Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Several teams and players have fallen far short of preseason expectations in the first half of the 2026 WNBA season.
- Once-proud rosters are struggling with aging stars and poor chemistry, while promising rookies find themselves buried on deep but mismatched lineups.
- The next moves for these franchises could define whether this disappointing stretch becomes a temporary setback or the start of a full rebuild.
At the beginning of the WNBA season, the majority of the league likely thought they had a shot to make the postseason in 2026. Player movement and expansion reshaped the league and while there were a handful of playoff locks, there were also spots that looked like they could go to a variety of teams.
These five players and/or teams have really stood out this season, in a bad way. From a title contender that's now fighting to make the playoffs to a rookie who went from WNBA ready to being a distant third big, these are the biggest disappointments at the midpoiint of the 2026 WNBA season.
New York Liberty
On paper, the New York Liberty looked like title contenders before the season. Sure, there was an obvious issue coming in with spacing that required Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu to both shrug off their 2025 shooting woes (which hasn't happened), but talent was supposed to win out.
Readers: Talent has not won out, though the numerous injuries and the lack of time together for the team's best players hasn't halped. The Liberty sit at 14-12 on the season, putting them seventh in the league standings as we approach the All-Star break. This is not where New York thought it would be.
Maybe most concerning: Satou Sabally, the offseason addition that was viewed as the thing that might put the Liberty over the top, has played in just 13 games and is averaging a career-low 16.8 minutes per contest. Injuries have plagued Sabally for much of her career and while she's looked like a top-10 player when at 100 percent, there's going to come a point where we have to worry she doesn't get back to 100 percent again.
Phoenix Mercury
The Phoenix Mercury played in the WNBA FInals last season. They lost Satou Sabally to the Liberty in free agency, but essentially ran back the same roster beyond that. So, you'd think they'd be worse, but not, like, that much worse.
You'd be wrong. The "all you need to win is Alyssa Thomas" axiom appears to have finally failed, and the Mercury are just 9-18 on the season. The team ranks near the bottom of the league in both offensive and defensive rating, struggling to score due to spacing issues and struggling on defense because they don't have the players needed to guard on the perimeter.
It might be time to rebuild this whole thing, because the roster is basically two stars who are at or past the end of their prime, surrounded by pieces that make like zero sense together. Yes, Phoenix deserves credit for finding a lot of rotation talent overseas, but that talent doesn't mesh super well with the players on this roster.
Alanna Smith, Dallas Wings
2025 co-Defensive Player of the Year Alanna Smith was the marquee free agency acquisiton for the Dallas Wings, but while her fellow ex-Lynx, Jessica Shepard, has turned into an All-Star in Dallas, Smith has seen her role plummet to the point that she's on the fringes of the rotation.
Smith entered the season with facial injuries that necessitated the wearing of a face mask. Somehow, that face mask seems to have zapped everything that made Smith such a good player in Minnesota. She's struggling to protect the rim. She's struggling to finish at the basket. And the Wings are really, really struggling when Smith is on the court:
Lineup | Net Rating |
|---|---|
Smith On Court | -7.3 |
Smith Off Court | +9.8 |
Dallas is 17 points per 100 possessions worse with Smith on the floor, so it definitely makes sense why the Wings are barely playing her at this point. It's been baffling to see how poorly Smith has fit in Dallas, and at this point it might already be time for the Wings to look to the trade market to solve this issue.
Lauren Betts, Washington Mystics
As soon as Lauren Betts landed with the Washington Mystics, it should have been clear that expectations needed to be lowered. Nothing against Betts, but landing on a roster that already had Shakira Austin and Kiki Iriafen was bound to limit Betts' opportunities.
And, well, that's exactly what's happened. She's averaging the fewest minutes and points of any of the first eight picks (not counting Iyana Martin, who stayed overseas), and just hasn't really found her footing in the league.
There's still hope for Betts. Like, I definitely wouldn't write her off yet, because she still has the upside to turn into one of the league's better back-to-the-basket bigs. The problem is that that's a skill set that seems to be less and less valued as time goes on, so it will keep getting harder for a player like Betts to make a major impact, especially as a rookie.
Chicago Sky
You could probably see this Chicago Sky train wreck coming from a mile away, though the Sky made moves this offseason like this team had a chance to contend, highlighted by the signing of Skylar Diggins.
But tension has grown between Diggins and the team, and that, combined with Rickea Jackson's season-ending ACL tear, has the Sky near the bottom of the league with a 9-17 record.
There have been a few recent signs of life, sparked in large part by the return of Courtney Vandersloot, but it's likely too little and too late. The team is 5-5 over its last 10 games, but still sits eight games under .500 because of how bad the start of the season went. This misguided attempt to build a playoff team in what should have been a rebuild year after trading away Angel Reese has been a complete failure.
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