WNBA Power Rankings: Evaluating playoff landscape entering Olympic break
17-8. . . 1340. 3. . . . . 3
After the No. 1 team on this list, a case could be made that hottest squad in the WNBA is the Seattle Storm. Fourth in the standings, Seattle is 8-2 over its past 10 games, including wins over the Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx.
The only reason Seattle is at No. 3 instead of No. 2 is the fact that one of its two losses during that stretch was to the team directly ahead of it.
Led by Team USA star Jewell Loyd and former league MVP Nneka Ogwumike, the Storm are in contender-level form. The two have helped Seattle rank third in net rating and fourth in offensive rating through 25 games.
Throw in the fact that Seattle is third in the WNBA in defensive rating, with recent statement wins over the Lynx and Sun, and they justifiably crack the top three.
. . . 2048. 2. . 16-8. . . 2
The two-time defending WNBA champions have sent three players to the 2024 Summer Olympics. Chelsea Gray, MVP frontrunner A'ja Wilson, and Jackie Young will look to pick up where they left off in the WNBA by helping Team USA win at the highest level.
As for why the No. 5 seed is the No. 2 ranked team in the WNBA, look no further than the past 12 games—during which Las Vegas is 10-2.
During that 10-2 stretch, the Aces have defeated the Seattle Storm twice and the Connecticut Sun once. Yes, many of the other games have been against bottom-tier opponents, but Las Vegas' marquee wins have balanced out the narrative.
Winning back-to-back championships does wonders for a team's legitimacy, as well, making Wilson and the Aces a tough team to rank any lower than this.