carolina superstar was immediately impactful from the moment she set foot in the W, the path to being a face of the league wasn’t easy. The Aces had a few postseason false starts, with Wilson herself having a “she’s great but can she win the big one” moment in 2022 with a possible game winner being blocked at the rim by Brittney Griner in the playoffs. The Vegas forward’s response over the next three years was to be one of the most dominant players that the league has ever seen.

If you’re purely assessing value, I think it’s hard to vote against Wilson for MVP. She’s clearly the best player in the W right now and, when off the floor, the Aces simply aren’t a title contender. Here’s where the voting needs a degree of consistency…

Alanna Smith was named a co-Defensive Player of the Year, Natisha Hiedeman didn’t get Sixth Player of the Year and Cheryl Reeve got just two votes for Coach of the Year. There’s a legitimate question about what other Lynx players end up on the All-WNBA list. If a voter’s argument against Napheesa Collier was rooted in value and based on the comparative success of Minnesota without her in the lineup, shouldn’t the voting boost other players and coaches? Reeve, in particular, feels like a somewhat egregious omission even with Natalie Nakase rightfully deserving the honor. It just was surprising to see it not end up that close.

As we head into the next few years, it would be nice for us to get the voter transparency we require. At the very least, it would put an end to some of the general accusations of conspiracy or a shadowy cabal of voters aligned against specific players. At the absolute best, it lets players truly get to sit in their well-deserved award and not have to answer questions about anyone or anything else.

2. Seattle’s Coaching Search Is The Most Important in Franchise History

Noelle Quinn and her staff were let go by the Seattle Storm after a second straight underwhelming season and early playoff exit. Despite stacking the deck with Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins in 2023 free agency, the Storm haven’t been able to recapture the form of a consistent finals contender that they’ve enjoyed for the better part of the last two decades. Quinn, a former player who stepped almost immediately into a WNBA coaching role, was a good-but-not-great coach who seemed to be developing a reputation for fostering a poor team culture. Jewell Loyd left in 2024, alleging a toxic work environment, while exit interviews from this past week led fans to draw a variety of conclusions about what happened this year.

In some ways, it doesn’t portend anything positive for the WNBA. There are now no black women in head coaching positions and it doesn’t feel as though there is a super flush pipeline of talent on the way up. A lot of the ‘next generation’ in the college ranks, from Joni Taylor to Niele Ivey, have some degree of risk to them. The group below them, including Ashley Langford at Tulane and Dawn Thornton at Alabama A&M, probably need a couple more years before being attractive to a WNBA franchise. There’s former W players like Kristi Tolliver and Briann January, who should be among the first phone calls. Then there’s women in the NBA like Sonia Raman, Lindsey Harding Jenny Boucek and Mery Andrade who have the bonafides to return. The question is if they have the desire.

Whoever Seattle picks, it has to be a hit. As the complexion of the league changes, franchises come online and the balance of power starts to shift, the Storm cannot let themselves be left in the dust. That means Talisa Rhea, Seattle’s General Manager who has skated a bit on criticism of the last two years, needs to ace the hire and make some big signings in free agency. There’s a massive choice to make here and I’m curious how the coaching hire provides insight into her calculations. Do you throw it all out and build around Dominique Malonga, who has all the makings of the next league superstar? Or do they decide to continue to bridge generations, keeping Nneka and Diggins while trying to transition Malonga into the next woman up? History tells us that doesn’t usually work and the 19 year old French phenom is simply too good to mess around with. The Storm, for decades, have been the gold standard of the WNBA. But after a few years in the wilderness, and a gem of a prospect locked in on a long term, cost-controlled contract, it feels like there’s a fork in the road for Seattle. Hopefully, they choose right. This league is better when the Storm are contenders.

3. Indiana, Rising Tides and The W’s Cinderella Team

The Indiana Fever have, somehow, become the Cinderella team of this playoffs. Without a large chunk of their backcourt, including a top 3-5 player in the league in Caitlin Clark, the Fever managed to walk into Michelob Ultra Arena and steal Game One of the WNBA Semifinals away from arguably the hottest team in the league right now. Kelsey Mitchell put multiple Vegas players in the torture chamber as she led Indy with 34 points on 12/23 shooting, including a 4/6 outing from three point land. Natasha Howard and Aliyah Boston controlled the boards, combining for 22 of the Fever’s 35 while Odyssey Sims proved (once again) why she should be on a full-time WNBA roster.

It was a remarkable statement win for a franchise we half expected to just be happy to be there. Stephanie White has done a remarkable job coaching up this group, particularly getting point guard after point guard to step up when needed in the wake of Clark, Syd Colson, Aari McDonald, Chloe Bibby and Sophie Cunningham’s injuries.

In a lot of ways, this was the intended result of the Caitlin Clark effect. The former Iowa superstar brought a tidal wave of eyeballs and interest in the sport and the idea was that those eyes would eventually latch on to other teams or players, bringing the overall interest in the league up. While there’s been some less-than-enjoyable consequences of that, what we’re seeing happening in Indiana right now is what the Clark Effect looks like when it works. After years of uncertainty, the Fever brought in Kelly Kraskopf and Amber Cox to run the team. They went out and got White and brought in a bunch of players from Natasha Howard to Bri Turner, who are making a difference now. Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston’s are household names in the Indianapolis metro area and people are tuning in from all over the country to see a Fever team that doesn’t even feature Clark on the floor.

I know that it’s sometimes hard to look past the bad faith actors that entered the league with Clark. But the reality, when we get off Twitter and off the worst parts of the internet, is that most people found a love and enjoyment of this game through her and are now willing to stay without her. A little while back in a prior Five Out, I wrote about how that phenomenon was helping boost Indiana to the same type of geography and TV exposure was helping them enter the Dallas Cowboys/America’s Team territory. It feels now like we’re really getting there. The Fever are people’s gateway drug into the W. Given the fact that ratings exploded (1.8 million viewers on average this regular season, per ESPN) without Clark (and Angel Reese, to a different extent), I think it’s pretty easy to conclude that people didn’t turn their TV’s off en masse when the biggest young stars in the league sat on the bench. That’s good for the league, the playoffs, the Fever, and yes, all of us as well.

4. The 1-1-1 Format For Round One Was a Success. What Comes Next?

I can understand Karl Smesko and Becky Hammon. If I were a higher seeded team in the playoffs, I’d despise the 1-1-1 format of the first round as well. All of the advantage of two games at home effectively disappears and can be a lot trickier for teams that felt a high seed would buy them a better chance to advance to the semifinals. Now that the WNBA has charter flights, I think some of the concern around travel is unfounded. But it does make things harder if you don’t have the juice to really make a deep playoff run.

To that end, I absolutely love it.

To me, it separates the contenders from the pretenders. While still a three game series, every matchup has a little bit of win-or-go-home to it. Each elimination clash felt like something pulled straight out of March Madness. The SAP Center in San Jose felt, at times, louder than Ballhalla. Gabby Williams gave us a flashback to the 2024 Summer Olympic gold medal game (unfortunately for her, I might add) while Atlanta’s finish with Indiana was so chaotic I don’t think I can adequately describe it in print. Even in Phoenix, where the game didn’t come down to the last ten seconds, we saw individual greatness the likes of which we haven’t seen all season. Alyssa Thomas put up a historic 20-11-11 in an elimination game while Breanna Stewart put the entire Liberty franchise on her back in the fourth quarter and finished with 30 points and 9 rebounds. It was the perfect advertisement not just for the league but what the semifinals are likely to promise us.

5. Did New York’s Title Window Already Close?

I don’t necessarily blame Sabrina Ionescu for being a bit mum on whether or not she’ll stay with the Liberty. Assuming there isn’t a work stoppage while the collective bargaining agreement is being worked out, this upcoming free agency period will be the most pivotal in league history. If you’re a player that isn’t under contract and you’re committing to a franchise straight up, then you maybe need some words of wisdom from your agent. Ionescu is likely to have a multitude of suitors this offseason, particularly from the upstart Golden State Valkyries (Sabrina is from Walnut Creek, just outside of the East Bay). If she does decide to try something different, it calls into question the title window for the Liberty and what this big three may look like in the future?

Breanna Stewart was able to turn back the clock in the fourth quarter of their first round elimination game but got (statistically) next to no help to try and keep New York’s dream of a repeat alive. Jonquel Jones shot 1/10 from the field and 0/5 from three while looking completely out of sorts mentally. The Liberty’s supporting cast of Leonie Fiebich, Kennedy Burke and Emma Meesseman combined for 4/16 from the field while Natasha Cloud tried to contribute in different ways than just the scoring column. Meesseman, in particular, had a brutal series and calls into question the wisdom of assuming that her addition made the Liberty unbeatable (a take that I eat with shame).

The clear player missing this season isn’t Kayla Thornton — although she has been very missed — but Betnijah Laney-Hamilton. While she had taken a back seat as a scoring option with Ionescu taking more of the attempts in recent years, Laney-Hamilton’s defensive versatility and ability to be another player that could get her own shot in a pinch was vital to their title run in 2024. Without her, the holes were pretty clear and, without Thornton to help patch them, it made New York beatable in a way that even I wasn’t expecting.

So what comes next? Stewart is on the other side of 30 now and hasn’t looked like the same player that was on a GOAT trajectory a few years ago. Ionescu is an effective albeit flawed guard that you’d put in the same category as Kelsey Mitchell, Satou Saball and Kelsey Plum, to name a few. They can give you 37 as easily as they can give you 11 on 4/18 shooting. Jones has so many moments that remind you she was the 2021 MVP but something just didn’t click this year. Some of that can be explained away by the revolving door of rotations due to injury this year. The idea that teams can just flip the switch when everyone comes back isn’t really rooted in reality and a secret to that 2024 run was their health as a team. But with free agency providing a siren song of more money, options and flexibility, New York has a chance to either retool the franchise or go back in with this group of three and try again. The question is if they want the same.

No Cap Space WBB is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Last night was absolutely bananas. Two Game 3’s delivered and now we have the first WNBA semifinals matchup decided. Now, we get to find out who will meet the Minnesota Lynx on the other side of the bracket. If you want to catch up with any of what happened in the Indiana Fever vs. Atlanta Dream/Seattle Storm vs. Las Vegas Aces games, our podcast is a recap of last night’s YouTube live. We’ll be back on this evening and throughout the playoffs so be sure to like, share and subscribe.

Phoenix Mercury @ New York Liberty

Series tied 1-1

9:00 PM ET, ESPN

A Quick Overview:

This game has a little bit of everything. Two storied franchises, at least one current MVP candidate up against a pair of past MVP winners, streaky shooters who can make or break a game, and plenty more. So naturally, I expect to see one hell of an environment in PHX Arena tonight. The Liberty managed to steal game one on the road after a missed Alyssa Thomas game winner at the end of regulation. From there, the series went to Brooklyn where the Mercury demolished New York to force a winner-take-all game three back in Arizona. As it stands, the game flow of this series has favored Phoenix but their opponent is still the defending WNBA champion. If Seattle taught us anything last night, it’s to not assume anything until the final buzzer.

Make-or-Break Matchup:

Each team has a single player that will make or break this matchup. Coincidentally, they both happen to be former college teammates at Oregon. Satou Sabally overcame a 2/17 game one performance with a 15 point, 7 rebound, 4 assist, 4 steal follow-up in the elimination game. In what was almost the exact inverse, Sabrina Ionescu went from a 16-6-7 line in game one to a 9 point dud at home on 3/13 shooting and 1/8 from three. It sure feels like whichever player shows up for their team is going to the team that advances.

Past the two of them, New York has to get more out of their two former MVP’s. Jonquel Jones has averaged 12.5 rebounds per game this series but just 7 points. Whatever has been happening since the start of September, the Liberty center has averaged single digit scoring. That will need to change in order for New York to have any shot at advancing.

