rewrite this content and keep HTML tags (remove this from content : rewrite this content and keep HTML tags)
For all of the surprises and new players that emerge during opening weekend, the best part of the WNBA’s 2025 debut was that the best teams and players accepted expectations and set a high standard for the new campaign. The 2025 championship contenders looked the part early, with returning MVP candidates bolstered by new additions in New York, Minnesota and Indiana.
The Liberty dominated with their size, protecting the paint with their length and taking advantage of switches against smalls. Their frontcourt of 6-foot-4 Breanna Stewart (who made all eight of her shot attempts in the restricted area) and 6-6 Jonquel Jones remains a matchup nightmare, especially against teams with limited frontcourt depth. The addition of perimeter-stopper Natasha Cloud, who also provides rim pressure, was the separating factor against Las Vegas.
The Fever addressed their defensive deficiencies during the offseason while keeping their offense as potent as ever. The two-player action between Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston still gets results nearly every time, with Clark making every possible pass against Chicago, Boston attacking compromised defense out of the pick-and-roll and DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard making the right pass on the second side and finishing easy baskets.
a dominant triple-double performance today against Chicago.#NowYouKnow Caitlin Clark 😈 pic.twitter.com/7a4CyaY2Wu
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) May 17, 2025
Meanwhile, the Lynx were sent on the road twice and found a similar formula to victory in each matchup: Keep moving and cutting on offense, and trust that the system will wear down opponents.
No one exemplifies that better than Napheesa Collier, who had 34 points in the opener and 23 Sunday against the Sparks. Minnesota upped its defensive pressure after halftime of both wins, putting together decisive third quarters to clinically pull ahead.
All of this is happening without All-Star Kayla McBride, but the Lynx keep finding contributions from up and down the roster, including a double-double off the bench from Jess Shepard in L.A.
The Mystics and Mercury collected impressive wins over the weekend as well, but those teams are in different stages of contention. The Liberty, Fever and Lynx were expected to perform at a certain level, and they arguably exceeded expectations. It will be a fun season if those three contenders continue maintaining this quality of play and improve upon it as they build chemistry with their new players.
Three standout performances
1. Phoenix embraces space
When the Mercury announced Kahleah Copper’s knee procedure hours before their opener, it didn’t send the best vibes for the new era in Phoenix. However, those concerns were short-lived. One of the few teams that didn’t bring in a new coach in 2025, the Mercury nonetheless had a new identity against Seattle: spreading the floor, pushing the pace, occupying the defense with off-ball actions and empowering Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally to defy positional conventions.
On the first possession, Sabally brought the ball up court and handed it off to Sami Whitcomb. She entered the ball into Thomas at the elbow and cut through the paint between Thomas and Monique Akoa Makani, leading to an Akoa Makani screen for Thomas, all while Sabally was running the baseline and relocating to the wing to keep her defender, Nneka Ogwumike, out of the paint. It resulted in a wide-open lane for Thomas to score her first basket in a Mercury uniform.
SPLIT TWO DEFENDERS. pic.twitter.com/gzttSaa3bW
— Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) May 18, 2025
Sabally said postgame that training camp had been difficult from a conditioning perspective because they didn’t stop running, and that commitment to motion on both ends of the floor was evident immediately. There wasn’t one offensive orchestrator; rather, everyone’s collective ability to read the floor and manipulate the defense away created opening after opening, even against a team of talented individual defenders.
Sabally was the box-score star, setting a Phoenix record with 27 points in her debut, but the way coach Nate Tibbetts unleashed Thomas was more revelatory. It seemed like Thomas had been playing in a phone booth for 10 years in Connecticut, considering how much room she had to operate.
The Mercury’s roster is filled with a lot of players who are newer to the WNBA, so they don’t necessarily have the reputations that demand being guarded as shooters. Rather, it was their placement on the floor that created the space for Thomas and Sabally to attack their individual matchups. Now that the first game is on tape, it remains to be seen if defenses will adjust, but at least Phoenix has an operating principle.
