WNBA Power Rankings: The Connecticut Sun are your new number one

For the first time all season, someone other than the Seattle Storm or Las Vegas Aces holds the No. 1 spot in our WNBA Power Rankings. Congrats to the Connecticut Sun.

It’s happened.

I never expected to write this before the season began, but a team other than Seattle or Vegas has taken over the top spot in the WNBA power rankings. It seemed like the 2021 season would be a battle between last year’s two best teams and to some extent it has been, but for now, we have a change in the top spot.

Riding an eight-game winning streak, the Connecticut Sun are the leaders in this week’s power rankings.

So, what about everyone else?

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

Atlanta is now tied with Indiana in the loss column. And while the Fever seem capable of pulling out the surprise win every now and then, the Dream have lost their past 10 games and…well, it’s hard to see much relief. At this point, there’s really not a ton to write about this team. Dream fans should be hoping for a lottery win.

Per Across The Timeline, the Fever are just 0.5 games up on New York for the best lottery odds, with the Dream 1.5 games back. It’s going to be a close battle down the stretch to see which team winds up with the best shot at the No. 1 overall pick. Indiana has been playing some decent basketball lately, which is good for team morale and chemistry, but not quite as good for the team’s long-term future. It’s been good to see Victoria Vivians playing the best basketball of her career, though.

Still barely holding onto a playoff spot, the Sami Whitcomb injury is probably the thing that ends New York’s chances of making some noise, as they’d have to make the postseason in order to upset anyone in the postseason. New York has lost four games in a row, but a bright spot has been watching rookie DiDi Richards develop a perimeter game on the offensive end.

Last week, I had the Sparks seventh, because they had Nneka Ogwumike back and were starting to play some really good basketball. But then the Sparks lost all three of their games this week, dropping back to the No. 10 seed. While I still think L.A. gets past the Liberty at some point, it’s no guarantee that they earn one of the two playoff spots that they’re competing with Washington and Dallas for. The talent is here, but the results are inconsistent.

The Wings are a weird team. After beating the Sky on the 17th, Dallas went out and lost to the Fever. But just when it seemed that this team was ready to fall off a cliff, they defeated Washington on Thursday. A 76-75 loss to the Mystics on Saturday — a game in which Washington was without Elena Delle Donne and Tina Charles — has us soured on Dallas once again, though. The good news? Dallas plays twice this week and both games are against Atlanta. That could be a big boost to their playoff hopes.

Getting Elena Delle Donne back and then immediately losing Tina Charles to injury has to be frustrating for Mystics fans. Even more frustrating is that EDD isn’t fully back either, which means the team was back to starting Theresa Plaisance last game. But Plaisance had 11 points and the Mystics rebounded from a loss to Dallas on Thursday to defeat the Wings on Saturday. If Washington can get close to full health, this is a playoff team. The big question now though: will they?

Coming into a two-game series with Seattle, the Sky were right at .500 and were in a pretty precarious place. If they lost two games to one of the league’s best teams, Chicago falls to 12-14, putting them right in the thick of the fight to even make the playoffs. But then Chicago won both games, extending their win streak to three games. And they didn’t just win: on Sunday, the Sky beat the Storm 107-75, just absolutely stomping the defending champs. Six Sky players scored in double figures, including 14 points from rookie Dana Evans.

Phoenix is another team that didn’t feel 100 percent like a lock for a playoff spot at one point, but a six-game winning streak has taken them from 9-10 to 15-10. This is what happens when Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and Diana Taurasi are all healthy. In fact, against New York, all three players scored at least 20 points. Sure, there remain plenty of concerns about depth and this winning streak has mostly been against weak competition, but Phoenix looks like they can beat anyone right now. Two of their next three games being against Indiana is good news as well.

If Sylvia Fowles hasn’t shot up your MVP rankings, then what are you doing? Fowles ranks 10th in points per game, second in rebounds per game, second in steals per game, and second in blocks per game. At the very least, she’s the favorite for Defensive Player of the Year. And with how dominant she’s been on both ends, you can’t count the Lynx out against any team. Their only losses since mid-June have been to the Sun.

Honestly? I almost dropped the Storm out of the top three, as the team has now lost three games in a row. I probably should have dropped them. Teams are figuring Seattle out and without Alysha Clark and Natasha Howard on the team anymore, there are some clear gaps at various spots on the floor. Before Sunday’s blowout loss to Chicago, I thought Seattle was still the team to beat in a series because two of their losses were with Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird both out. But now? I’m not so sure.

For every good team, there’s always a team that they match up poorly with. For Vegas, that team is Connecticut. The Aces have a great big duo of A’ja Wilson and Liz Cambage, but they struggle to deal with Jonquel Jones because she’s such a versatile threat, and that’s led to Vegas going 0-3 against the Sun. Sure, that means the team is 19-4 against all the other teams, but when you can’t get past the team that’s proving to be your biggest competition…well, that complicates things for you.

No more #disrespeCT from us: the Sun are the best team in the WNBA right now. Jonquel Jones is the MVP frontrunner. Brionna Jones is the Most Improved frontrunner. DeWanna Bonner continues to be a scoring machine, while Briann January has shown she clearly has a lot left in the tank at age 34. I’ll never stop worrying about bench depth with this team, but the Sun just keep winning games, with an eight-game winning streak right now. Of their six losses, three came while Jones was away at EuroBasket and two of the other three were in overtime. The other was a weird loss to Indiana in July.