The WNBA’s superstars of tomorrow are playing right now

The conversation among those who only hold a passing knowledge of the WNBA revolves around how the league is going to survive without some of its biggest names. And it’s been a rough offseason, without question: Breanna Stewart, gone for the year due to an Achilles injury. Maya Moore, taking the year off to focus on off-the-court endeavors. Even players like Angel McCoughtry, Diana Taurasi and Candace Parker are going to miss at least part of the season recovering from injuries as well.

But those closest to the league — players, coaches and general managers — know the real truth in the WNBA isn’t that there’s a finite amount of star power, but just how many players are stars, but don’t get the chance to shine quite so bright thanks to a limited amount of opportunities.

The NBA has 30 teams, which means 30 first options. The WNBA has 12, and a more limited amount of coverage devoted to it.

So sure, the league will be better off once all those listed above return to the fold. But it also means a wide-open 2019 season filled with potential steps forward from some players who have been overshadowed.

This is true from the top down. Take this insight from one WNBA player who spoke on background so she could speak freely: “Honestly, I would love to see how Emma Meesseman gets on, because I think it’s going to be interesting to see how she plays with [Elena] Delle Donne,” she said. “I think she could win the MVP if it all goes right.”

This is not an unfounded opinion. Meesseman already has a pair of top-six finishes in win shares under her belt, despite being just 26, missing 2018 to tend to overseas commitments, and having entered the league at age 20. Injuries in her first season paired with Delle Donne in 2017 limited how much the two stretch bigs could play off of one another, but the prospect of Meesseman as part of the Mike Thibault positionless offense is a tantalizing one.

It was a thought echoed in the form of concern by WNBA reigning coach of the year Nicki Collen. I mentioned that people were forgetting about Meesseman because she wasn’t playing in the league in 2018.

“Oh man, you don’t forget how good she is when you coach against her,” Collen replied with a wry smile.

Another WNBA player speaking on background named Diamond DeShields of the Chicago Sky as someone who can both make a run at Defensive Player of the Year and even MVP, something Collen echoed as well.

“I think Diamond really has a chance to be a star in this league,” Collen said of DeShields.

Her rookie season was impressive on multiple levels, while offering a roadmap to where she might take her game next. She scored 14.4 points per game, shooting 46.8 percent from 2-point range, but look at her final nine games: 50 percent from the field overall, 42.3 percent from 3, with a free throw percentage of 85.2 percent suggesting this was no fluke. That final three-game flourish? 26.3 points per game, including 85.7 percent from 3. That’s someone who is getting it.

And her most effective work might be on the defensive end, where her chasedown blocks became shareable content in record time:

As for Tiffany Hayes of the Atlanta Dream, who will be asked to serve as the lead scorer for most, if not all of the season while Angel McCoughtry continues her recovery from torn ligaments in her left knee, some of her breakout has already happened, even if she was snubbed by the All-Star voters last summer. At least, that’s how her general manager, Chris Sienko, sees it.

“Tiffany is one who has already stepped up, but hasn’t had the recognition for it,” Sienko said. “I think last year she was slighted by not being an All-Star… I think this year, I think she’s really going to be going at it even harder.”

Sienko had others beyond his team on the breakout list. For instance, he mentioned Jonquel Jones, who followed an absolutely dominant 2017 with a 2018 that started slowly as she reported late and suffered through some early issues with conditioning.

Her own coach/GM, Curt Miller, thinks the return of peak-level Jonquel Jones could be franchise-changing for a Sun team that’s made the playoffs each of the past two seasons, but has yet to advance — blocked both years by Taurasi’s Phoenix Mercury.

“Right off the bat, from the first day she walked into practice, JJ’s got her bounce back,” Miller said. “She’s so much quicker in short areas. She’s got a quickness to the boards… Playing against Brittney Griner every day in Russia has really helped her maturity, her progression… it’s back, and really excited about her confidence. She’s the premiere perimeter-shooting post player in the world.”

The easiest way to understand Jones’ worth? She’s been a top-10 win shares per 48 minutes player every single year in the league, but played just 20.5 minutes per contest in 2018, splitting time with Chiney Ogwumike at the 5. Now? Ogwumike is in Los Angeles, and Jones is a good bet to be part of the MVP conversation all season long.

Opportunities at the top filter down, too. Liz Cambage left Dallas for Las Vegas (you may have heard). Well, that opens up a starting spot at the five in Dallas for Imani McGee-Stafford, a 6-foot-7 rim protector who can shoot it from anywhere — and took three 3-point attempts in her first game with the Wings after Dallas acquired her from Atlanta for a third-round pick. Stewart’s absence means last year’s Most Improved Player, Natasha Howard, needs to become a frontline scorer, something she showed the capacity to do at times last year as well.

Even Taurasi’s injury opens the roster spot for Sophie Cunningham, a hard-nosed, winning player in the Taurasi mold who was taken No. 13 in this year’s draft by the Mercury.

The reality is that there are 144 players in the WNBA, and many more capable of playing at an elite level. There are a handful of stars we focus on, but here, too, injuries and absences just mean we get to focus on some others instead.

“The superstars of tomorrow? They’re playing now,” Sienko said.