WNBA Power Rankings: All-Star Break edition

In this week’s WNBA Power Rankings, we take a look at the state of the league as everyone pauses for the All-Star break. 

We’ve arrived at the All-Star break. The good news is that the WNBA All-Star Game is this week! The bad news is that because of the Olympics, we won’t see any WNBA games until August — though we do get to see the Olympics, which I suppose is a positive.

The final week of the first half shook some things up in the power rankings. The biggest change: the Indiana Fever, who I’ve long thought would be ranked 12th all season, are no longer ranked last after a three-game winning streak.

Plus, there are some more shake-ups in the rest of the rankings. Read on to see where your favorite team lands this week.

Where does each team rank in this week’s WNBA Power Rankings?

Atlanta is a mess right now. There’s the Chennedy Carter suspension thing hanging over their heads as we enter the break, plus they’ve lost four in a row, including Sunday’s 79-68 loss to the Fever. You could probably call this 12th spot a toss-up between Atlanta and Los Angeles if we were talking simply about the on-court production, but Los Angeles is in a better spot going forward — fewer questions about what the team looks like post-Olympics and just a better roster when at full strength.

Speaking of the Sparks and that better roster, we didn’t see the Ogwumike sisters return before the break, but the Sparks should get both back for the latter half of the season. A six-game losing streak took a team that was in playoff contention and put them in a huge hole, but five of those losses were to Seattle, Las Vegas, and Minnesota. That’s just a terrible schedule, but things get easier after the break. A playoff appearance is slipping away, but it’s not officially out of the question yet.

Sure, the Fever still have the worst record in the WNBA, but their three-game winning streak has them closing in on the Dream and Sparks, who’ve lost a combined 10 in a row. It seems this team is figuring out some rotation issues, with Teaira McCowan getting heavy minutes and the team leaning more on Kelsey Mitchell and Danielle Robinson. Will this run last? Probably not, but this winning streak — the first for Indiana since 2016 per Across The Timeline — must feel good for Fever fans.

The Wings have lost three in a row, but there are some bright spots. Charli Collier had arguably her best game as a pro on Sunday, finishing with 13 points and eight boards and playing some solid defense, though that defense didn’t always stop this explosive Aces frontcourt. Still, the No. 1 overall pick actually looking like the No. 1 overall pick is a great way to end the first half. Couple that with Bella Alarie having 11 points and six boards and Awak Kuier actually getting some minutes in the first half, and head coach Vickie Johnson has something to build on inside once the season resumes.

This Olympic break could be huge for the Mystics if Elena Delle Donne can get healthy by the end of it and if the team can get Emma Meesseman to come over for the second half. In that scenario, Washington is still an outside contender to have a strong finish to the year and make some playoff noise. But if the second half doesn’t feature those two things, we’ll see a lot of the same in Washington: Tina Charles being asked to do everything, then doing everything while the team itself treads water and finishes under .500.

Like Washington, the second half in New York depends on an injured big. In the Libs case, it’s Natasha Howard, the prized offseason acquisition who has barely seen the floor in 2021. This is an interesting team, but they aren’t going to consistently beat good teams without Howard anchoring the defense. The good news is that Kylee Shook has been on a roll offensively, even if she’s sometimes a defensive liability. And Sabrina Ionescu appears to be the healthiest she’s been since the start of her rookie season.

I don’t know what to think of Phoenix. Diana Taurasi is dealing with a chest injury, but the team managed to survive this Taurasi-less stretch better than their last one, with victories over both Vegas and Seattle. Sure, Seattle bounced back to defeat the Mercury on Sunday, but the Mercury still have to be happy about how they’ve been playing. Skylar Diggins-Smith has reminded the league that’s she one of the W’s best guards. Brittney Griner has had some explosive games, like her 29 and 15 on Friday. Phoenix isn’t a title contender, but they’re a solid playoff team.

Chicago looked poised at one point to challenge for a spot among the league’s elite teams after Candace Parker returned and the Sky seemed like they couldn’t lose. But they’ve dropped two in a row against the Wings and the Mystics, with the defense starting to falter. The good news — they played just one game this week, so the team should basically enter the second half with an extra week of rest over everyone else. Still, the inconsistency from players like Diamond DeShields and Azurá Stevens in a year where both were thought to be players who could make big leaps is disappointing.

Connecticut lost to the Fever on July 3, but are 2-0 since. And considering the Fever are now on a three-game winning streak, that loss doesn’t look quite as bad now. Connecticut drops one spot in this week’s rankings because of how well the Lynx are playing, but don’t think of that as a knock on this Sun team. Jonquel Jones — who had 17 and 17 against the Liberty on Sunday — is an MVP candidate, Brionna Jones is a Most Improved candidate, and DeWanna Bonner is still DeWanna Bonner.

The Lynx have now won seven in a row, including two wins over Vegas. Sylvia Fowles and Napheesa Collier are one of the best frontcourts in the league — Vegas is really the only team firmly ahead of them — and Damiris Dantas is playing some really good basketball at forward as well. Who’d have thought that the key to this team contending for a title was for the Liberty to release Layshia Clarendon early in the season?

We have a change atop the power rankings. The Aces held the spot for two weeks in a row, but two losses this week have necessitated this drop. Now, Vegas not having Liz Cambage for one of those and having to play Kiah Stokes at the 5 for extended minutes definitely needs to be accounted for, as does the Phoenix loss being in overtime. Nothing’s changed in my mind about the Aces being my title favorites when they have the whole team, but for now, Seattle is playing better.

The Storm lost to the Mercury on Friday, but are 4-1 since losing to the Aces back on June 27. That Mercury game also happened without Ezi Magbegor and Stephanie Talbot, and Seattle responded to that loss by defeating Phoenix the next game out. Mercedes Russell has answered all the questions I had about the center position for the Storm and the Breanna Stewart/Jewell Loyd duo remains pretty unstoppable. The second half of the WNBA season will likely feature a continued struggle for power between Seattle and Vegas. It’ll be fun.