Diamonds and a dud in Vegas. Plus: Mixed opening week for rookies

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Welcome back to No Offseason! Thanks for all the responses to our first edition last week. As a reminder, you can reach us directly at nooffseason@theathletic.com. Coming up today:

📍 The views in Vegas, L.A. and Indy

📊 Season’s first power rankings

📺 What to watch

Let’s go!

On the Ground: At least Vegas knows how to celebrate

And just like that, we’re on to Week 2 of the WNBA season.

As reporters covering the WNBA, once the season gets rolling, you blink and are back at the WNBA Finals. It feels like this newsletter will help us all slow the pace down and savor every moment, or at least every week, of the 2026 season.

For Week 1, Annie was in Indianapolis for the prime-time matchup between the Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever. Sabreena was in Las Vegas and Los Angeles for the Aces ring ceremony and their back-to-back against the Sparks.

Here’s what we saw on the ground:

The Aces know how to put on a show. From the debut of A’ja Wilson’s A’Two sneaker at Caesars Palace — with showgirls welcoming fans into the Nike store and pink lighting covering the whole event — to a string quartet playing along to “Knuck if You Buck” pregame Saturday, you never forget you’re in Las Vegas.

The franchise has won three titles in four years and has the celebration aspect down pat, even innovating a new style of championship ring that’s more “wearable” … at least relatively speaking, for a piece of jewelry that has three one-carat diamonds on it:

**The Aces didn’t exactly live up to championship expectations during the game, though,**overwhelmed by the emotion of the pregame ceremony before facing the team they beat in the 2025 finals.

Maybe it’s just an Aces thing; last year, they lost Game 1 of the playoff semifinals when Wilson was presented with her MVP trophy.

But this is still a title-worthy squad, and Las Vegas looked the part against Los Angeles the next day, absolutely whooping a Sparks team that was pretty pleased with its offseason makeover.

At the risk of giving the Aces a pass, my optimism for their postseason prospects hasn’t diminished despite the whiff in their opener.— Sabreena

**Back in Indianapolis,**I felt like I was witnessing the WNBA’s next championship era, which appears as though it will be dominated by both the Paige Bueckers-led Wings team and Caitlin Clark’s Fever. Of course, if I were a betting woman, I’d wager other young stars — such as Angel Reese, Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen — have titles in their futures, too. But the Fever and Wingslooked like two great American dynastiesdueling for a place in history.

Round 1 belonged to the Wings, thanks to a balanced performance from their starting backcourt — Arike Ogunbowale, Odyssey Sims and, of course, Bueckers, whose efficiency was the highlight of the 107-104 win. On Clark’s home court along with two other No. 1 draft picks, Bueckers (20 points, four assists, three rebounds, one turnover) was the biggest star of the night.

One mildly concerning takeaway from the game? Clark’s multiple trips back to the locker room to get her back adjusted.

Fever coach Stephanie White assured she wouldn’t have played Clark 30 minutes if she wasn’t at 100 percent, minimizing potential health concerns by saying the in-game adjustments are just part of “maintaining the body.”

“I know everyone is focused on Caitlin, but our other players are going back to get regular maintenance, too,” White added after yesterday’s practice. “I wish I could go get an adjustment at halftime.”

The Fever and Wings don’t meet again until August, but the narrative will certainly continue to build before then. — Annie

Now a quick catch-up on some other stories you may have missed:

Fast Breaks

👑 The Aces took a steep fall in the power rankings after their 33-point opening-night loss to the Phoenix Mercury. Their performance? Unmemorable. Their postgame quotes? Dang.

🏀 In Toronto, the Mystics looked like a team ready to disrupt expectations as they spoiled the Tempo’s historic opening night.

💰 Best oddsto win this year’s MVP? Coach of the Year? Rookie of the Year? All here.

📺 The price of watching the WNBAhas gone up— even on television — but commissioner Cathy Engelbert is doing what it takes to get league games on more national TV windows.

📰 In the age of scrolling, one woman is creating a sports magazine that forces you to step away from your phone.

New Here: A mixed bag for rookies

The rookies gave us a spectrum of performances. Let’s dive into them:

Warm welcome: Even the most heralded rookie classes have to take their lumps. Gianna Kneepkens, the No. 15 pick out of UCLA who absolutely grew as a defender during the Bruins’ title run was not ready for the crossover Betnijah Laney-Hamilton unleashed on her. The Liberty veteran dropped Kneepkens to the floor and made the jumper for good measure.

Welcome to the WNBA, Gianna. And welcome back to Laney-Hamilton, who was a key starter in New York’s 2024 championship run but sat out the 2025 season with a knee injury.

Johnson looking comfortable: Flau’jae Johnson had two strong outings for the Storm. Most notable were her 16 points, six rebounds, three steals and one block in their win over the Sun. On one offensive possession, she drove past Saniya Rivers before being met at the rim by Brittney Griner, who she scored on before hitting the too-small celebration as she got back on defense.

Mystics hitting their stride? The future is also bright in Washington, even though it took a year longer than expected for the 2025 Mystics draft class of Citron, Iriafen and Georgia Amoore to share the floor after the three were selected in the top six of last year’s draft. Citron and Iriafen raced out to All-Star campaigns as rookies, while Amoore had to ride the pine with a torn ACL.

But they’re all available now, and Amoore is ready to get up to speed with her decorated Mystics teammates, tallying 10 assists through her first two games. Washington has an exciting core with Amoore setting the table for Citron and Iriafen, both of whom move well with and without the ball in their hands. Good luck defending this trio.

Paopao comes up clutch: And one last shoutout to sophomore Atlanta guard Te-Hina Paopao, who hit the midrange winner in what might have been the second-best game of opening weekend. Atlanta trailed by as many as 19 early against Minnesota; the Dream had one lead all night, and it came at 91-90 thanks to Paopao’s pull-up with 11.3 seconds to play. Just watch:

Watch Guide: Potential finals preview comes in Week 2

Here are the top games we’re monitoring this week (all times ET):

📺 Dream-Wings

Tonight at 8 p.m., League PassConsidering how much the Wings impressed in their season opener against the Fever, this will be a good test against a team with realistic title hopes in the Dream.

📺 Sky-Valkyries

Tomorrow at 10 p.m., League Pass

The Sky looked like a better team compared to last year in their 98-83 win over the Fire, but how do they fare against the 2-0 Valkyries?

📺 Lynx-Wings

Thursday at 8 p.m., Prime Video

The Wings host the Lynx in what will be Alanna Smith and Jessica Shepard’s first meeting against their former Minnesota team.

📺 Mystics-Fever

Friday at 7:30 p.m., ION/League Pass

The WNBA’s future will be on display in this meeting between back-to-back No. 1 picks Aliyah Boston and Clark, and 2025 lottery picks Citron and Iriafen.

📺 Aces-Dream

Sunday at 1:30 p.m., NBC/Peacock

This game could be an early look at the WNBA Finals as both are widely predicted as title contenders.

📺 Sun-Fire

Monday at 10 p.m., League Pass

Considering both teams’ early schedules, Connecticut and Portland might still be looking for their first win of the season when this game rolls around.

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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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