Players To Watch (Phoenix):

DeWanna Bonner came off the bench and put up a respectable 14 point, 8 rebound line on 6/9 shooting. But the person I’m really interested to see tonight is Sami Whitcomb. The veteran sharpshooter is 3/14 over the last two games and just 3/10 from the beyond the arc. Granted, this is part of the ride with Whitcomb. Some days you might get nothing from her and on another night she can give you 15. If she heats up at all tonight, it could be trouble for the Liberty.

Much like last night felt a bit like an A’ja Wilson legacy game, Alyssa Thomas has a chance to have one here. Yes, it’s the first round of the playoffs but when we assess careers in the long term, elimination game performances matter. If she can deliver once again with Phoenix’s back against the wall, it’ll be another bright spot in what’s already been a hell of a career.

Players To Watch (New York):

What are New York’s big three prepared to do? You were embarrassed on your home floor in game two and now have to try and win on the road to keep the chance of repeating alive. You may not be able to count on Breanna Stewart to be 100% healthy but you need Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones. You can’t fall asleep in the second quarter and get completely routed the way that you did in game two.

New York won last year’s title fair and square. I don’t subscribe to the idea that losing this game further cheapens their ring last season. But I do think an exit here would leave me wanting especially when you consider the fanfare (driven by yours truly, no less!) around bringing Emma Meesseman after the All-Star game. This team was built to be able to meet these moments. It’s gotta happen here.

No Cap Space WBB is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

In the words of the immortal Frankie Vallie, '“Oh, What a Night”. But instead of late December back in 1963, it was mid-September in the WNBA. The first night of Game Two matchups in the opening round of the Playoffs brought us even more intrigue than we originally thought. Both the Indiana Fever and Seattle Storm managed to keep their seasons alive as the third game, a pivotal elimination matchup, goes back to Atlanta and Las Vegas, respectively.

Over on our YouTube page, we’re live every night of the playoffs. You can find last night’s video here or, if you want to listen to the recap in podcast form, you can listen to it above or on any podcast platform.

Now, let’s get to previewing!

Phoenix Mercury @ New York Liberty

NYL Leads Series 1-0

8:00 PM ET, ESPN

A Quick Overview:

We got some good news on the injury front. While Breanna Stewart disclosed to media this morning that she has a sprained left MCL, she went through shootaround and feels capable of playing tonight. That’s huge news for New York, who rely on her to be a defensive anchor who can handle the likes of Satou Sabally on the wing while providing help on the interior. Before her injury took her off the floor, Stewie put up a solid 18-6-4 line on 7/14 shooting from the field.

Phoenix lost the opportunity to retain homecourt and now have to entire what will likely be a raucous Barclays Center environment hoping to keep their season alive. While general rules of sports momentum would tell you that being on the road in this scenario makes winning extremely difficult, the Mercury don’t have much statistical drop-off when away from PHX Arena. If they want to prove they have championship bonafides, then this is the time to prove it.

Make-or-Break Matchup:

While some Mercury players struggled from the field in Game One, no one had a tougher night than Satou Sabally who finished with 9 points on 2/17 shooting and 1/10 from beyond the arc. Quite simply, you can’t put up that kind of line and expect your team to win. Remarkably, in spite of a really off night, the Mercury were one Alyssa Thomas layup from winning in regulation.

Asking their MVP candidate to carry them in that way again will be hard unless she has some help from the supporting cast and Sabally is the singular player that can make-or-break the game. On the other hand, Phoenix caught a lucky break with a great defensive performance from their bench and an awful shooting night by the Liberty’s rotation players. I don’t think Emma Meesseman and Kennedy Burke will combine for 1/11 shooting again so something will have to give on either end of the floor.

Players To Watch (Phoenix):

Alyssa Thomas is the engine of this Phoenix team and this is going to come down to her. Yes, Sabally needs to shoot better and you need a bit more from rookie Monique Akoa Makani and bench sharpshooter Sami Whitcomb (both combine for 4/18 from the field and 3/8 from deep). But this Mercury squad goes as far as AT does considering she is the system. While her near-triple-double is impressive, I still need to see some more finishing around the rim even in substantial traffic. Some of it can be chalked up to officials not properly being able to assess her because of her physicality (she can play through *a lot* of contact) but some of it comes down to the 33 year old point forward. You don’t necessarily need the range and three levels of scoring to be an MVP candidate. But when you are asking everyone to respect your ability as a top player in the league, you gotta be more efficient inside 10 feet. 7/18 isn’t going to cut it if you want to advance against this team.

Players To Watch (New York):

While Stewie is likely to be attacked defensively due to her injury and potentially limited mobility, the person I am watching closely is Jonquel Jones. The 6’6 former league MVP went 3/7 from the field but grabbed 12 rebounds in the game one victory. She’s impressive and maddening at the same time because you know she has these 25 point, 12 board performances in her. It just comes down to game flow and how much she’s factoring into the offense that day. Natasha Cloud was in a flow state on Sunday (9/12 FG and 3/6 3PT) so she understandably got a ton of touches but I really believe that New York’s equalizer is Jones. A dominant home performance from her, especially considering Phoenix doesn’t have a lot of size to counter with, feel like it could propel the Liberty to a win and sweep of the Mercury in the opening round.

Minnesota Lynx @ Golden State Valkyries

MIN Leads Series 1-0

10:00 PM ET, ESPN

A Quick Overview:

Minnesota rode a second quarter surge to a game one win in Minneapolis and now heads to some unusual territory: the SAP Center in San Jose, a replacement venue to adjust for some scheduling conflicts at the Chase Center. Considering the smashing success of Ballhalla this year, it feels like the move will actually help the Lynx, who may benefit from a semi-neutral venue. But Golden State is expected to come out swinging, echoing the passion of head coach Natalie Nakase who called out the officiating after the first matchup.

While the final foul counts were pretty even, that second quarter saw the Lynx go to the line 11 times which disrupted the Valks defense, sent some players to the bench and allowed Minnesota to claw back into the game after being down seven at the end of the first. Will Nakase get the fair fight she asked for after the loss on Sunday? I guess we’ll find out.

Make-or-Break Matchup:

The Valkyries, even with the foul trouble in mind, had a tough shooting night. As a team they went 30/59 from the field and 9/31 from beyond the arc. They were outrebounded by Minnesota and their top players simply didn’t shoot the ball very well. It’s not necessarily surprising, given that’s what the Lynx have done to teams all season long but they’ll need a bit more from their key contributors while forcing their bench to defend Natisha Hiedeman a bit better. The Lynx’s rotational star went 7/15 from the field and finished with 18 points and a remarkable +32 in plus-minus.

If the Valks are able to contain the Minnesota bench a bit better while improving their percentages, they have a shot to make this series a bit more interesting. The big question, to me, will be if they’re able to stay mentally engaged if they do run into foul trouble again. That kind of thing can take teams out of their game, as Nakase alluded to after game one. If they’re able to stay composed even through potential disruptions to their rhythm, then we may get a team something a bit more consistent.

Players To Watch (Minnesota):

Napheesa Collier is Minnesota’s constant and guarantees you a high floor pretty much any game she’s playing in. Which is why I think Courtney Williams is the player I’m most interested in watching this game. She finished with a good-but-not-great line in game one, scoring 11 points while adding 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals to her box score. But she is a much different player on the road. According to WNBA Stats, her shooting averages drop by 7% from the field and 9% from deep when away from the Target Center. With that said, she’s active in other ways, seeing no drop off in assists and an increase in activity on the boards. If they’re able to get her going while still getting strong production from Hiedeman off the bench, the Lynx will be who they’ve always been: a team of excellent players that just overwhelm you with numbers and talent.

Players To Watch (Golden State):

Veronica Burton gets her chance to cement herself as a potential all-star caliber talent tonight. She had a poor shooting performance in game one, going 3/13 from the field and 3/9 from three and the hope is that she’ll be able to pick up those percentages a bit. Her ball security (7 turnovers in game one) also has to be substantially better. The SAP Center is going to be different than Chase so while it’ll be a home crowd it won’t be a home hoop. Personally, I’m interested in seeing how Golden State shoots in general knowing that playing in San Jose isn’t the same as being in their normal arena. Beyond their point guard, Temi Fagbenle and Janelle Salaun are being asked to do a lot in this matchup against an elite Minnesota frontcourt. While you can only hope to contain Collier, I thought they did a good job limiting Alanna Smith and Bridget Carlton. The challenge is being able to anchor the pain enough that the Lynx’s guards don’t have a field day driving to the hoop.

No Cap Space WBB is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Yes, the world appears to be falling apart at the seams but we have the WNBA playoffs and I guess that’s the bread and circuses we all need in our lives, right?

All kidding aside, I’ve thought a lot about the state of the world, what we do here at No Cap Space and the idea of sports as distraction while everything around us feels like it’s burning down in some form or fashion. On some level, there is merit to the idea that games placate us and create environments that inoculate us to the very real problems that exist in the world. But, on another, it allows us to remember the things that give life meaning. Whether or not we feel this way all the time or not, sports allows us to the ability to feel during a time when nihilism feels like the emotion du jour.

Nothing matters and everything does at the same time. I spent last Wednesday covering the Evergreen High School shooting in Colorado for CBS News here in Denver. I’ve covered all of the 2020 summer civil unrest in Oregon, wildfires in four different states in the last five years and the truly awful terrorist attack that took place in Boulder a couple months ago. All of that paled in comparison to a singular moment that I saw that is seared into my brain forever: a mother hugging her high school aged daughter after not seeing her all day. As her mother wept on her shoulder, the daughter looked completely disassociated and in a state of shock at what her life now was. All day, you sit and wait for your live shot and wonder ‘Is this really the country we want to live in? Where parents and students know that this type of event can be an eventuality regardless of where they live?’

It was a hard day, to say the least. Working in general assignment news desensitizes you to a lot, to the point that the gallows humor you employ to make it through your day can become foreign even to yourself. But the joy of what sports gives us is a reminder that there is still a space to feel. It’s okay to protect oneself from the horror that we see unfold every day while allowing yourself, every now and then, to indulge in the kinds of things that give life meaning. Namely, the feelings of joy, shock, sadness and awe without the sheer weight of the world attached to them. So yes, while sports is a little meaningless in the grander scheme of things, it also means everything for us in this current moment. It’s a place where we can feel authentically without many strings attached. The games end and we go on with our lives. But we had the moment to feel. And right now, that moment, that freedom to feel, means everything.

Now, to the column…

1. Day One Playoff Takeaways

Instead of a big paragraph about the first day of the WNBA playoffs, let’s run you through each matchup and a couple big conclusions we can draw through one game…

New York vs. Phoenix -

The entire complexion of this series, as well as New York’s hopes to repeat as WNBA champions, hinges on what exactly the status of Breanna Stewart’s injury is. The New York superstar went down with a non-contact left knee injury with about three minutes left in overtime and we’re waiting on a prognosis. Clearly, her absence would change the calculus of the postseason. On Phoenix’s end, you simply can’t have Satou Sabally shoot 2/17 and 1/10 from 3. But in addition to her, Alyssa Thomas can’t smoke game winning layups. As dominant as she is, this is always the knock on her as a true MVP candidate. You can get away with not having a perimeter shot but if you’re going to operate mostly within 10 feet then you have to be more efficient than 7/18.

Minnesota vs. Golden State -

Simply put, the Lynx look ready. This was a team effort across the board as five Minnesota players finished in double digits, led by Napheesa Collier’s 20. Natalie Nakase had a lot to say about the officiating in this one and I get it to a point. A game needs to be called consistently and if you’re letting physicality slide in the first quarter then you can’t start tightening up in the ensuing quarters. At the same time, the Lynx shot three less free throws than the Valkyries so it wasn’t a case of lopsided opportunity for Minnesota. What this game really came down to was the Lynx swinging the ball well (25 team assists), shooting efficiently (51.5% FG) and looking like the title team we’ve expected them to be from day one.

