Happy Friday Ball-Knowers! Tyler on the sticks today as we have some history that has been made and some history potentially on deck in the WNBA Playoffs tonight.

Your reminder as well that we are live on the No Cap Space YouTube EVERY night of the WNBA Playoffs until a champion is officially decided!

What does A’ja Wilson’s FIFTH MVP mean for her legacy? How do the Aces and Liberty avoid sweep and WNBA Playoffs elimination? We dive into it all here on today’s newsletter!

Andrew chatted with Notre Dame’s Madison St. Rose…

Andrew Dukowitz joined to put a bow on the 2026 Lynx…

Yeah. A’ja Wilson did it again. There wasn’t much discussion to have about it either, A’ja Wilson is simply the best in the world at what she does.

Five WNBA MVPs, and the first MVP three-peat, is something that is hard to find the words to describe. We have seen some incredible talents over the existence of this league but the consistent and now increasingly long standing dominance of Wilson is one of one. And she is only 30. This is a reign that, by all expectations, is far from over.

A’ja Wilson’s resume is one that is growing in distance of comparison to the past, and the lead she is building on the future world-class WNBA talents to come that will be chasing her legacy increases by the day. This is the greatest of all time. Enjoy this ride while you can.

While on the topic of the Las Vegas Aces, things are not looking great for them in their current series against the Valkyries as they are facing WNBA Playoffs elimination tonight. This is far from the first time that the Las Vegas Aces have been asked to defy the odds. And it is a similar ask from those past occurrences, can the stars carry the Aces?

The Aces have made me look like a fool on many of occasions in the past. I have doubted them and have been proven wrong. I find myself having a familiar reaction to their current postition.

In Game One, the Aces were completely outhustled and outworked in general, with no stat showing that more than Golden State’s offensive rebound count. In Game Two they found themselves down nearly 20 points with similar things happening, but were able to claw their way back with a chance to tie on a Chelsea Gray three that didn’t drop late in the game.

To me you have two separate asks of A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young. You need statistical production, 100%, but you need them energized from the very jump. There is no time to face another double-digit lead. Urgency must exist from tip-off. It might be unfair to ask even MORE of these three stars given the state of the Aces depth, but it feels like the lone solution left to try for Las Vegas.

I have been begging all season for the New York Liberty to match the energy of Breanna Stewart. I am not asking anyone to PRODUCE like Breanna Stewart, that is unfair to ask, but to ask the team to embody what Stewie has done this season is more than fair.

Part of what I find so interesting in this series is that this was a similar ask of the Atlanta Dream players when Angel Reese arrived. You look at the Dream now and the questions about “edge”, “dawg”, or whatever term for winning mentality you’d like to use, seemingly are all gone. That isn’t due to ONLY Angel Reese but she certainly set the initial tone that this team has grown to follow.

The Liberty cannot same the same of how they have reacted to Stewie’s presence this season. And now as they are in the depths of this series and facing elimination, if there was ever a time for it to come out, that time is now.

Absolutely the turnovers are the most key qualitative stat to follow in this game and the Liberty did indeed do a better job of taking care of the ball in Game Two. But even as it was a tight game throughout, it simply didn’t feel like players were consistently matching the energy of Stewie, outside of some bursts from Jonquel Jones and Marine Fauthoux. Now or never for the 2026 Liberty, so keep count of your timeouts and lock in.

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