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Local players, how to watch, and key storylines: What to know as the 2023 WNBA season tips off
There's plenty you need to know about the upcoming WNBA season, whether it's star players moving or drama amongst the top coaches.
The months between the 2022 and 2023 WNBA seasons amounted to one of the most chaotic offseasons in league history.
There was the ongoing saga of Brittney Griner, detained for nearly a year in Russia before her December release. The unprecedented movement of the WNBA’s top-end talent, with players joining forces to create superteams. The developing scandal over a coach allegedly bullying a player because of her pregnancy.
There’s plenty to go over ahead of Friday’s tip-off. Here’s what you need to know.
Key story lines
The return of Brittney Griner
After nearly 10 months of detention in Russia following her arrest for possession of hash oil cartridges, the eight-time All-Star will be back on the floor for the Phoenix Mercury.
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Griner had 10 points in 17 minutes in her first preseason game against the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday. All eyes will be fixed on how she transitions back to high-level basketball stateside after a year-long absence. With Diana Taurasi and Skylar Diggins-Smith dealing with injuries, Phoenix struggled without Griner — they went from a Finals appearance in 2021 to a first-round exit in 2022.
With Griner back and former MVP Taurasi in the twilight of her career, the Mercury are a team to watch outside of the main contenders.
The arrival of Aliyah Boston
Worcester’s Aliyah Boston was the surefire No. 1 pick in April’s draft, joining the Indiana Fever after their dreadful 5-31 campaign in 2022.
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Boston won’t be the difference between basement-dwelling and contention, but she’ll have the opportunity to make an impact right away with a starting role and plenty of touches. After dominating college basketball for four years — losing just nine games over that span — Boston will need to adjust to being the focal point of a struggling team.
Going first overall is typically a prelude to a Rookie of the Year nod — 10 of the last 15 No. 1 picks have won It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Boston continue that trend.
The New York-Las Vegas arms race
The Las Vegas Aces had no interest in running it back with their championship squad after topping the Connecticut Sun in four games. Reigning MVP A’ja Wilson, Finals MVP Chelsea Gray, and All-Stars Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum will get a little help from two-time MVP Candace Parker, who is helping to form one of the most stacked lineups in the league’s history.
The New York Liberty didn’t start from the top like Las Vegas, but they certainly had some talent with burgeoning star Sabrina Ionescu. The Liberty saw the Aces raise and moved to match, making a blockbuster deal to land 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones, who had requested a trade out of Connecticut.
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But that move left New York an MVP short of the Aces, so the Liberty turned around and made one of the biggest free-agency splashes ever by bringing in another former MVP (and two-time Finals MVP) in Breanna Stewart, plus one of the league’s finest point guards in Courtney Vandersloot as a cherry on top.
Eight of last season’s 20 All-Stars play for either Las Vegas or New York, including all of the top four vote-getters from 2022 — an unprecedented concentration of talent in two teams.
Rosters and expansions
Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has a tricky balance to find. With only 12 teams, there aren’t enough roster spots for the talent entering the league from the women’s game. The Dallas Wings even cut the No. 1 pick in 2021, Charli Collier, on Wednesday. But finding the right markets to support further expansion teams is far from clear-cut.
The Globe’s Gary Washburn has reported extensively on this topic, and expansion talks are always moving slowly. The clearest candidate seems to be Toronto (with Canada still lacks a team) or perhaps somewhere in the Bay Area, which is among the biggest untapped markets.
The women’s game has never been more popular, particularly at the college level, where stars like Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers have drawn record viewership, but that hasn’t always translate to interest in the pros.
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New franchises are coming, but when and where remain question marks.
What’s up with Becky Hammon?
No WNBA coach in recent years has generated more headlines than the Aces’ Becky Hammon, for reasons both good and bad.
The good: The future Hall of Famer hit the ground running in her first season in Las Vegas, leading the Aces to their first championship — the first rookie coach to win it all — and taking Coach of the Year honors.
The bad: She’s been suspended for the Aces’ first two games over alleged discrimination against All-Star Dearica Hamby, who announced she was pregnant with her second child (but planning to play in 2023) during last season’s championship parade. Hamby was subsequently dealt to the Los Angeles Sparks in January. Hammon has denied the allegations.
And the complicated: Will she, or any woman, ever land an NBA coaching job? Hammon has seems like the most likely candidate to break that barrier. She’s the only woman to serve as a head coach in any capacity in the NBA during her time as an assistant with the Spurs, but a handful of interviews over the years have not materialized into offers.
“You’re going to have to come after me,” she told Yahoo Sports. “I’m not going to beg for a job anymore.”
WNBA players with local ties
Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever (Worcester) — The Worcester Academy product is the standout name in the WNBA this season. The South Carolina star is the favorite to take home Rookie of the Year honors after a dominant college career.
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Veronica Burton, Dallas Wings (Newton) — A superstar at Newton South and a two-time Globe All-Scholastic Super Teamer, Burton was taken No. 7 overall by the Wings in 2022. She mostly came off the bench as a rookie, playing 15.2 minutes per game. Her role could change for her sophomore season with a new head coach (Latricia Trammell) and plenty of roster turnover.
Shey Peddy, Phoenix Mercury (Melrose) — Roxbury native and Melrose High grad Shey Peddy was drafted by Chicago in 2012 but never caught on, taking a six-year detour to play overseas before returning to the WNBA with the Washington Mystics in 2019. Since 2020 she’s been an impact player in Phoenix, and started 24 games last season.
Taylor Soule, Minnesota Lynx (West Lebanon, N.H., Boston College) — The New Hampshire native, who starred for Kimball Union Academy and later for Boston College, played in two preseason games for the Minnesota Lynx and has a chance of making the roster.
How to watch
ESPN will again broadcast much of the WNBA’s national coverage, with 25 regular-season games to air across ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2. This year’s All-Star game, on July 15, will be broadcast on ABC in prime time for the first time.
More games will be available across a variety of networks and streaming services, including Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, NBA TV, and Twitter throughout the season.
Locally, NBC Sports Boston reached a deal this week to broadcast 31 Connecticut Sun games for each of the next two seasons.
Favorites for the WNBA title
⋅ Las Vegas Aces +120
⋅ New York Liberty +130
⋅ Washington Mystics +1200
⋅ Phoenix Mercury +2500
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Unsurprisingly, the Aces and Liberty hold a duopoly over the betting odds, with each boasting nearly even odds to win it all at the end of the season.
The only other teams that Vegas thinks are even in contention are the Mystics at 12-to-1 odds, and the Mercury well behind at 25-to-1.
What happened last year?
The Aces won their first championship in 2022, romping to the title without ever facing an elimination game in the playoffs. Las Vegas swept Phoenix out of the first round, dispatched Seattle 3-1 in a best-of-five, and did the same to Connecticut in the WNBA Finals.
The Sun had a more difficult run to the Finals, needing all three games to put away the Wings in the first round, and going to a do-or-die Game 5 against the Sky in the semifinals.
Wilson won her second MVP award and her first Defensive Player of the Year award as the league’s most dominant player, while her teammate Gray pieced together a masterful playoff run — averaging 21.7 points and 7 assists in the postseason — en route to a Finals MVP award.
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