Indiana vs. Atlanta -

This was another one where the foul discussion overtook what actually happened in this game. And the thing that people didn’t notice as much was that Bri Jones was given the assignment to defend Aliyah Boston and it paid dividends for the Dream. Boston went just 3/9 from the field and Indiana shot 2/15 from 3 as a team. That isn’t going to win you any games no matter how messy the fouls are on either end. I can understand coaches being frustrated about bad calls and how it disrupts the rhythm and momentum of a matchup. But the fact of the matter is you’re going to lose when you shoot 13.3% from beyond the arc no matter what happens. I expect Gainbridge to be rocking and would be a little stunned if this didn’t go back to ATL for a Game 3.

Las Vegas vs. Seattle -

The title series sure feels like Vegas vs. Minnesota at this point. The Aces are as dominant as they’ve been at any point since this run really got started in 2022. Now they got some help courtesy of the Storm chucking up some absolute garbage, especially in the first quarter, but the way this Vegas team has rallied around each other is remarkable. NaLyssa Smith has been exactly what A’ja Wilson has needed and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus returned after giving birth to a whole child and going 3/3 from the field. One thing we don’t talk about in this league enough is how utterly remarkable that is. If you get combined 10/20 shooting performances from Jewell Loyd and Dana Evans off the bench, the Aces are going to be really hard to beat this postseason. It may be presumptuous but it sure feels like we’re going to get the Minnesota - Las Vegas title fight we’ve been asking for since the Aces winning streak started in earnest.

2. Jeff Pagliocca Is Realizing The Motion Is Not Sold Separately…

Tyler hit the nail on the head when we spoke last weekend about Angel Reese and the evolving situation with the Chicago Sky…

The currency is different in the WNBA. Because, frankly, motion in the WNBA is the biggest currency of all right now. And Angel Reese has the motion to go up against everybody right now and to that point.

Take a bow, my friend.

The chants in Wintrust Arena weren’t deafening by any means but they were loud enough to send the message to the Chicago Sky organization and anybody watching: this is Angel Reese’s team and that’s who the fanbase is here for. Maybe that’s why Courtney Vandersloot looked so surprised on the bench and why Jeff Pagliocca is suddenly so willing to work with Angel publicly.

Whether or not the message came down from owners Michael Alter or Nadia Rawlinson is irrelevant. Even if they wanted to back Pagliocca and his way of doing things, the fans have spoken. In fact, they’ve yelled and chanted it over and over. Pags can say that he speaks to Angel every day and that this chapter of what’s been a messy year in the Windy City has closed. But even he knows that his authority is as brittle as a crystal wine glass.

It is worth noting that in one of his last interviews of the regular season, Pagliocca still asserted that Courtney Vandersloot will return, that he has the ear and respect from ownership and that Tyler Marsh is the guy for the job. I have no doubt that Marsh is probably safe, given the mess this year was. But Vandersloot and Pagliocca’s continued insistence that this can work with Reese while they’re there feels like the power struggle isn’t done yet. It takes an awful lot of confidence to feel like you’ve got the leverage in a situation where tens of thousands of fans are chanting for you to be fired but since you’ve already burned the bridge by arbitrarily suspending Reese for one half, leading to her not playing for the rest of the year, but that’s sort of in line with how the Sky’s General Manager has conducted himself this year.

This offseason, provided there is no work stoppage (which isn’t a guarantee, mind you), will be a huge one for Chicago. If they aren’t able to get serious free agents to play alongside Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, I don’t know how you can salvage this moving forward. Pagliocca seems committed to doing so, as long as he’s the man with the final say. But he may come to learn that his word may not travel as far as he thinks when it’s being drowned out by the voices of a bunch of pissed off Chicagoans who are tired of their WNBA franchise being run like Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand.

3. Thanks for Reading No Cap Space, Cathy Engelbert…

It’s a glib headline, yes. I don’t actually think that Cathy Engelbert is a regular NCS reader (although we do have some important people that are, and we very much appreciate your patronage!). In an interview with Khristina Williams on her podcast, In Case You Missed It, the WNBA commissioner had this to say about the Connecticut Sun and their potential sale and/or relocation.

A lot’s been written about what’s going on. I wouldn’t believe everything you read in this case. We want the best success for the Mohegan, for the Connecticut Sun and for the team. They’re still looking at their strategic options and what they want to do and we’ve been in touch with them periodically.

The fake news angle really is timeless, isn’t it?

What’s remarkable is that Engelbert immediately gives up the game just a couple sentences later.

You need a process because it would be chaos if you let anybody move to anywhere they wanted to go.

In the most Regina George voice possible, so you’re saying you are influencing the Mohegan’s selling process…

Mind you, this isn’t the Mohegan Tribe asking the WNBA to let them sell the team to an ownership group that will relocate them to Sheboygan. This was a once-minority owner of the Boston Celtics, aiming to buy the franchise for a market rate valuation and bring them to one of the biggest media markets in the nation. Then there’s the other group, also led by a former NBA owner, who wanted to keep the team in Connecticut. Mind you, the 2024-2025 Nielsen TV Market rankings list Hartford as a larger market than Las Vegas, Austin and Kansas City.

As the United States government, led by Senator Richard Blumenthal, takes an interest in the WNBA/NBA’s potential monopolistic ownership of its women’s basketball franchises, Engelbert probably has to tread lightly. It’s important to remember that she’s an accounting executive from Deloitte who still has to answer to her majority owners (the NBA) at the end of the day. While she can try her best to divert and obfuscate the conversation, the facts remain. The WNBA is handing franchises to NBA owners while doing nothing to fight the perception that it is nothing but a money pit for its partner league to take advantage of however they see fit. In Engelbert’s eyes, and by her own admission on the podcast, she loves that controversy is driving discussion. She said as much last year on CNBC while WNBA players were being buried under torrents of racist invective from every side of the spectrum.

She preaches order and stability within her business while welcoming chaos as a means to hike the price of the product. But what good does that do anyone when the NBA is still, on some level, setting the market for everything from franchise valuations to TV rights deals? I’m not sure if the end result of full divestment is even possible at this point but the fact that the government, from the U.S. senate to the state of Connecticut (who put in a bid to buy a minority stake in the franchise to keep them in CT), is involved is extremely noteworthy and important to follow as we continue inching towards a conclusion on a variety of labor disputes from the CBA to the Sun.

And Cathy, if you are reading, feel free to email me. My inbox is always open for a discussion.

4. The Case for WNBA Voter Transparency…

I’ve always been a little uncertain about media voting for postseason awards mostly because I don’t love the idea of us having the power to decide whether or not players hit certain performance incentives. I’d like to think that, on the whole, the press corps knows ball. But everyone has such different views on what is important and why when it comes to voting that it just doesn’t feel fair to the players that contracts are tied to what we believe. Especially since the vast majority of us didn’t play (though I’ll be clear, playing the game at a high level doesn’t exclude you from having terrible basketball opinions either).

When money is tied to these awards, I do think there’s a need for transparency. If you vote for someone that has the chance to be a supermax player or even potentially be able to get a little more in free agency by winning Sixth Player or Most Improved, you should have to be able to make your case as to why. Whether people respect your argument or not is a completely different discussion (one we’ll touch on in just a minute) but the idea that WNBA voters are allowed to sit behind a shroud of secrecy while they put their votes in feels wrong. We already have enough stans masquerading as reporters in the space and way too many commentators with clear agendas or biases with votes. If they’re able to have the luxury of deciding who deserves an award or an All-WNBA nod, they should be asked to defend it on its merits. Otherwise, we start running into the problems that awards shows like the Oscars do.

Which brings me to my next point…

5. …And the Problem of Parasocial Fandoms

The reason it feels sometimes that we can’t allow voter transparency is because fans simply can’t handle it. If there’s a legitimate criticism to levy against WNBA fans, be they new ones or those in the space for awhile, it’s that there’s too much parasocial behavior and the need to treat athletes like artists. There is just too much overlap in how A’ja or Angel or Caitlin Clark fans speak about their favorite players and how they might speak about Beyonce, Nicki Minaj or any other musical artist. I’ve always argued that the difference we need to be aware of is that art is a subjective medium. If I think a song sucks, it doesn’t mean the song sucks. But if a player shoots 1/20 and their team loses, that performance sucked. It has nothing to do with any other outside forces that influence opinion. The ball just didn’t go in the hoop.

But awards season blurs those traditionally hard lines to the point where it becomes difficult to admonish fans w

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Wednesday, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard.

The WNBA regular season is coming to a close which means the award campaigns are in full swing. How do we think the teams are doing? Plus who has the best case for Coach of the Year and to make All-WNBA appearances?

If you love the show, we’d love and appreciate a five star rating on Apple podcasts as well as a kind review if you’ve got the time! We’re also on the road to 5,000 subscribers on YouTube and 2,000 followers on TikTok so if you enjoy our content here, tell a friend to tell a friend to follow us on their preferred platform!

Scroll Ahead to Hear…

0:00 Intro

2:35 Team Award Campaigns

43:31 Coach of the Year

56:29 All-WNBA Teams

Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is brought to you in part by Homefield. Just this past week they revealed the full Can’t Miss Kickoff release schedule with hundreds of new football themed products to get you ready for the fall! Want some women’s hoops merch instead? Check out our No Cap Space WBB collection, a curated page of all of Homefield’s best WBB shirts, jackets, jerseys and more!

Our intro music is made by Denver’s own DLZMKSBTS, the King of Mile Hi-Fi. Check out all his music on Spotify here and on Instagram here.

No Cap Space WBB is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

What a week, huh…

For those that are just finding us at No Cap Space through yesterday’s column on Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky (which you can read here in case you missed it), welcome! We’re a collective of five journalists, each with our own backgrounds in local TV/newspapers/digital, covering women’s basketball the way we feel it ought to be covered. Whether you’re just joining us or you’ve been a Ball-Knower for a while, we’re glad to have you in our community all the same.

If you missed any of our Sunday wrap show on YouTube, you can access it at this link or listen to it in podcast form above.

Five Out is a weekly column that runs every Monday here, touching on five big things that caught my attention in the last seven days. It can be things on, off or around the floor. And this past week, there was plenty of action everywhere to make a nice, meaty Monday column.

Let’s get to it…

1. Indiana Has Somehow Built A Culture With Caitlin Clark On The Bench.

Despite winning a WNBA championship in 2012 and pushing a legendary Minnesota Lynx to a Game 5 in 2015, the Indiana Fever have been in the wilderness for the better part of a decade. Draft picks didn’t pan out, coaches didn’t work and there just seemed to be a collective shrug by everyone in the league that “yeah, I guess Indiana kind of stinks now.”

Kelsey Mitchell stuck it out through the worst of this era while Aliyah Boston joined up in 2023 after being drafted first overall. The expectation in 2024 was that Caitlin Clark would take this team to the playoffs and she did. But there was still a lingering question among longtime WNBA media about whether or not the Fever remembered how to win as an organization.

Given everything they faced this year, on and off the floor, I think it’s fair to say that that dormant institutional knowledge came back to the forefront this year and has powered an improbable playoff run while their superstar has nursed one of the trickiest injuries in sports. Indiana managed to stay afloat amid turmoil, turnover and trades and have clearly built a culture that is sustainable with or without Caitlin Clark on the floor. They managed to navigate the disaster that was the DeWanna Bonner signing and exit, kept their heads afloat as guard after guard went down with injury and relied on their stars — Mitchell and Boston — to live up to their draft status and prove they could establish a playoff floor without Clark in the mix. The fact that they accomplished that should make any Fever fan optimistic about the future when their star guard comes back fully healthy.

There were plenty of times this year where the team could’ve fractured, packed it in or started to look towards the paycheck that the 2026 offseason promises. Instead, Stephanie White managed to keep the core together, Clark remained an active participant from the bench and the team coalesced around each other in a way that indicates they are built to last. If you’re a fan of Clark and are invested in her success, this is the best case scenario. Not only is it clear that she has a playoff team around her, it also indicates the organization is built and prepared to do what they need to do to maximize her window. That’s all you can really ask for from any organization. Some do, some don’t. But we all see the difference when it’s done right versus when it’s not.

