5 key players to watch in the 2021 WNBA season

This WNBA season is set up for unprecedented parity, with difference-makers on every roster. Here are a few key players who could help shape the season.

The 2021 WNBA season may be the most competitive yet with half the league able to make a case for their team as title-favorite. After a lopsided 2020 campaign inside the bubble saw a handful of competitors without key players due to COVID-19-related opt-outs, the league’s elites have re-tooled while the runaway champion Seattle Storm had one starter lured away in free agency and traded another.

A lot has changed since we last saw Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird, and Jewell Loyd complete a three-game Finals sweep of the Las Vegas Aces, but a handful of the offseason’s biggest additions will come merely by players returning to the court. The Sun will have 6-foot-6 center Jonquel Jones back in the rotation, the Washington Mystics will be led by 2019 MVP Elena Delle Donne and Natasha Cloud again, the Atlanta Dream will return elite scoring guard Tiffany Hayes, and after missing significant time in the bubble, Brittney Griner will play for the Phoenix Mercury, Sabrina Ionescu will hold down the point guard position for the New York Liberty, and Diamond DeShields will star for the Chicago Sky.

The WNBA saw a second consecutive chaotic free agency period, too. Franchise cornerstone Candace Parker left the Los Angeles Sparks after 13 seasons to return home and team up with Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, and DeShields with the Sky; Alysha Clark left the Storm for the Mystics; Kayla McBride left the Aces for the Minnesota Lynx; and Aerial Powers left the Mystics to join her. So who will end up being the biggest difference-makers this season?

Here are five players who will help shape the 2021 WNBA season

It’s easy to visualize how good the Sky can be at full strength because we’ve seen most of this core group before, and now they’ll be playing alongside one of the best do-it-all forwards in the game’s history in Parker. But the biggest question around the Sky’s season is whether DeShields will return at full strength next season.

After scoring 16.2 points per game with 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.3 steals in her sophomore season, DeShields entered the bubble last season with a knee injury and ultimately left for personal reasons shortly after suffering from an additional quad injury. She didn’t start a single game and played just 17.2 minutes on average.

Without DeShields, the Sky remained competitive due to breakout performances from forward Azurá Stevens and backup guard Kahleah Copper, but their ceiling was capped. When DeShields is healthy, she may be the most impressive athlete in the league and her elite first step is a defensive nightmare for opposing wings. But if she’s unable to build off her 2019 showing, Chicago might not be as intimidating as it seems.

Without Liz Cambage in the bubble, the Aces shocked everyone by winning the regular season and advancing to the Finals. New signee Angel McCoughtry, fresh off knee injuries that sidelined her for all of one season and part of another, was tremendous in limited minutes, and third-year No. 1 pick A’ja Wilson shined as a frontcourt bruiser in the paint, which awarded her the MVP trophy. Still, Vegas fell short by a sizable gap to the Storm in the Finals.

Now the Aces will add All-Star point guard Chelsea Gray, return 2017 No. 1 pick Kelsey Plum after her torn Achilles, and, maybe most importantly, have its 6-foot-8 center who scored 15.9 points with 8.2 rebounds in 2019 back. Still, one big question stands: Can Cambage and Wilson play at the same time in Bill Laimbeer’s 3-point-averse offense?

In 2019, Wilson and Cambage played 429 minutes together and scored just 95.3 points per 100 possessions. Defensively they were elite, holding opponents to 92.4 points per 100 possessions, but their scoring was on par with the 10th-ranked Liberty. Will this year be different? Both players have proven they’re elite and can carry a team on their own, but 1 + 1 doesn’t always equal 2 in basketball.

The reigning champions have three reasons to feel like this year will be a repeat of last year: Bird, Loyd, and Stewart. But they’ll be without 3-and-D wing Alysha Clark, who was often tasked to guard the opponent’s best non-center scorer, and Natasha Howard, the Defensive Player of the Year and MVP candidate in 2019. While one person can’t fill two roles, Ezi Magbegor might have to provide a little of both for Seattle to repeat.

The 21-year-old second-year player from Australia didn’t play a massive role in her rookie season, but she did score 6.5 points (on 57 percent shooting) with 2.5 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in just 13.3 minutes. In 2021, she could be in line for a massive leap with plenty of opportunities on the table and another year next two debatably the best player in the world in Stewart. The duo played just 106 minutes together but dominated, outscoring opponents by 22.4 points per 100 possessions.

Aerial Powers’ departure followed by Alysha Clark’s injury and Emma Meesseman’s delayed return until after the Olympics break leaves a sizable gap at the forward spot that Hines-Allen is left to fill. Myisha Hines-Allen took a massive leap with most of her star teammates sitting out of the bubble season, averaging 17.0 points on 51 percent shooting with 8.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.4 steals a year after playing just 7.8 minutes per game and scoring 2.3 points. Will she be able to replicate her same effectiveness? And how does she fit in a smaller role next to true bigs Delle Donne and Charles?

If Hines-Allen is able to ball-stop on the wing and space the floor as she did last year, maybe D.C. will be OK without a handful of key players. But that’s a lot to put on the third-year forward who’s just starting to play significant minutes.

With Napheesa Collier and Sylvia Fowles down low, the Lynx may be the team best equipped to contain a Cambage-Wilson, Delle Donne-Charles, or Stewart-Magbegor interior unit. But can they score enough to make it matter? Minnesota addressed its biggest problem by adding not only 3-point savant Kayla McBride, but two-way wing Aerial Powers, who was averaging 16.3 points per game on 46 percent shooting in six bubble games before suffering a season-ending hamstring injury.

Powers will have a big role to fill as a scorer and secondary play-maker to last year’s Rookie of the Year Crystal Dangerfield, but if she can live up to it, the Lynx could be a darkhorse challenger to the league’s elite. If she can take defensive attention away from the post and find rim-running bigs in stride, Minnesota’s offense can reach a level it hasn’t since the Maya Moore, Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson, and Seimone Augustus dynasty.