We all know who the stars of the WNBA are, the A'ja Wilsons and Breanna Stewarts of the world, the players who will be the main characters of the WNBA postseason. But just because you have someone like Wilson on your roster doesn't mean you're guaranteed to win a postseason series. You still need other players to step up.
These players might not be stars, but their play in the postseason will go a long way toward determining just how far their team can go. Let's look at the biggest x-factor for each WNBA playoff team.
Minnesota Lynx: Jessica Shepard
Jessica Shepard is good enough to start on basically every WNBA team. The fact that the Lynx have her coming off the bench behind Alanna Smith speaks to just how good — and deep — this Minnesota roster is.
Shepard is the WNBA's most efficient shooter this year, knocking down a WNBA-best 63.8 percent of her total shot attempts. She's also top 10 in offensive rebounds and averages an impressive 2.6 assists per game.
Her range doesn't really extend past the paint, but Shepard is money at the rim and gives the Lynx a strong safety valve in the middle if the defense pressures the ball out of Napheesa Collier's hands.
Las Vegas Aces: Cheyenne Parker-Tyus
Sure, you could just as easily put Jackie Young or NaLyssa Smith here, but I'd rather take this as a chance to talk about how the hottest team in the league essentially added a very good player to its roster right as the playoffs began.
Cheyenne Parker-Tyus has played just two games this season for the Aces, averaging just 7.0 minutes in those contests, but she's immediately reminded everyone why she was a key offseason addition for this roster, averaging 8.0 points on 62.5 percent shooting.
Parker-Tyus — who was out most of this season due to her pregnancy — will allow the Aces to basically go completely away from Kiah Stokes and Megan Gustafson as the backup bigs, allowing the team to get positive offensive contributions when either Wilson or Smith sit.
Atlanta Dream: Naz Hillmon
You can make a very good argument that no player has transformed her game this season more than Naz Hillmon.
Hillmon is a player who I was admittedly suspicious of when she came out of Michigan, because something about her game just seemed like it wouldn't work in the WNBA. She was an undersized four whose best collegiate skill had been rebounding, but without ideal size, it seemed like she'd struggle to find a role in the pro game.
That was sort of the case before Karl Smesko took over as the Dream head coach, but now Hillmon has been transformed into a hugely important piece of Smesko's offensive attack. It's a system that relies on shooting, and it looked doomed in the preseason because this roster didn't feel like one that had the spacing to run it effectively.
Entering this year, Hillmon had a combined one 3-pointer made in her WNBA career. This year, she's made 53 of them. While she hasn't been the most efficient player, her willingness to adapt her game has been huge for Atlanta.
Phoenix Mercury: DeWanna Bonner
For better or worse, DeWanna Bonner is the x-factor for the Mercury.
The Mercury should have a depth advantage in the postseason, because we literally watched this team play excellent basketball to start the year with multiple starters injured thanks to a scrappy crew of rookies.
That is unlikely to be the case, though. Those rookies have barely seen the floor lately, and it looks like we're destined to get big minutes from Bonner off the bench. At her best, Bonner can still put up buckets, but she's struggled with consistency. Can we get the throwback version in time for the playoffs?
New York Liberty: Emma Meesseman
The Liberty adding Emma Meesseman midseason hasn't been quite the game-changer that people expected, but a big part of that is the fact that the Liberty were dealing with injuries. Healthy now, New York can bring Meesseman off the bench this postseason, giving it a distinct advantage.
Meesseman's addition might not have made the Liberty a top team by record, but she's showed that she's still an elite shooter this year, connecting on 66.7 percent of her 3-point looks and 57.2 percent of her shots overall.
With the rest of the team's offensive arsenal back, Meesseman should face much easier assignments, as teams can't afford to send a double at her on a consistent basis with so many other scoring threats on the floor.
Indiana Fever: Aerial Powers
Assuming Caitlin Clark doesn't magically return for the playoffs, the Indiana Fever are big underdogs here because of the injuries the team has suffered this year, which have forced the team to sign and give heavy minutes to veterans like Odyssey Sims and Aerial Powers.
Sims will be a huge part of whether the Fever sink or swim, but I think Powers might be more important in an eventual postseason series because the Fever don't really have a ton going on on the wing.
The veteran has scored in double figures in three of her past five games and shot 40 percent or better in four of the last five. If she can give Indiana consistent scoring off the bench, the team's ceiling goes way up.
Seattle Storm: Brittney Sykes
Brittney Sykes has a chance to be the most impactful midseason trade acquisition in these playoffs.
The Storm are basically running a seven-player rotation at this point, magnifying the importance of each member of that group. Adding Sykes gave the team a very good secondary ball-handler beside Skylar Diggins, someone who can both score and defend at a high level but also understands how to play team basketball.
Sykes has struggled a bit with her 3-point shot since the trade, and her shooting at the rim has taken a hit this season. But when she's on one, she can score effectively at multiple levels. Her defense, though, is what will be needed in the first round against a very good Las Vegas Aces team, as she'll have to slow down Jackie Young. I think she's up for that task.
Golden State Valkyries: Cecilia Zandalasini
Golden State got Cecilia Zandalasini back at just the right time from her calf injury and will really need her shooting if the team is going to pull out the ultimate first-round upset.
I don't think it happens, but Zandalasini is a 40.7 percent shooter from deep on 4.8 attempts per game this year, so it's possible she gets hot at just the right moment and the Valkyries manage to steal — or at least come close to stealing — a game off the No. 1 seed Lynx.