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As August rolls into September, the end of the regular season is near and playoff seeding is heating up. The picture is becoming clearer with four teams having clinched a spot, but there is still much more basketball to be played.
As a reminder, the power rankings below are an aggregate of the Winsidr team. We poll our team to vote regularly throughout the regular season on where each team stands. We display each team with its current record and its record since the last edition of our rankings.
Enjoy!
13. Dallas Wings (9-31) — 0-5 since PR Vol. 7
It has not been the season, nor the end-of-season, stretch the Wings imagined as they’ve lost seven straight to drop into the basement of the league. The youth movement is fully upon us, but spark plug JJ Quinerly had her season end due to injury. Majority of the team is suffering with injuries and illnesses, and the Wings became the first team to sign an extreme hardship contract.
Dallas will have another lottery pick in next year’s draft and could select No. 1 pick for the second consecutive season, becoming the first team to do so since the Indiana Fever in 2023 and 2024. Despite bottoming out in this power rankings edition, the Wings have set themselves up to build around Paige Bueckers next year.
12. Chicago Sky (9-30) — 1-5
The Sky’s season is over, and like the Wings, people did not expect them to do much this season despite claiming a win now status. Chicago has a roster construction problem that will need some creative maneuvering in the offseason to fix. Not helping their case is the swap rights the Minnesota Lynx currently hold, meaning the top team in the league has the potential to draft in the lottery, possibly No. 1 overall, come April. Helping them is a series of complicated pick swaps with the Phoenix Mercury and Connecticut Sun through past deals that should hopefully land them a decent player.
11. Connecticut Sun (10-29) — 4-2
An expected conclusion for the 2025 iteration of the Sun, but a nice, brief stretch here of late has pulled them out of the gutter of our power rankings and ahead of the Sky and Wings. Their youth movement has shown glimpses of promise, but the Sun have a long road ahead of becoming a formidable team once again. A full rebuild is underway, and a couple of likely late first-rounders, plus the play of their youth, is all this team should be focused on closing out their season.
10. Washington Mystics (16-25) — 0-7
After a valiant effort to remain competitive, the Mystics have officially bottomed out and will miss the 2025 postseason. This was the right situation for this team where they gave their impressive rookies Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen some important experience, uplifted budding players in Shakira Austin and Sug Sutton, and welcomed home veteran Alysha Clark. While Washington will miss the playoffs, the organization also remains in the lottery and has positioned itself with draft capital to wheel and deal.
9. Los Angeles Sparks (18-20) — 2-2
The Sparks are fighting for their playoff lives, but sitting two games behind the Fever, they’ll need to get hot to close out the regular season. If they make the playoffs, great, and should they not, they need to find out what they have in their young players to help guide them through the offseason. The Sparks have big hitters on their roster, and once free agency hits, those players could be on the move ahead of the seismic player movement due to a new CBA negotiation.
8. Golden State Valkyries (21-18) — 3-2
Is it a bit of a cliché to nominate a head coach for Coach of the Year just because she led an expansion team to the playoffs—especially when most of us, including this writer, had them pegged as bottom-dwellers? Maybe. But that doesn’t make Natalie Nakase any less deserving. This band of misfits has the same moxie and devil-may-care attitude that the expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights brought to the NHL. They play hard and win, embodying the spirit of their head coach and positioning themselves for an improbable and equally impressive playoff spot.
7. Indiana Fever (21-19) — 2-3
Let’s play the glass half full and empty game with the Fever. Glass half full is this team has treaded water without its best player for six weeks. Glass half empty is this team hasn’t always looked good doing it. How healthy Cailtin Clark is come playoffs will be as far as this team goes, but getting her playoff-ready, aka healthy, will be the priority over the next few weeks.
6. Seattle Storm (22-19) — 5-1
The Storm have played the Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde routine most of the season, but a 5-1 stretch as of late has propped them up at the right time. They’re in a clash with the upstart Valkyries for the sixth seed, are in shouting distance of the Liberty for the fifth; but also only sit a half game up over the Fever for the eight seed. If the Storm can continue finding their footing, they’ll be a tough lower seed to contend with in the playoffs.
5. New York Liberty (24-16) — 3-3
The Liberty have struggled to remain healthy during the second half of the season, and their tumble in our power rankings and league standings are the results. They’re still a formidable team, even with the one or two-off injured player, and still remain a true title contender. The repeat possibility is still alive if they all can find their way to playing more cohesively and in sync. Nothing to worry about here… yet.
4. Phoenix Mercury (25-14) — 5-1
The Mercury have turned it on at the right time, clicking to close out the season and solidify their positioning for the playoffs. Home-court advantage in the first round at the desert with that fanbase is a visiting team’s nightmare; but this modern positionless squad might be more of a dream-eater. They’re a veteran crew who have learned to play together as the season has worn on. And again, Alyssa Thomas isn’t receiving enough MVP attention she deserves.
3. Atlanta Dream (25-14) — 3-2
The Dream have been America’s team, and it’s been a fun journey watching them dominate teams left and right. They’ve clinched a playoff spot and are a game and a half up to remain in top four seeding and have home-court advantage in the first round. If it weren’t for the Las Vegas Aces, things might look even rosier, but it’s hard to argue with what this team has become under head coach Karl Smesko this season.
2. Las Vegas Aces (26-14) — 5-0
This team may never lose again. Okay, kidding aside (maybe?), this Aces team is as hot as they’ve ever been, winners of 12 straight games, vaulting themselves up the league standings. I remember when they were 14-14 and scraping by to cling to a playoff spot and consistently near the bottom of our power rankings. Now? A half game up for the second seed. An impressive second-half run for Becky Hammon’s crew.
1. Minnesota Lynx (31-8) — 3-3
The Lynx have already locked up a playoff spot and the No. 1 seed. We’ve reached that point in the season where true title contenders get a little bored playing with their food because the regular season no longer excites them. They’re playoff-built and ready, looking for the title that narrowly escaped them last season. Don’t worry about anything this team does or doesn’t do to close out the regular season. It’s been another phenomenal season from Cheryl Reeve’s bunch, and all that’s left is storming their way through the playoffs to hoist the trophy.