2. Balhalla Is A Story of Success In Sports and Finding Joy In Resilience

Is there a better sports story this summer than Balhalla? The Golden State Valkyries, an expansion team with no superstars to speak of, operating on heart and guided by a Coach of the Year contender, have captured the hearts of WNBA everywhere. You couldn’t write a script more heartwarming than this. There’s Natalie Nakase, finally getting her first opportunity to run a team as one of the first Asian-American head coaches in the league’s history in a region with a deep and proud AAPI heritage. There’s journeywomen like Veronica Burton who have proven themselves to be legitimate starters in this league. There’s also international youngsters like Carla Leite and Iliana Rupert who are displaying just how global the game is becoming. And then you have Ballhalla.

Hail, Balhalla.

From the very beginning, Golden State’s management made a concerted effort to strike out on their own. It would’ve been extremely easy to try and lean into their connection to the Warriors and try to peel off the NBA fanbase that already exists in the Bay. Instead, the Valkyries let their own fans lead the way. San Francisco’s vibrant and historically significant LGBTQ+ population have been a driving force in building ‘Balhalla’ into an inclusive, fun, lighthearted and generally great fanbase. Everyone on the ground says that the atmosphere of Valks games is very different relative to the Warriors, and that may be a good thing. Our buddy maya goldberg-safir over at the wonderful rough notes had it pegged early on, writing the following about Balhalla back in June…

I can’t wait to better understand how these ‘vibes’ turn into memories, into traditions, into lore. Who will be our Heroes and Villains? Will whimsical fans start to stack rocks at select points along the route to Chase, like warriors marking the trail through Bay Area traffic? What love stories will unfold on the super gay Valkyries ferry? How far will our enthusiasm take us, and will fans ever chafe at the business decisions of this corporate league, betrayed to find it’s not actually the Bay Area’s latest grassroots community collective?

Chef’s Kiss.

Three months since that travelogue was published, Balhalla has already started to answer these questions. Sports, and the business alongside it, is all done in the shadow of capitalism. Just ask Liberty fans. But ultimately, we as fans find love in the small things. In the escape, the adrenaline of a buzzer beater or the anxiety of a final possession. It’s what makes us feel alive amid the unrelenting nihilism that permeates our current moment. As Dan Savage once wrote, it’s the dance that keeps you in the fight because it’s the dance you’re fighting for.

Golden State’s story is one of business and sporting success, sure. But it’s also a wonderful story about the cultivation of a fanbase — be they LGBTQ+, a Person of Color, or a mix of both — that dances all night amid unrelenting attacks on many of their personhoods. In every way, they’re worth rooting for, and I plan on doing that this postseason. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone that isn’t.

3. A’ja Wilson Is Having A Legacy Moment.

A’ja Wilson wanted that game against Minnesota. You don’t need to be an insider to know that. Becky Hammon came into the pregame press conference feeling loose and ready to engage with the press in the way that I personally really enjoy.

In her pregame press conference last Thursday, I asked her how she balances the idea of wanting to win this game while also knowing A’ja’s MVP case can be bolstered by a good individual game.

“Are you a voter?”, she asked me.

“I am not, which is why I have no skin in this and can ask you right now,” I quipped back.

What came next was a Becky Hammon special, in which she referenced Wilson playing hotter than a Wingstop frying pan, praising the chain’s fries and ranch while dropping this gem of a quote.

“I think at the beginning of every year, every voter starts with ‘who is better than A’ja Wilson?’”, she said.

It’s a good question, one worth a legit discussion up until about two days ago. The tricky thing about this year’s MVP race is that Napheesa Collier hasn’t necessarily done anything to lose the award. She’s been consistent and on top of her game in every matchup she plays in. When Phee is off the floor, the Lynx are still a top four unit but with her, they’re a finals team that borders on a different level of greatness. There’s just one problem.

When A’ja Wilson is on and her team is clicking, the Aces are the same kind of team.

You can argue there’s a recency bias in what A’ja is doing but a 14 game sample in which the Aces haven’t lost a single game is a little bit more than making a snap judgement based on one individual matchup at the end of the year. Was it a symbolic statement to the world that Vegas dominated Minnesota in T-Mobile Arena with Wilson completely taking over the game to the tune of 31 points and 8 rebounds? Sure. But to try and water it down to recency bias over one game discounts the run Wilson has been on since the All-Star break.

In the 19 games since the league returned to play, Wilson has averaged 24.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.1 blocks per game on 52% shooting from the field.

Not bad, right?

And even with Wilson’s performance in June, a below-average-by-her-standards month in which she averaged 20.4 points and 9.1 rebounds on 40.6% shooting, you can probably throw that out alongside the games Collier missed due to injury. If that’s an equalizer, then who would you say has been better this season across the sample?

I understand that there may be some degree of fatigue, a desire to see Collier finally get her recognition and moment for the player that she’s become. But we can’t let the need for sharing the spotlight obfuscate the obvious fact: A’ja Wilson is in the midst of the type of moment that creates all-time legacies. This is an MVP run, a 14 game win streak that has completely turned around the fortunes of the Aces as a franchise. They looked dead in June, a formerly great team that won a pair of championships before age and the rest of the league caught up. Instead of going quietly into that night, Wilson pulled her team together, started to play at a level we simply don’t see often (if ever) in the WNBA and now Las Vegas looks like they could be a contender to win title number three.

That’s greatness. The kind of greatness that we tell our kids about when we’re old. It would be malpractice to watch it pass by in the moment and not understand its significance. Might it result in Wilson’s fourth MVP, a feat never accomplished in this league before? Perhaps. But, more importantly, it’s a legacy run that asserts Wilson as a potential Greatest of All Time contender. Appreciate it when it happens because they don’t come around often.

4. The Politicians Are Getting Involved With Connecticut’s Fight To Keep The Sun…

This morning, United States senator Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to the WNBA regarding a “reported interference in the Mohegan Tribe’s negotiations with competing bidders for the ownership of the Connecticut Sun women’s basketball team and to warn that any attempts by the WNBA to block efforts to keep the Sun in Connecticut could violate federal antitrust laws.”

This news comes on the heels of a report that the state of Connecticut is considering trying to buy a minority stake in the team to keep it within the state. How might that work? According to WTNH, the state could make an investment in the team through their multibillion-dollar pension funds. So far, the discussions haven’t gone any further than that but the fact that we now have political influence on two ends to keep the Sun in Connecticut is noteworthy.

Perhaps even more noteworthy is Sen. Blumenthal’s decision to invoke the term ‘antitrust’ in the opening paragraph of his letter to the league. I’ve argued in the past that the NBA’s ownership of the WNBA has started to create conflicts of interest in which it seems that there is pressure being exerted on Cathy Engelbert and the W to try and tilt the scales of expansion in favor of awarding franchises to those with NBA ties. The last four new franchises — Golden State, Portland, Toronto and Cleveland — all are run by groups that are directly tied to the NBA as existing majority or minority owners. The next two teams — Detroit and Philadelphia — also contain ownership groups from the NBA’s orbit.

What’s made the Sun deal so strange is the attempt by the league to influence who the Tribe sells to and what becomes of the team. There seems to be a clear desire to extract an expansion fee from Boston instead of simply relocating the team while also providing a handout for Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, who submitted a bid to presumably bring the Comets back.

While all generally unseemly and shady in practice, the introduction of political influence to the saga may mark a significant point in the W’s history. Most of these politicians, I’d gather, don’t know about the intricacies of the WNBA/NBA ownership web. Once they get wise to that concept, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was more discussion of antitrust if the league decides they want to continue to dictate how the Mohegan Tribe sells their team and to whom.

In short, buckle up. This has the chance to get really interesting.

5. Chicago Has Officially Crossed The Rubicon.

In the year 49 BCE, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River with his army and invaded Rome. He took back control of the Senate, more or less became an autocrat and precipitated the long but steady fall of the Roman Empire.

The idiom we use now, when discussing passing a point of no return, is ‘crossing the Rubicon’.

In Chicago, we are officially at the point of no return.

In my Sunday column, I laid out the historical precedent that led us to this point and opined that this only ends one of two ways: with Angel Reese being traded or general manager Jeff Pagliocca getting fired.

After seeing what happened in Las Vegas last night, I’m even more convinced that there is no way back for either party.

Angel Reese, suspended for the first half of the Aces game due to the fracas that ensued after her comments to the Chicago Tribune, didn’t play at all. The team cited issues with her back, which has been bugging her this year, as the reason she didn’t enter the game.

Maybe I’m too cynical but I have a hard time believing that.

If the team knew the back was an issue, what was the purpose of suspending her? What was the point of speaking as though everything was just fine with regard to her health? Why even put out a statement in the first place?

Either the team sat Reese or she refused to go back into the game.

In any case, it points to an unfixable fracture between the second year star and the front offi

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Tuesday morning, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard.

With the WNBA regular season wrapping up in just eight days, Chauny and Greer take over the podcast to break down the scenarios and worst possible matchups for the top seeded teams. Who should be worried about whom and what series combinations could give us the most chaos? Our duo takes a look at all of them and what it means for each team.

The pod also touches the competitive advantages of some of the inconsistent late season scheduling by the league, the Dallas Wings deciding to try and push Arike Ogunbowale for First-Team All-WNBA and how real the Phoenix Mercury are as they head into the postseason.

If you love the show, we’d love and appreciate a five star rating on Apple podcasts as well as a kind review if you’ve got the time! We’re also on the road to 5,000 subscribers on YouTube and 2,000 followers on TikTok so if you enjoy our content here, tell a friend to tell a friend to follow us on their preferred platform!

Scroll Ahead to Hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction.

2:40 - The WNBA’s late season scheduling and competitive advantages…

7:35 - Dallas Advocating For Arike Ogunbowale as 1st Team All-WNBA?

11:36 - Who is making the WNBA playoffs?

31:25 - Worst possible first round matchups for top teams?

Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is brought to you in part by Homefield. Just this past week they revealed the full Can’t Miss Kickoff release schedule with hundreds of new football themed products to get you ready for the fall! Want some women’s hoops merch instead? Check out our No Cap Space WBB collection, a curated page of all of Homefield’s best WBB shirts, jackets, jerseys and more!

Our intro music is made by Denver’s own DLZMKSBTS, the King of Mile Hi-Fi. Check out all his music on Spotify here and on Instagram here.

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There are five games or less in the WNBA regular season and we are being set up for one of the best finishes we’ve had in recent league history. There’s a fight for the second seed, the sixth seed and the eighth seed. No more than two games separate the groupings of teams in the mix for those positions so, naturally, that means there are a lot of games with stakes this upcoming weekend. In keeping with our end-of-season content offerings, we’ve got our Thursday recap and weekend preview available on podcast and video form on YouTube (you can watch it at the bottom of the email here if you prefer in video form).

It’s been a little light this week on the paid tier content, I know. But rest assured, this week was about getting interviews and the legwork to make sure your September is stuffed to the gills with insider content, analysis and some fantastic guests and profiles. If there were ever a time to get a free trial or hop on the Ball-Knower tier for a month, now is the time!

Now, let’s get to the Watch Guide!

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Tuesday morning, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard.

Tyler, Greer and Chauny are back on the pod this week with a couple broader topics as the regular season winds down in the WNBA. The show opens with a discussion about Candace Parker’s Chicago Sky jersey retirement and some of the simmering beef between her and Angel Reese. After a conversation about the concept of standing on business and when to do it, the discussion turns towards the WNBA playoffs.

With so many teams clogging the top six seeds, regularly jockeying for position, the show turns to a relatively simple question: who is the toughest matchup for each playoff team?

If you love the show, we’d love and appreciate a five star rating on Apple podcasts as well as a kind review if you’ve got the time! We’re also on the road to 5,000 subscribers on YouTube and 2,000 followers on TikTok so if you enjoy our content here, tell a friend to tell a friend to follow us on their preferred platform!

Scroll Ahead to Hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction.

