WNBA Power Rankings Heading Into The 2024 Season

I was trying to figure out how I would talk about the WNBA this season and it hit me, let’s do some WNBA Power Rankings. They’re an opportunity to talk about each team individually and thankfully for me, there are only 12 teams so it won’t take me weeks to write.

This is a massive season for the league. If Caitlin Clark doesn’t generate the type of attention and revenue this league is obviously expecting from her, this may be the first and final year they get to travel on private planes. Numbers don’t go up and Han Xu has to stuff her big ass into a Hampton Jitney bus across the country.

But I don’t care about ratings and business. That’s their problem, not mine. Let’s talk hoops.

Here are the first WNBA Power Rankings of the 2024 season:

1. New York Liberty

GO NEW YORK GO NEW YORK GO

Sure, they may have come in 2nd place last season but with another year of continuity, I expect the Liberty to look like the Super Team they’re supposed to be.

Courtney Vandersloot and Sabrina Ionescu looked awkward next to each other and Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones had to figure out how to play together, however, they finished last season winning 14 of their final 16 games, marching to the WNBA Finals.

Breanna Stewart is one of the best players of all time.

She had a disgusting postseason.

No other way to describe it.

She played like a bum, by her standards anyway. I genuinely believe New York still has the most talented roster.

Marquesha Davis making @YolettMcCuin proud here ! Comes off DHO and hits tough middy over two defenders ! pic.twitter.com/CiEF9AehEV

— Chris Williamson (@CWilliamson44) May 8, 2024

Keep an eye on rookie Marquesha Davis, who may end up being this team’s Josh Hart.

2. Las Vegas Aces

I recognize I’m a hater. Proud of it, actually.

TO ME, the Aces are the 2nd best team in the WNBA.

Sure, they are the defending back-to-back champions and they essentially have the same exact team minus the retired Candace Parker, who wasn’t healthy enough to have mattered anyway, but I gotta get my hate off.

To be positive and pretend to be objective for a second, the Aces are still the 2nd best team in the league and could very well win another title (if Breanna Stewart plays like Jordan Poole again).

A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray—all they do is win basketball games. Becky Hammon took over the squad and the Aces are a well-oiled machine but I want to talk about my girl Megan Gustafson.

This whole Caitlin Clark thing is cute and all but the Iowa Hawkeyes we know today were built with Gustafson’s blood, sweat and tears, the 2019 player of the year has finally found a home in Las Vegas where she can absorb those Candace Parker minutes and the Aces don’t skip a beat at all.

3. Connecticut Sun

We may look back at Sun star, Alyssa Thomas, not winning the 2023 WNBA MVP award as one of the most egregious mistakes in sports history. When we talk about ‘value’, I don’t see how any other player in the league could be considered more valuable to their team than Alyssa Thomas, who carries the Sun on her shoulders on a nightly basis. Last season, Connecticut had a -22.7 net rating in the 169 minutes when Thomas was on the bench.

And she’s one of the few hoopers who records ethical, non-stat padding, triple-doubles.

4. Dallas Wings

I pride myself in not being the horny WNBA fan. When you guys see Kelsey Plum, you see a hot girl. When I see Kelsey Plum, I see the local bartender who gets extra tips by pretending to be interested in the elderly creeps.

But Satou Sabally….SUP.

As far as the actual on-court product goes, I ranked the Wings 4th before I read Sabally is out with a shoulder injury but fuck it, Arike Ogunbowale doesn’t need a second scoring option. She is a singular offensive hub.

And I love the way Dallas has built this roster around Arike. Natasha Howard, Teaira McCowan and Kalani Brown—set screens for Arike and get her rebounds.

This is my sneaky second favorite team behind the Liberty and if Breanna Stewart truly has forgotten how to make jump shots, I’m about to be all in on the Wings.

Hey, Satou.

5. Seattle Storm

Skylar Diggins represents EVERYTHING about women’s basketball. She was a star college player at Notre Dame. She’s hot so she’s received extra male attention for factors outside of her ability to get the ball in the hoop. Diggins has been open about how mediocre the WNBA traveling situation is and she’s been mistreated by organizations for daring to become a mother. She’s fought Diana Taurasi. The last 15 years of women’s basketball can be explained through the career of Skylar Diggins.

Oh, and she happened to have one of the best seasons of her career last she played in 2022. Sure, she and Nneka Ogwumike both turn 34 this summer but I think the Storm are about to go off this season.

6. Phoenix Mercury

So to give a peak behind the curtain, most of these WNBA power rankings are based on last year’s results and a few transactions and none of this really matters but man, now that I’m sitting down to write about the Phoenix Mercury, I think this team is going to suck this season.

