How each WNBA team could win the championship this season

The WNBA has as much parity as any sports league and 2021 will be no exception. Everyone has a chance at a title — here’s how it could happen for each team.

There is no frontrunner to win the 2021 WNBA championship, which speaks to league parity and the surplus of talent a 12-team league has to offer. While targets will be out on the reigning champion Seattle Storm, they won’t be nearly the consensus favorite they were last year after two key departures in the offseason.

In just a 32-game regular season, anything can happen. Also, most teams haven’t had rotation players in training camp due to overseas commitments, and some won’t see them again until after the All-Star break. There will be a lot of learning and adjusting on the fly, and some teams we expect to flourish may flounder because of it.

Here’s how each WNBA team can win a title in 2021

Atlanta Dream

The Dream will win the championship if they get an All-Star performance from second-year guard Chennedy Carter. Carter suffered from an ankle injury that limited her rookie season to just 16 games out of 22, but when she was on the court, she averaged 17.4 points and 3.4 assists per game on 47.3 percent shooting from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point range. If she’s able to mesh with returning All-Star Tiffany Hayes, the Dream have complementary pieces like center Elizabeth Williams and guard Courtney Williams to make a run.

Chicago Sky

The Sky will win the championship if new-acquisition Candace Parker meshes seamlessly with the returning stars, and Diamond DeShields is fully recovered after missing most of the bubble to quad and knee injuries before leaving for personal reasons and not starting a single game. We know how good Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley will play, and if Azura Stevens and Kahleah Copper continue from their breakout seasons, Chicago could be the team to beat.

Connecticut Sun

The Sun will win a championship if they can reinvent their defense without Alyssa Thomas, who tore her Achilles overseas, and if DeWanna Bonner and Jonquel Jones find chemistry on offense. It stinks that Connecticut’s dream of having a full roster of star talent (Jones sat out last season) will have to wait another year, but there’s no question a Bonner-Jones duo can be scary defensively. If Brionna Jones, Beatrice Mompremier, and rookie DiJionai Carrington step up, Connecticut’s going to be scary in the playoffs.

Dallas Wings

The Wings will win a championship if Arike Ogunbowale goes supersonic and the team’s first- and second-year players are further along than we think. The league’s reigning scoring champion is looking to build off her 22.8 points per game last year but will play with a group that doesn’t have a player with more than five years of experience. For Ogunbowale to lead this team into the postseason, she’s going to need help from second-year No. 2 pick Satou Sabally, veteran guard Moriah Jefferson, and No. 1 2021 pick Charli Collier down low. Dallas has the pieces to contend in a few years, but it’s going to take a heckuva lot to make it happen right now.

Indiana Fever

The Fever probably won’t win the championship this year. The roster is a bit all over the place with no true star, though Kelsey Mitchell is on the verge of getting there and 6-foot-7 center Teaira McCowan has shown defensive promise. Indiana’s success will rely on that pair taking a leap, No. 4 overall pick Kysre Gondrezick taking over the guard position, and Lauren Cox, last year’s No. 3 pick who missed most of the season due to COVID-19, playing to her potential. It’s … going to be tough.

Las Vegas Aces

The Aces will win the championship if Bill Laimbeer can figure out how to get the most out of Liz Cambage and A’ja Wilson together on the floor. In 2019, the duo struggled to put up points though the 6-foot-4 MVP and 6-foot-8 center were stellar defensively. They’ll now be surrounded by All-Stars at nearly every position with Chelsea Gray and former No. 1 pick Kelsey Plum at point guard and two-time reigning Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby off the bench. Losing Angel McCoughtry to a torn ACL is a blow to their depth but Vegas still has the talent to avenge its three-game sweep by the Storm in last year’s Finals.

Los Angeles Sparks

The Sparks will win the championship if they can find a way to replace Chelsea Gray and Candace Parker, who both left in free agency. It won’t be easy, but they’ll start their rebuild with former MVP Nneka Ogwumike and All-Star Kristi Toliver. For L.A. to compete it’ll need a boost in play from two-way guard Brittney Sykes and Chiney Ogwumike in the post. Is a championship run probable? No. But L.A. won’t be an easy team to get past.

Minnesota Lynx

The Lynx will win the championship if Kayla McBride and Aerial Powers fit seamlessly into the program Cheryl Reeve has re-shaped from the dynasty Lynx. Napheesa Collier and Sylvia Fowles are an elite defensive pair in the post, and Rookie of the Year Crystal Dangerfield’s gravity should open the floor for all involved. Minnesota has the talent to win for the first time since 2017. Can they fit the pieces together this quickly?

New York Liberty

The Liberty will win the championship if Sabrina Ionescu is already in the MVP discussion. We only saw 2.5 games from her last year before she turned her ankle and missed the rest of the season with a grade-3 sprain. In her second game, she scored 33 points on 11-of-20 shooting with six 3-pointers and 7 assists in 34 minutes. If she’s even better than the high standards set out for her this season, her play along with new acquisitions Betnijah Laney and Natasha Howard will make the Liberty a force.

Phoenix Mercury

The Mercury will win the championship if Diana Taurasi stays healthy, the team helps Brittney Griner reinvent her game, and Skylar Diggins-Smith expands on her excellent debut season from last year. Griner’s too talented to get phased out of the league, but teams have started to expose her lack of lateral quickness, and the Mercury thrived with a bouncier Brianna Turner down low. It’ll be a challenge but Sandy Brondello will have to take Griner out of her comfort zone for the team to be at its best.

Seattle Storm

The Storm will win the championship if Breanna Stewart’s hot streak keeps rolling, 40-year-old Sue Bird stays healthy, Jewell Loyd plays as well as she did in last year’s title run, and 21-year-old Ezi Magbegor is able to fill in Natasha Howard’s role. Stewart has won three championships and three Finals MVPs in one year since returning from a torn Achilles, and though Bird only played 11 games last season, she returned when it mattered. Magebgor will be the interesting piece as the second-year 6-foot-4 big will be thrown into the fire replacing one of the league’s best defenders.

Washington Mystics

The Mystics will win the championship if Elena Delle Donne is fully healed from her back procedure, Myisha Hines-Allen builds on her runner-up Most Improved Player campaign from 2020, and Tina Charles plays like a star in a lesser role. Delle Donne had surgery in December and she’ll miss the first three-to-six games of the season. Hines-Allen went from scoring two points per game two years to averaging north of 17, but will have to make up for the absences of Aerial Powers (free agency) and Alysha Clark (Lisfranc foot injury). Charles may be the most interesting new piece as she debuts for the Mystics after spending six seasons in New York. Can a Delle Donne-Charles frontcourt work?