3:05 - Candace Parker’s Jersey Retirement and the Game Within the Game…

18:20 - Toughest Matchup For Each Playoff Team…

Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is brought to you in part by Homefield. Just this past week they revealed the full Can’t Miss Kickoff release schedule with hundreds of new football themed products to get you ready for the fall! Want some women’s hoops merch instead? Check out our No Cap Space WBB collection, a curated page of all of Homefield’s best WBB shirts, jackets, jerseys and more!

Our intro music is made by Denver’s own DLZMKSBTS, the King of Mile Hi-Fi. Check out all his music on Spotify here and on Instagram here.

Additionally, we’ve gotten some requests recently about additional donations for the NCS crew. If you don’t want to do a full subscription but want to support our work in any capacity, we are also opening up donations via Venmo as well. For those that have asked, we can’t tell you how much we appreciate and rest assured it is going back into the company to provide you with the best WBB coverage you can find!

To quote the venerable Steve Miller Band, ‘Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’…into the future.’

Most teams have somewhere between six and seven regular season games left on their schedule while the difference between playoff qualification and elimination is one win or loss. If that doesn’t get you out of bed and ready to watch the WNBA, I don’t know what will. Add in a couple of increasingly compelling award races and we’ve got plenty to talk about going into the postseason. All season long I’ve been wondering how long it would take for the discourse to return to (semi) normal in the W and it feels like right now there’s no think pieces, no agitation outside the usual suspects and a chance to let the basketball do the talking.

It’s kind of nice, isn’t it?

If you missed any of our Sunday wrap show on YouTube, it’s here available as a podcast. We’re also expanding our coverage with Ball Up Top on Wednesdays, a Thursday night recap and weekend preview pod on Fridays and the Wrap on Sundays. Right when you need it, we’re ramping up for the stretch run as well. So tell a friend to tell a friend so you can stay up to date on all the action as we barrel towards one of the most fun Finals chases we’ve had in the W in the last four or five years.

Now, to the column!

1. Phee vs. A’ja For MVP. Buckle Up, Folks.

Guys, it’s okay to debate about awards. We don’t need to kumbaya and treat this like everyone gets a trophy at the end of the year. It’s sports. It’s competitive. As long as things stay within the lines (a big ask, I know), we should be comfortable standing behind our faves and their on-court cases for major awards. It’s part of what makes the game fun!

To that end, the race for MVP is officially on.

After A’ja Wilson’s 36 point ,13 rebound performance against Washington I opined on Bluesky that eventually the multi-time MVP had to be taking the lead in the race if she continued to do this. It was out of Napheesa Collier’s control, being injured and all, but if another player is repeatedly putting up guady statlines in your absence we’ve gotta have the conversation at some point, right?

Well, Phee returned to the Lynx lineup after 22 days out and put up 32 points and 9 rebounds on 11/16 from the field, 2/3 from deep and 8/9 from the line.

Game on.

With just seven or so games left in the regular season, and one matchup against each other, this MVP race is shaping up to be one for the ages. To put it in historical context, we’ve had two truly close battles for the award in the last 15 years in the W. In 2023, Breanna Stewart edged out Alyssa Thomas by just seven total votes and Wilson by 13 to win. Ten years earlier, Candace Parker outlasted Maya Moore by a mere 16 votes. It wouldn’t surprise me if this season is just as close.

Wilson has been the engine of a Las Vegas Aces turnaround that no one seemed to think was possible. Since the All-Star break, the reigning MVP is averaging 24.2 points, 11.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game all while propelling the Aces to a 10 game winning streak.

Collier has been the difference between the Lynx being a very good finals team and a historically great one. She’s having her most efficient shooting year ever, is flirting with a 50-40-90 season (currently 54.3% FG, 37.8% 3PT, 90.7% FT) and still remains one of the top defensive players in the league.

You can’t really go wrong with either and if I bristled at the notion of pre-emptively awarding Wilson the MVP last season after just one month of play, I have to be consistent and say the same about Collier now. It’s a legit race and that September 4th matchup between the two may just be a Game of the Year contender.

2. Dominique Malonga For Sixth Woman of the Year? It’s Not That Crazy When You Think About It…

One of my favorite things to do is watch team social media accounts towards the end of the year. Subtly, you start to see little posts and pieces of content that range from subtly including historical context in stats to outright announcing MVP candidacies. On Saturday, Seattle Storm PR put out a curious tweet that led me to believe they’re trying to quietly push a narrative to the forefront…

Kind of interesting to make sure to include two Sixth Player of the Year winners, eh? Almost as if the wheels are turning to try and make a push for French rookie Dominique Malonga to be involved in the race. On the surface, one might think that it’s a bit late for this. I even wrote the other week in Five Out that Malonga was a lot like Rickea Jackson in that they came on extremely strong late in their rookie seasons but they hadn’t been out-front early enough to be in contention for an honor like Rookie of the Year. But when I started to dive into the Sixth Woman of the Year numbers, I realized the Storm may actually have a point.

Since the All-Star break, Malonga has averaged 12.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game on just 20.5 minutes per game. Her field goal percentage sits at around 57% from the field while she’s also become quite a prolific offensive board getter. Anyone watching her can see the potential, from her length to her defense down to the little things like her ability to reset screens and be an effective roller. When you start to find statistical equalizers, like Per 36 Minutes numbers, Malonga’s average skyrocket to 19.9 points and 12.4 rebounds per game. Compare that to Naz Hillmon, the Sixth Woman of the Year frontrunner, whose Per 36 averages come out to around 12.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.

I can understand the argument that arriving late to the party can take you out of contention for a seasonal award and that it can sometimes be the fault of a coach rather than a player. But Sixth Woman of the Year is one of those rare awards where minute variance may actually be somewhat acceptable. After all, it’s an honor for the best bench player in the league. You could make an argument that Malonga isn’t your normal rotational center but, as of now, she hasn’t started in a single game this year. Maybe she should be getting a little more play than we’ve given her this year?

3. Are The Liberty Too Hurt To Contend?

After a dreadful two-loss weekend, the New York Liberty have now lost four of their last five and are now in a dogfight to keep a top four seed in the playoffs. Keep in mind, the difference between No. 4 and No. 5 is home court advantage in the best-of-3 opening round. To say that it matters a bit more in the WNBA would be an understatement. For example, if you’re New York wouldn’t you rather get Phoenix or Seattle at home rather than on the road in an elimination game?

But my concern is that this has just been the year from hell in terms of injuries. I know Indiana fans can relate. The Liberty are down basically their entire bench frontcourt plus Breanna Stewart and now Sabrina Ionescu has picked up an injury that sidelined her in a pivotal Saturday matchup against Atlanta. At this point I’m genuinely not sure who else they can lose and still remain competitive.

The belief is that Ionescu’s injury isn’t long term and that Stewart is aiming to be back before the playoffs but that still doesn’t solve the issue of Nyara Sabally (knee injury) and Izzy Harrison (concussion), two vital rotational pieces for New York. You saw it against Chicago, in which Emma Meesseman and Jonquel Jones were simply outrun by the trio of Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso and Elizabeth Williams. Against the best and deepest frontcourts in the league, how long can you expect to reasonably hold out before the dam breaks?

New York’s greatest asset last season was their depth and the ability to throw out talented and versatile defenders at any point in the game. They legitimately ran 8 deep with 6’1+ long defenders that could also shoot. Those players are still on the roster, the issue is that a good chunk of them are in street clothes. With just a couple weeks until the playoffs, the Liberty are caught between two hard places: they need to win games but also need to be patient with their stars to prep for a long postseason run. I don’t envy Sandy Brondello but if you dig deep and prove your championship bonafides with a skeleton crew roster, you’ll be set up well to win it all when you get everybody back.

4. The WNBA’s Treatment of the Mohegan Tribe Is As Bad Optically As It Is Economically…

I have a video coming on YouTube today that explores this more in depth but the gist of it is this: the WNBA is screwing up the Connecticut Sun deal to a point where I genuinely am wondering if the only route to true success for this league is to divest from the NBA entirely.

For those that need a quick refresher: the Sun were going to sell the team for about $325 million to a former Boston Celtics minority owner named Steve Pagliuca. His idea would be to buy the team, relocate them to Boston and play some games in Providence on the dates that conflicted at TD Garden with the Celtics and Bruins. The WNBA, more or less, spiked that deal, hoping to entice the Mohegan Tribe to sell the franchise to the league for roughly $250 million so they could relocate it to a market of their choice, preserving Boston as an expansion franchise that could fetch a hefty fee. This past week, further reporting came out that the Sun are considering taking the team completely off the market with an added revelation that the WNBA had come to the Tribe with an offer to buy the team and relocate them to Cleveland once before.

I’m no Juris Doctor but it feels like messing with someone’s business like this constitutes some type of tortious interference. If the argument is “well the Tribe aren’t owners but instead Governors of a franchise that is owned by the league thus they can set the market”, are we not talking about a monopoly?

Let’s face it: the economics here are terrible. I’ll eventually have a full column about why the W would be foolish to follow the NBA’s business practices of short-term gains at the expense of long-term fandoms but let’s focus on the Sun for now. Yes, the NBA and its existing Board of Governors comprise the majority of the WNBA’s control and voting power. But what kind of message does it send to the non-affiliated owners — Larry Gottesdiener and his group in Atlanta, the Alters in Chicago, Force 10 in Seattle or even L.A.’s consortium — and what their value to the league itself is? It’s no secret that there’s always been a schism between the non-NBA circle and the existing powers-that-be. The issue is now the shamelessness of the current cultural moment has brought that to light and now we’re seeing just how much of a ratfuck this is all turning into.

What exactly is the incentive for even billionaires like a Jimmy Haslem (the money behind the Nashville expansion bid) or the big money involved in Austin’s expansion to even try? The message being sent here is ‘we’re taking care of the NBA guys first and then we’ll talk’. And, given that the NBA has just sort of fallen upwards into its’ success on the back of a TV rights bubble that seemingly is never going to pop, is that really who you want to take your cues from? And why does every WNBA franchise have to be rooted in an NBA city? On one hand, the idea of full-year round basketball in a market carries some interest but the WNBA is also trying to establish itself as its own unique brand away from its’ male counterpart. Isn’t a market like a Nashville or Austin more interesting?

But beyond that, I have a huge issue with how this all looks. The Mohegan Tribe, as I’ve outlined before, are one of the most successful ownership groups in the WNBA’s history. None of these supposed business geniuses in the NBA managed to turn a profit for their W franchises in the early years of the league. The Tribe did. Many of the NBA owners didn’t even care to have a team, let alone take care of it. At a time when the W was on life support, the Tribe stepped up. It feels a little on-the-nose to have a collection of moneyed white dudes try to shortchange and dictate terms of ownership to one of just two Native American ownership groups in professional sports. As I’ve written before, the message is a terrible one on a bunch of different levels. Basically, you’re telling the independent owners who helped build the league to where it is that their contributions aren’t valued and that what Tilman Fertitta wants, Tilman Fertitta gets.

To be clear, I’m not naïve. This is capitalism, baby, and the way of the world as we know it. But just because things exist as they are doesn’t mean we immediately have to shrug our shoulders and bury our heads in the sand. It’s underhanded and unnecessary. My hope now is that the Tribe pulls the sale, takes the exciting core that they have and goes and wins a title with it in a few years. Make Cathy hand you that trophy with a smile on your face.

5. Paige vs. Caitlin And How To Keep Arguments Straight…

Paige Bueckers is finally receiving the Caitlin Clark treatment. After a 44 point explosion against Los Angeles late last week, the 2025 No. 1 overall pick was blitzed, double and tripled in the subsequent two games against Seattle and Golden State. While she managed to not allow that to turn into turnovers, Bueckers shot uncharacteristically bad from the field (2/7 vs. Seattle, 3/12 vs. Golden State) which brought an end to her season-long double figure scoring streak. Still, 30 games above 10 points per on average is pretty damn good.

