3 highlights from the past week:
Paige Bueckers achieves first career double-double: The 2025 No. 1 overall draft pick headed off to Dallas after five years of college, though she missed about a season and a half of that due to injury. Still, she would have been ready for life as a professional even if she decided to declare for the 2024 draft. All this means is that Bueckers is coming into her rookie season with a ton of skill and basketball IQ ready to use. Bueckers has always been known as an elite passer, and she is showing that off with the Wings, feeding her teammates. She achieved the first double-double of what will be many in her career, scoring 12 points and making 10 assists, along with 1 rebound and 3 steals. Dallas needs to figure out their offense a bit more, but once it clicks, they seem to be on a good path.
Golden State Valkyries win first game in franchise history: Expansion teams are fun, but they likely aren't going to come out the gate as title contenders. The Golden State Valkyries have a team made up of a lot of international players with little WNBA experience, and they lost their first game to a fast-paced offensive performance from the LA Sparks. In their second game against the Washington Mystics, the Valkyries struggled immensely shooting from distance, yet they were still able to get ahead of the young Mystics to win their first game. With that pressure off their shoulders, they can now focus on building chemistry as a team and acclimating to the WNBA's style of play.
Napheesa Collier and Lynx are first team to record 3 wins: The WNBA have been all over the place in terms of how many games each team has played. For example, some teams have already played three, while the New York Liberty have still only played one game as of Thursday afternoon. Still, the Minnesota Lynx achieved a season-first on Wednesday night: the first WNBA team to get to three wins on their season. On top of that, they have been three consecutive games, and this means the Lynx are still undefeated in the 2025 season. They are the only undefeated team who has played three games, and the other undefeated teams left are the Phoenix Mercury (2-0) and the Liberty (1-0). The team's MVP, Napheesa Collier, is averaging 28.3 points per game through this first stretch of the season.
2 WNBA games to watch this weekend:
New York Liberty vs. Indiana Fever: Saturday, May 24, 1:00 p.m.
For the first time this season, the 2024 WNBA Champions will face the new and improved Indiana Fever, on Fever home court. It will definitely be a test to see if this revamped Indiana team can match up against the title favorites. New York delivered a dominant win over the Las Vegas Aces last Saturday, while the Fever are at 1-1 on their own season after losing by one point in Atlanta. Each team will have one more game before they meet this weekend, but expect an energetic game as the Fever look to make a statement with a win.
Las Vegas Aces vs. Seattle Storm: Sunday, May 25, 6:00 p.m.
For the first time since being traded in the offseason, Jewell Loyd will make her way back to Seattle. It will be a homecoming, after Jewell spent the first 10 years of her career with the franchise who drafted her No. 1 overall in 2015. Yet, it doesn't seem like the relationship ended on the best of terms, since Loyd singed an extension with the team at the end of the 2023 season only to request a trade at the end of the 2024 season. While the rumors have swirled about Loyd's final months with the Storm, the Aces will be looking to get into Seattle and get a win on the road. Loyd has been finding her footing offensively in Vegas, and maybe the motivation of being back in Seattle will be what she needs to have a great game. Regardless, there will be a lot of emotion in the air, and it's going to be a great game.
1 story to follow in the WNBA: Rookie pandemonium!
The WNBA's rookies have been showing out in the first weekend of the season. Of course, fans expected No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers to start hot, and she has. Along with her double-double against Minnesota, Bueckers scored 19 points against Seattle and 10 in the Wings' first game against Minnesota. Along with her, rookies like Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen and Saniya Rivers have all been impressive.
In Washington, Citron and Iriafen are getting a ton of minutes thanks to their team being young. Citron is averaging a league-high (among rookies) 14.7 points per game through three games, with Iriafen and Bueckers both behind her with 13.7 through three games. Sonia Citron seems unbothered and unfazed by the quicker, more physical WNBA style of play. Kiki Iriafen hasn't been afraid to get physical, either, and has been showing her strength in the post.
Saniya Rivers has only appeared in one of the Connecticut Sun's two games so far, but played well in her debut. She scored 11 points in that game, showing off a lot of defensive IQ and bringing energy to the Sun's lineup.
Another thing this rookie class has been excelling at is keeping their turnovers to a minimum. It's usually a trend for newer WNBA players to rack up a lot of turnovers, just because of the high pace of the game compared to college. Before you know it, you've made a small mistake that leads to turning the ball over — it's a part of the adjustment. Caitlin Clark, for example, reached double-digit turnovers early in her rookie season despite being an incredible player. This season, no rookie has averaged more than 3 turnovers per game in the first week.