WNBA Power Rankings: How far have the Aces fallen?

We're roughly a quarter of the way through the WNBA season and we're already starting to see some early season trends reversing — the Liberty and Storm are back, the Wings are falling off. But there are plenty of teams, like the Sun and Lynx, who have been consistently dominant from Opening Night.

Here's how all 12 WNBA teams rank after the first month of the season.

WNBA Power Rankings: Week 4

The Connecticut Sun finally picked up their first loss but it was mostly a blip — a seven-point loss to the New York Liberty, who are No. 2 on these rankings. They bounced back from that loss by beating the Indiana Fever by 17 and have now won four of their last six games by 15+. The gap has closed a bit but they still have the best point differential in the league and there's no reason to think they'll fall off any time soon.

The Liberty might be the hottest team in the league right now. They've won seven straight including handing the Sun their first loss of the season. Breanna Stewart might be the MVP frontrunner at this point but they're also getting fantastic contributions from Sabrina Ionescu and Betnijah Laney on the perimeter and Jonquel Jones inside. They have their eyes on a title but they're definitely not taking the regular season for granted.

The Lynx have been scary good to start the season. They've already lost three games but two of those, against the Sun and Mercury, were by a single point and their point differential is right on par with the Liberty and Sun. Napheesa Collier has slowed down a bit but their shooters are carrying them — Kayla McBride, Alanna Smith, Bridget Carleton and Cecilia Zandalasini are all shooting better than 40 percent from beyond the arc on more than two attempts per game.

The Storm have shaken off their early struggles to come roaring back up the standings. They're 7-1 in their last eight games, outscoring opponents by an average of 14.0 points per 100 possessions and notching big wins over the Mercury, Aces and Sparks. Nneka Ogwumike has been in beast mode and Jewell Loyd is putting up big numbers despite struggling with her shooting efficiency. If her open shots start falling they could hit another level.

The Aces are tied with the Dream and the Mercury in the standings but get the edge based on their underlying fundamentals. Yes, they're on a three-game losing streak, their first since 2019, but they've won back-to-back titles and they're the only one of the 0.500 teams with a positive point differential — the Dream are minus-4.4 per 100 possessions, the Mercury are minus-5.9. This is an unusual skid, but they'll pull out of it.

Rhyne Howard has been the engine but the Dream are deep and versatile and proving it night to night. They already have wins over the Aces and Sky, they get to the line a ton, don't turn the ball over and make their opponent work for anything on defense. It may be that the talent gap between them and the top teams is too big, but if some of their 3s start falling or their defense really clicks they could make a leap.

The Mercury are 2-0 since Brittney Griner made her regular-season debut and it's already clear how transformative her presence is. She's averaging 17.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 blocks per game, shooting 63.6 percent from the floor, and the Mercury are plus-25 in her 60 minutes on the floor. With her controlling the interior and Kahleah Copper hitting everything on the outside, they could be ready to jump into the mix as a fringe contender.

The Sky are 4-6 but have just one double-digit loss and a fairly respectable minus-1.0 differential per 100 possessions. And they're a team that, on paper, has plenty of upside. Angel Reese is still adjusting and shooting under 40 percent from the field. As she finds her offensive rhythm their frontcourt becomes even more dangerous. And Kamilla Cardoso is still finding her legs after missing the first six games of the season. She's picked up 12 fouls and just a single block in 67 minutes but when she adjusts it could be a big defensive lift.

The Wings have lost five straight and the enormous load Arike Ogunbowale was carrying is starting to show. She's averaging 24.0 points per game on this losing streak but shooting 36.2 percent from the field and 26.2 percent from beyond the arc, with 4.6 turnovers per game. The Wings have been hammered by injuries but if the plan is to just let Ogunbowale by a one-person offense, they're going to fall out of the playoffs.

The Sparks have suffered some big losses lately but Dearica Hamby is still keeping herself in the MVP conversation and both Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson are making solid contributions. They're still figuring things out, as a group, on the offensive side of the ball but they're just going to get better as the season goes along.

The Fever managed to scrape out their third win of the season but those wins have each been followed by a loss, by a combined 72 points. They just haven't been able to manage out any momentum which, isn't all that surprising considering they have the youngest roster in the league and are starting a rookie, a second-year player and a third-year player. They're learning and improving but growth isn't linear.

The Mystics picked up their first win of the season, a 19-point victory over the Atlanta Dream. That win was powered by outlier 3-point shooting — 17-of-31 from beyond the arc — but they've been better of late and their three previous losses came by just 15 points combined. They still have a long way to go to get to respectability but they're moving in the right direction.