Here’s where things get a little fuzzy and why we have to keep our arguments straight with regard to Paige and the others she’s compared to.

Yes, the Wings rookie has had a tough adjustment to the type of swarming defense Clark received all the way through her debut season. But that doesn’t necessarily matter in the Rookie of the Year race. Is Sonia Citron getting the Caitlin Clark treatment? Has she the entire year? No? Then it shouldn’t necessarily be part of the argument for Rookie of the Year. Furthermore, there is no doubt that CC managed to improve her team in her first WNBA campaign, guiding the Fever to the playoffs after a 13-27 season the year prior.

Is Paige doing that? Not particularly. But it’s worth noting the Washington Mystics are 3-7 since trading Brittney Sykes so if we’re utilizing a ‘rookie makes team better’ argument, it hasn’t really borne itself out even with Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron getting expanded roles.

This isn’t to take digs on Soni’s ROTY candidacy. Instead, it’s to try and give us all a little perspective and understanding that Paige for Rookie of the Year and Paige as the next Caitlin Clark are two separate arguments.

If you want to make the arg

As the WNBA regular season prepares to make way for the playoffs, we at No Cap Space WBB wanted to do something for the fans that just can’t get enough. On Friday mornings here and on YouTube, we’ll have a recap of Thursday’s game action as well as the Watch Guide in video and podcast form. Now, you’ll get the best of every world: A week recap/weekend preview on Friday, a weekend recap/week preview on Monday and the biggest topics in the game on Wednesdays for Ball Up Top.

Today we’re discussing Angel Reese’s impact now that she’s fully healthy for Chicago, the Aces complete turnaround and where Phoenix goes from here. After the review, we look at the week ahead. The Watch Guide remains the same, giving you even deeper dives on what to watch for as the standings get tighter and the stakes higher.

We’ve gotten some requests recently about additional donations for the NCS crew. If you don’t want to do a full subscription but want to support our work in any capacity, we are also opening up donations via Venmo as well. For those that have asked, we can’t tell you how much we appreciate and rest assured it is going back into the company to provide you with the best WBB coverage you can find!

Friday, August 15

Minnesota Lynx (28-7) vs. Indiana Fever (19-16): 7:30 PM ET, ION

Why It’s Worth a Watch: Minnesota is on the final leg of a three game road trip that included New York and Atlanta (both losses). Oh, and it’s a back-to-back tonight against the Fever who are coming off five days rest. Tired legs vs. fresh legs. You do the math. Yet in spite of that disadvantage, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Lynx made this a game. Matchups like this are the difference between playoff contenders and champions. Meanwhile, Indiana is fighting for their postseason lives. A win here could get you closer to Phoenix and New York, but a loss brings you a bit too close to the 8th or even 9th seed. There’s your stakes.

What to Watch For: Jessica Shepard had a phenomenal night against Brittney Griner and Bri Jones, pacing Minnesota with 15 points and 16 rebounds so I’m interested in her upcoming battle with Aliyah Boston. Courtney Williams will probably want a bounceback game after a 3-14 performance in the loss to Atlanta. For the Fever, I’m watching how Odyssey Sims plays given her ever increasing significance. They need to start fast because Minnesota won’t let them back into a game the way Connecticut did.

Must Watch Score: 8.5/10

Seattle Storm (18-18) vs. Dallas Wings (9-27): 7:30 PM ET, ION

Why It’s Worth a Watch: The Storm, like the Fever, are trying to stave off postseason elimination. With about eight or nine (depending on the team) games left in the regular season, every win counts. Seattle has just a half game lead on Los Angeles who don’t play again until next Tuesday. All the pressure is on them in this matchup as Dallas just plays for the end of the year.

What to Watch For: Paige Bueckers went thermonuclear against L.A., setting multiple records en route to a 44 point performance, and I’m curious how she follows that up. Skylar Diggins and Brittney Sykes are much better defenders than Kelsey Plum and Julie Allemand, so how will Bueckers adjust? In light of her performance, will Chris Koclanes decide to empower her by running things through her more? There’s a lot of cool to follow there. Unfortunately, I have a feeling the Storm frontcourt is going to tear the Wings apart. To that end, Dominique Malonga may have herself a game. If we get big minutes from her, this game turns into a really fun future superstars showcase.

Must Watch Score: 7.5/10

Golden State Valkyries (18-17) vs. Phoenix Mercury (21-14): 10:00 PM ET, ION

Why It’s Worth a Watch: This game has some of the highest stakes of the weekend from a postseason positioning standpoint. The Mercury were run out of the gym on Thursday night against Las Vegas and now welcome in a Valkyries team that has the capability of doing the same. Golden State, for their part, wants to keep pace with Indiana and can draw level with them if the Fever lose to Minnesota.

What to Watch For: The Mercury started to flow in the second quarter when they ran the offense a little less through Alyssa Thomas. The unintended consequence was Thomas looking visibly frustrated at times. I can attribute that to a fierce competitor who really wants to win but sometimes it feels like Kahleah Copper needs to be a bit more than a spot up shooter. How this big three of AT, Kah and Satou Sabally handle these big moments is important to understanding just how far they can this postseason.

Must Watch Score: 9/10

Saturday, August 16

New York Liberty (22-14) vs. Atlanta Dream (23-13): 2:00 PM ET, CBS

Why It’s Worth a Watch: I think Phoenix is fading a bit so I’d argue that New York, Atlanta and Las Vegas are the three teams vying for that second seed. Right now, the Dream hold a half game lead on the Aces and a full game lead on the Liberty. You see where I’m going with this? One game can be the difference between 2nd and 4th. Every single game matters especially in the W’s playoff format. A top four seed has home court advantage for the Best-of-3 first round. If you’re Atlanta or New York and drop one too many, you might end up in a much harder do-or-die playoff situation if it comes to that. Plus, we get some amazing individual matchups. Game of the Season candidate if both teams play to their potential.

What to Watch For: Sabrina Ionescu and Rhyne Howard feel very similar in that they can run hot and cold as shooters. When they’re on, the 2020 and 2021 number one picks are top 8 players in the league. When they’re off, it can look like Spice Adams shooting threes in open gym. If even one is cooking on Saturday, we’re in for a treat. Natasha Cloud vs. Allisha Gray is a great defensive stopper vs. dominant scorer matchup while the chess match between Sandy Brondello and Karl Smesko should be a blast for scheme scholars.

Must Watch Score: 9.5/10

Las Vegas Aces (23-14) vs. Washington Mystics (16-20): 3:00 PM ET, League Pass

Why It’s Worth a Watch: The Mystics are on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs but that doesn’t mean they’re completely out. All it would take is a couple wins to be right back in the mix. The only tough part is they’re facing off against the hottest team in the WNBA right now. Could it get out of hand? Maybe. But there’s a cool narrative thread happening with these two teams. Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen bear some resemblance as players to Jackie Young and A’ja Wilson which gives us this cool young team vs. what-they-can-be story.

What to Watch For: A’ja Wilson has been on fire this August which will make this game a great test for Kiki Iriafen. In a lot of ways, it’s A’ja vs. Baby A’ja. A matchup of single-leg-sleevers. Potentially great television. Speaking of must-watch players, Chelsea Gray has successfully turned the clock back three years. The Point Gawd has returned to form at last and looks as good as she looked in the 2022 Conference Semifinals vs. Seattle. If you’ve been around, you know what I mean. If you haven’t, here you go. Enjoy. How Sonia Citron handles her and Jackie Young will be a fun storyline as well.

Must Watch Score: 7.5/10

Connecticut Sun (8-27) vs. Chicago Sky (9-26): 4:00 PM ET, CBSSN

Why It’s Worth a Watch: Both the Sky and Sun have been eliminated from the playoffs so you’d expect this to be a pair of teams that are just going through the motions before the year is out. Right? Wrong. Tyler Marsh and Rachid Meziane are building cultures in their respective cities and a game like this matters. It’s why you see the Sky beating New York and the Sun winning three in their last four. I expect the players to come out with the same energy they have all season and treat this like something it may not even be. That’s what makes both teams fun future buys…

What to Watch For: This frontcourt battle is going to be a blast. Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who has come on strong late in the year, and Tina Charles taking on Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese. Size, scoring, versatility, intensity. You get it all. There’s also a fun LSU vs. LSU story with Reese meeting Sun rookie Aneesah Morrow. Connecticut’s backcourt duo of Saniya Rivers and Leila Lacan is quickly becoming one of my favorite tandems in the league and when they’re shooting well it’s legitimately a treat to watch.

Must Watch Score: 7/10

Sunday, August 17

Seattle Storm (18-18) vs. Washington Mystics (16-20): 3:00 PM ET, League Pass

Why It’s Worth a Watch: Not only is this Brittney Sykes’ first trip back to Washington since they traded her, this one feels like a bit of a make-or-break for the Mystics. A loss to the Aces will put them right on the edge of the cliff but a second loss to Seattle would tip them off the rocks and into the water. The schedule feels ripe for the Storm to rip off two wins before the last two games (Indiana, Minnesota) of their five game road stand. Can they do it against a Mystics team — one that’s won the previous two matchups against Seattle, it should be noted — that will probably be fighting for their playoff lives?

What to Watch For: I don’t even know if we’d get it but I want to see Dominique Malonga vs. Kiki Iriafen minutes. Those two are, to me, future All-WNBA forwards. In the backcourt, Brittney Sykes sees her old Mystics teammate in Sonia Citron. Given that the trade was, on some level, motivated by Washington going all in on Citron and Iriafen and letting Sykes go to a win-now team, will there be any added intensity? Especially given that the playoffs are more or less on the line? I would like to see it!

Must Watch Score: 7/10

Golden State Valkyries (18-17) vs. Dallas Wings (9-27): 4:00 PM ET, League Pass

Why It’s Worth a Watch: These are the exact games that no playoff hopeful should drop if they want to stay in the hunt. Dallas is inconsistent but has shown the ability to scare the hell out of (or even beat) teams that are better than them on-paper. Golden State is also a somewhat streaky team, winning or losing in bunches. If there’s a game on the schedule that feels like it could become weird in a hurry, it’s this one.

What to Watch For: Veronica Burton vs. Paige should be pretty fun. The former Northwestern superstar is a top candidate for Most Improved Player and has really come into her own as an impact player on both ends of the floor. How she defends Paige will be a cool battle to watch. Golden State has the size advantage and I’ve spilt enough ink about the Wings frontcourt issue. It wouldn’t surprise me if we saw a big game out of Iliana Rupert or Janelle Salaun.

Must Watch Score: 7/10

Indiana Fever (19-16) vs. Minnesota Lynx (28-7): 7:00 PM ET, CBSSN

Why It’s Worth a Watch: All the reasons outlined above, except even more stakes.

What to Watch For: What that↑ said.

Must Watch Score: 8/10

Monday, August 18

Connecticut Sun (8-27) vs. New York Liberty (22-14): 7:00 PM ET, League Pass

Why It’s Worth a Watch: This might be the most skippable matchup of the weekend but there’s still some possibility.. Belgian superstar Emma Meesseman sees her former national team head coach across the floor in Rachid Meziane and Connecticut does have an advantage in this one, assuming the injury report remains the same throughout the weekend. The Liberty’s loss to the Sky showed that their lack of depth in the frontcourt leaves them vulnerable over the course of a game especially if the threes stop falling. Connecticut does have a decent rotation of Tina Charles, ONO and Aaliyah Edwards. Maybe we might see something we weren’t expecting. After all, it happened at the start of August!

What to Watch For: Assuming Izzy Harrison, Nyara Sabally and Breanna Stewart are out for this game as well, the frontcourt minutes for New York will be vital. Jonquel Jones needs to continue to be the 20+ point per game scorer she is capable of being while Sabrina Ionescu just needs a couple threes to fall. But Connecticut will have Tina Charles to counter and Nelson-Ododa, who to me feels like the player that will decide this matchup. If she is playing her best, she can be a dimension New York doesn’t have right now.