The best player on their team is going through menopause. Their second-best player is out with an injury and every single time I see a photo of Britney Griner, it looks like she’s having a vision of being tortured in Moscow.

Oh, and there’s this

Kahleah Copper and Sophie Cunningham are now teammates. This locker room is hell. Cannot wait for the stories that come from ‘anonymous sources’.

7. Indiana Fever

The Indiana Fever were the worst team last season and they should probably be at the bottom of these WNBA Power Rankings, however, Caitlin Clark is prettyyyyy good at basketball.

On paper, this team should be better. They have the 2022 no. 2 pick, NaLyssa Smith, the 2023 no. 1 pick, Aliyah Boston, and now the 2024 no. 1 pick. There’s a ton of potential in the building but if I had one criticism of Caitlin Clark, I don’t see the same playmaking ability others do.

This team needs someone who can make the game easier for all of them and I feel like Caitlin is very good at making the game easy for herself but we shall see.

This franchise hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016 (they lost immediately). Let’s see if Caitlin Clark has the juice to drag this team to the postseason or if Diana Taurasi puts a bounty on her head to prove to the world how hard the WNBA is.

8. Atlanta Dream

It’s weird, the Atlanta Dream had THREE All-Stars last summer (Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus) but I still feel like this is a team full of really good role players who are missing a true game-changer.

Enter my girl, Tina Charles.

I’ve had a long, complicated relationship with Tina. For 6 long years, I watched Tina Charles in a Liberty jersey get her 20 points while the team sucked annually. It didn’t help that I was watching Carmelo Anthony do the same shit on the Knicks for years.

But at 35 years old and a few brief ring-chasing stints elsewhere, I’m all in on Tina Charles being the exact player Atlanta needs. She’s surrounded by All-Stars. All she has to do is score. She is truly living her Atlanta Dream.

9. Minnesota Lynx

The Minnesota Lynx were one of the worst defensive teams in the league last season and their solution was to simply absorb the Chicago Sky. They acquired Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith from the Sky and they’re, like, fine defenders.

Minnesota just needs competent perimeter defenders to funnel ball handlers directly into Napheesa Collier but Collier can’t be the only player on this team who wants to play D.

This team will only be as good as Diamond Miller and Dorka Juhász, their two All-Rookie players. If Diamond Miller becomes a consistent offensive threat then the Lynx may be one step closer to those Maya Moore/Sylvia Fowles/Lindsay Whalen dynasty years.

10. Los Angeles Sparks

Nneka Ogwumike and Jordin Canada, the Sparks top two scorers last season, are gone. We can talk about the rookies in a sec but Ogwumike and Canada moving on just opens the door for more Layshia Clarendon, who shot a career-high 46% from 3. I want/need her getting wayyyy more shots up and hopefully Gilbert Arena’s weird ass co-host, Lexie Brown, can give her some good looks.

Cameron Brink is going to block A LOT of shots. If you think women are going to muscle up Caitlin Clark to show her shit ain’t sweet in the league, I imagine they’re looking at Cameron Brink modeling and will want to teach her the same lesson. The difference is, they’re going to challenge Brink at the rim and get whiplash when Brink sends their shot into the backcourt.

I understand keeping Rickea Jackson out of the starting lineup. It’s tough to compete with two rookies who literally just finished a full college season like, last month but once Rickea Jackson gets the handcuffs off, the Sparks have a BUCKET GETTER.

11. Chicago Sky

Teresa Witherspoon 1000% deserved a shot at being a head coach for a professional basketball team. Unfortunately, she’s taking over a team that won a title in 2021, immediately lost all their stars and decided to give away draft picks to build around *squints* Marina Mabry. Ok.

Plus, Witherspoon also has to deal with what I’ll describe as interesting personalities with Angel Reese, the influencer and Chennedy Carter, who was exiled from the league for reasons I still don’t understand.

The Sky should probably be the worst team going into the season but Deadseriousness is a Chennedy Carter stan site so I’m giving the Sky the benefit of the doubt. Nothing but respect for coach Witherspoon. It’s going to be a lonnggggg summer in Chicago.

12. Washington Mystics

I’ll never forget the small window when Elena Delle Donne was unstoppable. A back injury and a tick bite later and we may never see EDD play basketball again which sucks for this Mystics team that I believe is going to STRUGGLE getting buckets this season.

But it’s next man up, I reckon. Brittney Sykes is the type of player you lean on in dark times. She made an All-Defensive Team last season and finished in the Top 5 in Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved voting. Every player in Washington has dropped like flies but Brittney Sykes is still her defensive assignments in prison like they’re caught with weed vapes in their carry-ons leaving Russia.

Who do you think will win the 2024 WNBA championship?  Leave a comment below. Respond on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Or shoot me an email at Deadseriousmailbag@gmail.com. Let’s chat, bay-beeeee.