2. Kelsey Plum’s doing it all
When Plum arrived in Los Angeles, one of her stated goals was to show off more of her playmaking and end the season among the top five in assists. She had moved off the ball playing next to Chelsea Gray with the Aces, but she felt she had more in the tank beyond scoring. Through two games, she is right on track, fourth in the WNBA with five assists per game.
Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon used to say that Plum breaks down opponents, then reads the defense. She excelled with the Aces at getting into the paint and spraying the ball out or dumping it off to a big. While that is also a hallmark of coach Lynne Roberts’ offense, Plum was more versatile as a creator in the Sparks’ first two games. Multiple assists came out of a high screen, when she was able to then skip the ball cross-court to a shooter. She lulled the defense to sleep with her dribble, then rifled a pass into the paint.
Plum did all that while setting a WNBA record for points in a season opener with 37 against the Valkyries — you can tell Plum’s jumper is working when she starts bouncing as the shot goes up. She had more struggles against the Lynx’s defensive pressure, but still ended with 18 points on 14 shot attempts. L.A. didn’t have anything resembling this level of perimeter dynamism a year ago, and it is a welcome change as the Sparks angle to return to the postseason.
3. Brittney Sykes lives at the line
Arguably, the biggest surprise of the opening weekend was Washington’s 2-0 start. The Mystics made no offseason additions other than through the draft, lost four perimeter players to trades, expansion or free agency, and appeared to be positioning themselves for a high draft pick. Instead, Washington picked up two wins in crunch time thanks to the league’s leading scorer, Brittney Sykes.
Sykes has been impossible to prevent from getting to the rim, albeit against two teams that don’t have the best point of attack defenders, especially with Jordin Canada injured for Atlanta. She has taken 10 shots in the restricted area through two games and earned 25 free-throw attempts.
What a sequence by Brittney Sykes!
[image or embed]
— Dime (@dimeuproxx.bsky.social) May 16, 2025 at 8:53 PM
As the lone veteran guard for the Mystics, Sykes is showing off some tricks. She sealed the win against Atlanta with a drive to the bucket and a steal on the ensuing inbounds. Then, she helped foul out Jacy Sheldon against Connecticut, drawing three fouls against the second-year guard, who was the only Sun player who could score efficiently.
The volume of fouls is getting a little out of hand. Sixty fouls were called in Washington’s win over Connecticut, and the two Mystics’ games took 20 minutes longer on average than the other six games this weekend. Sykes is doing what it takes to win, but it has come at a cost.
Rookie of the week
Sonia Citron, Washington Mystics
While trying to decide between Citron and fellow Mystics rookie Kiki Iriafen, I posed a question to a friend: Was it more impressive to blow by Rhyne Howard for a score or stand up Brittney Griner in the post? My friend proceeded to remind me of Citron getting switched onto Griner and successfully fronting the 6-8 center to get a defensive stop.
sonia citron switched onto BG pic.twitter.com/SBEZPBKjkt
— correlation (@nosyone4) May 17, 2025
In the pre-draft process, general managers were glowing in their assessment of Citron, even if they didn’t believe she had superstar potential. It might be too early to put a ceiling on Citron, considering everything she did in her first two WNBA games. Force an All-Star into a turnover on the perimeter, blow by another All-Star on the way to the cup, hit a game-clinching runner? Check, check, check.
She has made 11 of 17 field goals, 10 of 12 free throws and handled every defensive assignment in the process. After holding her own against JuJu Watkins and Paige Bueckers last season, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that Citron is already a defensive asset as a rookie. She’s a total package player.
Sonia Citron making plays in the clutch
[image or embed]
— talkingwbb.bsky.social (@talkingwbb.bsky.social) May 18, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Game to watch
New York at Indiana, 1 p.m. (ET) Saturday, CBS
Is this an early WNBA Finals preview? The two deepest starting lineups in the league face off. New York’s length gets a test with Clark in the backcourt and Bonner on the wing, though Boston has to contend with Jones around the rim. Both offenses push the tempo and shoot 3s at a high volume, and both defenses attempt to disrupt that flow. We know the Liberty are title-worthy, but this is Indiana’s first matchup against an elite opponent.
(Photo of Kelsey Plum: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