Must Watch Score: 6.5/10

Las Vegas Aces (23-14) vs. Chicago Sky (9-26): 8:00 PM ET, NBATV

Why It’s Worth a Watch: This is another fun frontcourt matchup and while it’s likely to end in a blowout, we get Angel vs. A’ja. How will Becky Hammon handle her interior? Wilson on Kamilla Cardoso with NaLyssa Smith on Reese? Do they go bigger with Kiah Stokes and play them more traditionally, letting the shooters take advantage of the Sky’s perimeter defense? And it’s crazy to believe given that the season is almost over but this Tyler Marsh and Becky Hammon’s first time meeting one another as head coaches.

What to Watch For: Wilson is on a tear right now and this feels like one of those games where the master shows the pupils how it’s done. Both Reese and Cardoso will be superstars in their own rite but for now the belt belongs to A’ja. I’m a sucker for young upstars vs. bonafide champions so this is right up my alley.

Must Watch Score: 8/10

If You Can Only Watch One Game A Day…

Friday, August 22 - Minnesota Lynx (28-7) vs. Indiana Fever (19-16): 7:30 PM ET, ION

Saturday, August 23 - New York Liberty (22-14) vs. Atlanta Dream (23-13): 2:00 PM ET, CBS

Sunday, August 24 - Seattle Storm (18-18) vs. Washington Mystics (16-20): 3:00 PM ET, League Pass

Monday, August 25 - Las Vegas Aces (23-14) vs. Chicago Sky (9-26): 8:00 PM ET, NBATV

Honorable Mentions -

Friday, August 22 - Golden State Valkyries (18-17) vs. Phoenix Mercury (21-14): 10:00 PM ET, ION

No Cap Space WBB is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Tuesday morning, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard.

It’s Tyler, Chauny and Greer on this episode of Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast, recording on a Wednesday morning to make sure you got all the most recent reactions to a stacked Tuesday night of games. The Liberty defeated the Lynx, the Sun upset the Mystics while the Sky showed some fight and the race tightens between Las Vegas, Phoenix and Atlanta.

Our crew discusses all the major WNBA action from last night while taking a look at some of the more macro stories in the league as well. Is A’ja Wilson really making an MVP push? What do we make of the Connecticut Sun’s franchise sale troubles and how much much tighter can the seeding race get in the WNBA?

If you love the show, we’d love and appreciate a five star rating on Apple podcasts as well as a kind review if you’ve got the time! We’re also on the road to 5,000 subscribers on YouTube and 2,000 followers on TikTok so if you enjoy our content here, tell a friend to tell a friend to follow us on their preferred platform!

Additionally, we’ve gotten some requests recently about additional donations for the NCS crew. If you don’t want to do a full subscription but want to support our work in any capacity, we are also opening up donations via Venmo as well. For those that have asked, we can’t tell you how much we appreciate and rest assured it is going back into the company to provide you with the best WBB coverage you can find!

Scroll Ahead to Hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction.

2:05 - Lynx vs. Liberty Recap.

17:10 - The Race For A Top 4 Seed.

20:53 - The Aces Late Season Surge.

28:40 - How For Real Is Phoenix?

Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is brought to you in part by Homefield. Just this past week they revealed the full Can’t Miss Kickoff release schedule with hundreds of new football themed products to get you ready for the fall! Want some women’s hoops merch instead? Check out our No Cap Space WBB collection, a curated page of all of Homefield’s best WBB shirts, jackets, jerseys and more!

Our intro music is made by Denver’s own DLZMKSBTS, the King of Mile Hi-Fi. Check out all his music on Spotify here and on Instagram here.

While Five Out can sometimes venture out into the world of sports business, society and culture, it is occasionally fun to have a column that is just WNBA-centric.

After a week of great games, jockeying in the standings and some MVP caliber performances from some of the top players in the league, we get five topics that are as hoop-heavy as you can get.

In case you missed our Sunday wrap show, you can access it here as a podcast or below on YouTube. Be sure to like, share and subscribe or give us a five star rating and review on Apple if you enjoy the show! We always appreciate it and the growth of No Cap Space WBB doesn’t happen without you!

Now that we’re in the swing of Wednesday podcasts, we hope you’ve all been enjoying the double dose of our crew every week. If you missed our Sunday live show (or Monday morning pod, if you read Five Out), you can see it at the link below on YouTube. You can also see Ball Up Top in full over there in video form as well! Just be sure to like, share and subscribe if you do!

Chauny, back by popular demand, is in the host seat once again. One might say that in a group where everyone eats but there’s a clear star, she’s the Paige Bueckers of this ship. After a bit of internal crisis at such realizations, the show opens with a simple question: is there anyone in the same tier as the Minnesota Lynx right now? Andrew argues that Atlanta and New York could still get the best of them in a multi-game series and the debate ensues. After touching on Alanna Smith’s Defensive Player of the Year candidacy, the crew discusses the mess happening in Chicago and where the fault lies for an organization that feels caught in a death spiral. The show wraps with a look at another team in turmoil, the Seattle Storm.

Scroll ahead to hear…

0:00 - Show Introductions

4:59 - Is Minnesota in a tier of their own?

22:17 - Alanna Smith’s Defensive Player of the Year candidacy…

24:04 - The Sky is…falling…

43:31 - Storms in Seattle…

Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is brought to you in part by Homefield. Just this past week they revealed the full Can’t Miss Kickoff release schedule with hundreds of new football themed products to get you ready for the fall! Want some women’s hoops merch instead? Check out our No Cap Space WBB collection, a curated page of all of Homefield’s best WBB shirts, jackets, jerseys and more!

No Cap Space WBB is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Without being too hyperbolic, this has been one of the better WNBA late season playoff races I can remember. While there’s been plenty of jockeying in the standings at this point in prior years, there’s something about there being three (maybe even four) true Finals contenders in the mix. But before we dive into that, let’s welcome you back to Five Out now that we’re reformatted and back to our normal style.

As we mentioned last week, the column will now include a Monday podcast that comes from our Sunday live wrap shows on YouTube. It’ll cover the biggest games of the day and some of the biggest news items between Thursday and the end of the week. Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast will now be dropping every Wednesday morning instead of Tuesday to give you two evenly spaced out podcasts that talk women’s basketball!

Keep an eye out for more Overtime Select coverage this week as well. Chauny was down in Atlanta for the weekend getting you caught up on the next generation of women’s hoops stars and the WNBA legends they’re working with this summer (and that’s before we start to get into NCAA previews). In short, it’s a great time to be a women’s basketball fan!

A quick programming note for you loyal podcast listeners. Ball Up Top is moving to Wednesdays full-time! We will now have a second show for you that will be a live weekend wrap up that will air on Sundays on YouTube and edited into pod form for Monday morning. That will push Ball Up Top to Wednesdays so you now get two chances to listen to some women’s basketball a talk a week with us!

Chauny is in the host chair with Tyler and Andrew as the trio discusses the recent action near the WNBA trade deadline. Brittney Sykes is now in Seattle and the pod breaks down how the move benefits both teams. The discussion then covers the hottest teams in the league right now including the Los Angeles Sparks who continue to surge towards a playoff spot before wrapping up with a discussion around DeWanna Bonner, Sophie Cunningham and how rivalries grow organically in the WNBA.

Scroll ahead to hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction

6:11 - Trade Breakdowns…

25:30 - What is L.A.’s ceiling?

46:05 - Connecticut Sun/WNBA sale drama.

53:10 - One last look at DeWanna Bonner’s Indiana exit.

Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is brought to you in part by Homefield. Just this past week they revealed the full Can’t Miss Kickoff release schedule with hundreds of new football themed products to get you ready for the fall! Want some women’s hoops merch instead? Check out our No Cap Space WBB collection, a curated page of all of Homefield’s best WBB shirts, jackets, jerseys and more!

Some news on the home front. Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is moving to Wednesdays so we can get you two pods per week. On Sundays, our No Cap Space WBB team will be live on YouTube breaking down the biggest WNBA games of the weekend and biggest news items headed into Monday.

Ball Up Top will be each Wednesday previewing the week ahead. It's all a part of our desire to get you a little more content and women's hoop talk!

Be sure to subscribe, like and rate us five stars on Apple, Spotify or wherever you're listening!

While the injury bug continued to hit the New York Liberty, the L.A. Sparks finally got one of their young superstars back after a 13 month recovery. Tyler, Greer and Andrew take a look at Cam Brink’s ceiling and what it could mean for a late season playoff push from Los Angeles.

The trio open the show with news of Kennedy Burke’s injury and how the short turnaround times are hurting the WNBA as a league and may become a source of contention at the CBA Bargaining table. The show wraps up with a discussion on the upcoming trade deadline and some of the best moves top teams can make.

Scroll ahead to hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction

2:15 - The WNBA’s Injury Issue & The Effect on CBA Negotiations

15:00 - Cam Brink’s Return and What It Means For L.A.

36:50 - One Move We Want To See At The Trade Deadline

Ball Up Top: A WBB Podcast is brought to you in part by Homefield. Just this past week they revealed the full Can’t Miss Kickoff release schedule with hundreds of new football themed products to get you ready for the fall! Want some women’s hoops merch instead? Check out our No Cap Space WBB collection, a curated page of all of Homefield’s best WBB shirts, jackets, jerseys and more!

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Tuesday morning, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard.

In longtime WNBA fan circles, there is a term called ‘Messy Monday’. Effectively it means that at the start of the week, we’re due for some fun things to talk about. Instead of a Messy Monday, we got a Meesy Monday this week with Belgian superstar Emma Meesseman joining the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty.

Tyler, Chauny and Greer are on the pod this week opening with the implications of the move and what it means for the rest of the league. The conversation then moves to the WNBA players and their ‘Pay Us What You Owe Us’ shirts at the All-Star game as well as the CBA negotiations continuing with the league. After a quick piece on the impact of the Studbudz 72 hour stream in Indianapolis, the crew takes a look at the season ahead and some predictions for the second half of the year.

Scroll ahead to hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction

1:39 - Emma Meesseman joins New York Liberty

6:55 - Are the Liberty the best starting five in WNBA history?

22:06 - The future of the WNBA/WNBPA CBA negotiations…

39:30 - Buy/Sell for the second half of the WNBA season…

Summer is here so get fitted for all your functions with Homefield! Use promo code NOCAP15 for 15% off your first purchase here! Check out their new ‘Summer School’ hat series and rock your favorite school in style as well as our No Cap Space WBB collection. In partnership with Homefield, we’ve curated all their women’s basketball merch into one place here.'

It wasn’t as messy of a Monday as last week was but we still got plenty of interesting storylines and topics to discuss on Ball Up Top. Andrew and Tyler hold down the fort, opening the show with a quick hitter on DeWanna Bonner’s move to Phoenix (the full reaction vid is available on YouTube here) before running through the finalized All-Star game lists. After that, the two discuss their biggest surprise storylines of the WNBA season so far before wrapping the show with a quick chat about Team USA’s championship win in the FIBA Americup.

Scroll ahead to hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction

1:27 - DeWanna Bonner to Phoenix reactions…

6:30 - All-Star roster reactions…

25:30 - Biggest surprises halfway through the WNBA season.

45:00 - Team USA/FIBA Americup takeaways

Summer is here so get fitted for all your functions with Homefield! Use promo code NOCAP15 for 15% off your first purchase here! Check out their new ‘Summer School’ hat series and rock your favorite school in style as well as our No Cap Space WBB collection. In partnership with Homefield, we’ve curated all their women’s basketball merch into one place here.

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Tuesday morning, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard.

To say this was a Messy Monday in the WNBA might be an understatement. Expansion franchises, a big trade as well as All-Star starter announcements? That’s basically asking for a packed Ball Up Top on a Tuesday. Tyler and Chauny have the wheel and dive into everything that happened this past week and in the past 36 hours to get you ready for another slate of games in WNBA world.

Scroll ahead to hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction

2:47 - Expansion Thoughts and Reactions.

