It’s been a start and stop WNBA season so far. Little injuries are happening across the board to various stars, and for certain teams it’s been difficult to get a grasp of what their full healthy complement might look like. The Indiana Fever are one of those teams, and given the amount of coverage Caitlin Clark gets, no absence has been given quite the same level of attention.
But she’s back! Not just back on the active roster but Back back. Clark’s 32-9-8 game against the Liberty was maybe the best performance we’ve seen all year against the league’s top defense, and Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell kept the team at a 2-3 mark in her absence. One might think with her return that this should vault them into the tier below the Liberty. Or maybe higher if you’re a Fever fan who is feeling themself way too much.
You can check my work here below.
WNBA Eastern Conference Standings:
Team | Wins | Losses | Winning Pctg. | Net Rtg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Liberty | 9 | 1 | .900 | +15.7 |
Atlanta Dream | 8 | 3 | .727 | +9.0 |
Indiana Fever | 5 | 5 | .500 | +6.0 |
Washington Mystics | 4 | 7 | .364 | -2.8 |
Chicago Sky | 3 | 7 | .300 | -11.4 |
Connecticut Sun | 2 | 8 | .200 | -16.9 |
The Atlanta Dream are doing something special
The Atlanta Dream are doing the thing. As evidenced earlier, they have a plus-9.0 net rating with eight wins and three losses on the season. Allisha Gray is looking like an MVP candidate often enough to start legitimately putting her in the discussion. Rhyne Howard continue to grow. Two of the best bigs in the league in Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones joined the team this year. They have graduated from “interesting concept of a team” to “legitimate problem.”
In terms of net rating, they are a sizable three points better than the Fever, but the Dream have the advantage of beating them two out of the three times they played. One of those times was without Caitlin Clark, so that might mean something to you.
It’s worth mentioning that the Dream have only played one team over .500 at this moment in the Seattle Storm. Though Atlanta won, the Storm are only 6-5. There hasn’t really been a test yet.
So this is where we’re at. The defending champions up top and two unproven teams below them jockeying for the next spot. The Dream play the Liberty tomorrow, June 17, at 7:00 p.m. The Fever don’t play the Liberty until mid-July.
However, Atlanta and Indiana face off for the final time on Friday, July 11 at 7:30 p.m. Hopefully both teams will be fully locked in by then. We’ll see where the standings are at when the time comes.