21:37 - NaLyssa Smith Trade Reactions.

38:16 - All-Star Starters Reactions.

Summer is here so get fitted for all your functions with Homefield! Use promo code NOCAP15 for 15% off your first purchase here! Check out their new ‘Summer School’ hat series and rock your favorite school in style.

Well, glad the schedules didn’t align and we recorded this after our usual Monday night time slot. With so much happening in the last 18-24 hours in the WNBA world, this week’s Ball Up Top is up to date and ready to roll. Andrew, Chauny and Tyler are on hand to dissect the DeWanna Bonner situation and Aari McDonald’s signing to the Indiana Fever as well as wondering aloud what’s happening with Caitlin Clark, who is in a 3 point shooting slump over three games.

The pod continues with a discussion about the Los Angeles Sparks and whether or not the team can do a bit better than one of the worst in the western conference. While looking at the free agent possibilities, it opened up a discussion surrounding the Washington Mystics and their potential frontcourt duo of the future.

Scroll Ahead to Hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction

2:31 - DeWanna Bonner and the Fever break up.

21:46 - What to make of Caitlin Clark’s shooting slump…

39:27 - Is this a lost season for the L.A. Sparks?

49:34 - Is Kiki Iriafen/Shakira Austin the frontcourt of the future for the Mystics?

Summer is here so get fitted for all your functions with Homefield! Use promo code NOCAP15 for 15% off your first purchase here! Check out their new ‘Summer School’ hat series and rock your favorite school in style.

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Tuesday morning, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard.

This was a busy week in the WNBA and naturally there is plenty to discuss. Andrew and Chauny hold it down and discuss Caitlin Clark’s return from injury and how serious the Fever are as contenders with her in the lineup. Afterwards, Andrew talks through his experience in Vegas for Aces vs. Wings and his press row perspective of the dustup between Chris Koclanes and DiJonai Carrington.

The two continue the pod with a dive into the Angel Reese point forward experiment as well as Phoenix’s status as a legit contender in the WNBA. The show wraps with a quick hit on who is a pretender and who is for real a quarter of the way through the regular season. 0

Summer is here so get fitted for all your functions with Homefield! Use promo code NOCAP15 for 15% off your first purchase here! Check out their new ‘Summer School’ hat series and rock your favorite school in style.

Scroll Ahead to Hear…

0:00 — Show Introduction

1:52 - Caitlin Clark is back so how serious are the Fever as contenders?

14:40 - Andrew’s press row view of the Dallas Wings dynamic.

33:57 - The Angel Reese point forward experiment in Chicago…

47:15 - How for real are the Phoenix Mercury now that Kahleah Copper is back?

57:16 - Pretenders vs. Contenders

No Cap Space WBB is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Tuesday morning, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard.

Andrew and Tyler hold things down on this week’s episode of Ball Up Top. With so much happening in the league just one month into the regular season, the two open the show with a general enthusiasm of how well positioned the W is. Whether it be top teams or interesting superstars, there’s something for everyone this year. The discussion veers towards the Minnesota Lynx and their status as a WNBA analog to this year’s Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA.

Some other major topics are touched on, including the positive early returns on Golden State as a franchise, what on earth Chicago does next and whether or not Indiana should open space to hold on to Aari McDonald. With Paige Bueckers still out of the lineup, Andrew and Tyler opine on the Rookie of the Year race and if there should be an age limit to ROTY for overseas players entering the W for the first time.

Scroll ahead to hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction

2:19 - The WNBA’s great storylines to come this year.

6:39 - Does Minnesota feel like the Oklahoma City Thunder this year?

20:05 - Should Indiana hold on to Aari McDonald?

27:28 - The Rookie of the Year Race and the selection criteria…

44:26 - Is Golden State a future dark horse contender based on their foundation?

52:01 - Tumblr is OUT on Chris Koclanes!

The WNBA season is here and there’s plenty of ways to support your team, pro or college. To get your summer fits right and repping women’s basketball the way it deserves to be repped, head on over to Homefield! Our No Cap Space WBB collection has curated all of their women’s basketball gear into one easy place for you to find. Use code NOCAP15 to get 15% off your first order!

Our intro music is courtesy of Dlzmksbts, Denver’s King of ‘Mile HiFi’. You can stream his music on Spotify here.

No Cap Space WBB is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This week on Ball Up Top, Chauny and Tyler get things rolling with a discussion on the Liberty’s historic blowout of the Connecticut Sun and the wonkiness of the Commissioner’s Cup schedule and rules. It’s been a busy week on and off the floor and some late Monday news about the Las Vegas Aces running back their tourism board sponsorship made for a fun conversation. The pod wraps up with a discussion on hardship contracts, cap rules and then a quick stock up/stock down segment before the outtro music kicks in.

You can find the podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your pods. Be sure to rate, review and (hopefully!) give us five stars!

Scroll Ahead to hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction

1:59 - How much of a juggernaut are the New York Liberty?

16:05 - The Las Vegas Aces are getting sponsorship money again…

27:37 - Early impressions of the Aces…

34:10 - Injuries across the league and hardship contracts.

42:55 - Stock up/stock down

The WNBA season is here and there’s plenty of ways to support your team, pro or college. To get your summer fits right and repping women’s basketball the way it deserves to be repped, head on over to Homefield! Our No Cap Space WBB collection has curated all of their women’s basketball gear into one easy place for you to find. Use code NOCAP15 to get 15% off your first order!

Our intro music is courtesy of Dlzmksbts, Denver’s King of ‘Mile HiFi’. You can stream his music on Spotify here.

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Tuesday morning, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard. Be sure to rate, review, give us five stars if you can on Apple or Spotify and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube page as well.

With a few data points under our belt, we’re finally ready to talk some true basketball in the WNBA world. Then the Indiana Fever announced that Caitlin Clark would be out for around two weeks with a left quad strain. So, there went that news cycle! Of course, given Clark’s status as a top five guard in the league and the Fever’s best player, it’s a pretty huge deal. So this Tuesday we open the show discussing whether or not Fever fans should be worried, how Aliyah Boston can lead the way and if this actually might be a positive for Indiana come playoff time.

The pod rolls on with a discussion of which new coaches we are putting stock in and who we may be a little out on before wrapping up with some trade machine takes and realizing that there might not be a home for Arike Ogunbowale this year if Dallas truly thinks the pairing of her and Paige Bueckers/DiJonai Carrington may not be a long-term fit.

Scroll ahead to hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction

2:40 - Caitlin Clark Injury News and What the Fever Do Next…

21:17 - Stock Up/Stock Down of New WNBA Coaches

50:06 - Too Early Trade Machine Takes

The WNBA season is here and there’s plenty of ways to support your team, pro or college. To get your summer fits right and repping women’s basketball the way it deserves to be repped, head on over to Homefield! Our No Cap Space WBB collection has curated all of their women’s basketball gear into one easy place for you to find. Use code NOCAP15 to get 15% off your first order!

Our intro music is courtesy of Dlzmksbts, Denver’s King of ‘Mile HiFi’. You can stream his music on Spotify here.

No Cap Space WBB is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

This week is about the basketball. We discussed some of the larger cultural issues at play when it comes to the Chicago Sky vs. Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese rivalry on Five Out already. So the podcast is dedicated to providing a space to get away from the thinkpieces for a little while.

Now, to the basketball. There’s so much to discuss. We open the hoop talk with a bit on the new look Fever and honor DeWanna Bonner reaching third on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list. Also on the docket? The New York Liberty and what constitutes a juggernaut, is it time to start monitoring how much of a superstar Rhyne Howard really is and whether or not we are on Arike Ogunbowale trade watch.

Scroll ahead to hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction and Quick Hit on Postgame Show.

7:30 - Honoring DeWanna Bonner’s career and climb up the scoring ladder.

13:07 - Are the Fever already further along than we had originally expected them to be?

23:39 - Liberty vs. Aces recap.

34:06 - Favorite teams based on early impressions.

44:20 - Agenda Watch.

54:53 - Discussing the Paige Bueckers/Arike Ogunbowale fit in Dallas.

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Tuesday morning, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard. Be sure to rate, review, give us five stars if you can on Apple or Spotify and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube page as well.

This week is about big swings and bold predictions. If you missed this week’s Five Out (which you can find here), Andrew laid out his five bold (and not so bold) predictions for the WNBA season ahead. On this episode of Ball Up Top, Chauny and Tyler take a crack at their hottest and spiciest takes this coming year.

Spring is in full swing and summer is around the corner so if you want to update your wardrobe ahead of the good weather, head on over to Homefield! Our No Cap Space WBB collection has curated all of their women’s basketball gear into one easy place for you to find. Use code NOCAP15 to get 15% off your first order!

Our intro music is courtesy of Dlzmksbts, Denver’s King of ‘Mile HiFi’. You can stream his music on Spotify here.

We are officially back into a weekly flow at No Cap Space WBB and so you can reliably count on Ball Up Top hitting your inbox on Tuesday mornings. This week, Andrew and Chauny load up the show with plenty of thoughts on the WNBA so far.

Scroll Ahead to Hear…

0:00 — Show Introduction

3:15 - Preseason Thoughts: College Trips

9:00 - The ‘Multiple Faces of The League’ Discussion

12:35 - The Players That Have Impressed in Preseason

23:20 - Paige Bueckers Early Evaluations

27:24 - Shyanne Sellers Signing to Atlanta

36:48 - WNBA Roster Issues

44:15 - The Aces Kiersten Bell Issue…

56:20 - Paige and the Consistent Coverage Equity Discussion

Spring is in full swing and summer is around the corner so if you want to update your wardrobe ahead of the good weather, head on over to Homefield! Our No Cap Space WBB collection has curated all of their women’s basketball gear into one easy place for you to find. Use code NOCAP15 to get 15% off your first order!

Our intro music is courtesy of Dlzmksbts, Denver’s King of ‘Mile HiFi’. You can stream his music on Spotify here.

Welcome to Ball Up Top, a weekly podcast from No Cap Space WBB. Every Tuesday morning, you can find a show in your emails or social feeds that touches on all the trending topics in women’s basketball. The crew will rotate based on availability, whether it’s Tyler, Andrew, Chauny, Greer or Rashard. Be sure to rate, review, give us five stars if you can on Apple or Spotify and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube page as well.

After a few weeks off our normal weekly format due to the NCAA Tournament, Ball Up Top is back to its regularly scheduled programming. This week, Tyler, Chauny and Greer dive into what the early takeaways have been from WNBA Training Camps officially kicking off.

Scroll Ahead to Hear…

0:00 - Show Introduction

2:00 - Seattle Storm

6:10 - Golden State Valkyries

10:15 - Los Angeles Sparks

12:50 - Las Vegas Aces

19:15 - Phoenix Mercury

25:50 - Dallas Wings

33:50 - Minnesota Lynx

38:10 - Chicago Sky

45:20 - Indiana Fever

56:30 - New York Liberty

59:10 - Washington Mystics

1:03:50 - Connecticut Sun

1:09:27 - Atlanta Dream

Spring is in full swing and summer is around the corner so if you want to update your wardrobe ahead of the good weather, head on over to Homefield! Our No Cap Space WBB collection has curated all of their women’s basketball gear into one easy place for you to find. Use code NOCAP15 to get 15% off your first order!

Our intro music is courtesy of Dlzmksbts, Denver’s King of ‘Mile HiFi’. You can stream his music on Spotify here.

While South Carolina has owned LSU on the court in recent years, Milaysia Fulwiley’s transfer may add a bit of juice to what may become a full-on rivalry. The former South Carolina guard had been rumored in recent days to have LSU at the top of her list and, on Friday afternoon, she made her commitment official.

Chauny, Tyler and Greer hoped on the podcast for an emergency show that you can find here in audio form and on YouTube (video link is below). Be sure to subscribe to us on those platforms as well and, if you have a women’s basketball fan or enthusiast in your life, send us their way so they can stay up to date on everything happening in the game!