While Five Out can sometimes venture out into the world of sports business, society and culture, it is occasionally fun to have a column that is just basketball-centric.
After a week of great games, jockeying in the standings and some MVP caliber performances from some of the top players in the league, we get five topics that are as hoop-heavy as you can get.
In case you missed our Sunday wrap show, you can access it here as a podcast or below on YouTube. Be sure to like, share and subscribe or give us a five star rating and review on Apple if you enjoy the show! We always appreciate it and the growth of No Cap Space WBB doesn’t happen without you!
Now, to the column!
1. The Las Vegas Aces May Be…Back?
At this point, everyone has been talking about it. Ben Pickman had a write up in The Athletic late last week while Kenda Andrews had an analysis of her own on ESPN this Monday morning. The Las Vegas Aces seem to have found their form again and the rest of the WNBA should be on notice.
It’s been an up-and-down season for the two-time champions who looked tired, a bit slower and perhaps not in possession of the same ceiling that they once possessed. After a 53 point loss to Minnesota back in early August, it seemed easy to write them off. Fire Becky Hammon, fire Nikki Fargas, blow the roster up and let A’ja Wilson cook elsewhere. But instead of folding, Hammon went out and made the team create their own scouting reports. What came next was an explosion of offensive firepower led by Wilson, who looks to be making a push for another MVP honor (more on that in a moment).
In their last ten games, Vegas is 9-1 while shooting 50 percent as a team, averaging 28 total assists per game (2nd in the WNBA in that span) and leading the league in offensive rebound percentage. Jewell Loyd has been a revelation since moving to the bench while Kierstan Bell, at long last, has proven worthy of Becky Hammon’s faith and patience. Over the course of August, Wilson has averaged 24.1 points and 12.3 rebounds per game with a net rating of 13.4 and a simply ridiculous 13.1 offensive rebound percentage (Angel Reese had a 14.4 OREB% in 2024, for reference). Beyond the numbers, the vibes just look better. The team seems happier, more upbeat and Becky Hammon is even smiling again!
Does all that mean they suddenly are back to being the world beaters they were in 2023? Probably not. Father time is still undefeated and there are still some spots on this roster that don’t match up well with a team like Minnesota. Like Atlanta and New York though, they seem to have enough in the tank to challenge the Lynx and have it be taken seriously by fans and media alike. Given what the last 18 months or so have been around the franchise, that’s a win in itself.
2. Whew, Did Indiana Need That One…
This really is the year from hell for the Indiana Fever. Sophie Cunningham, who had stepped up in the absence of Caitlin Clark, Syd Colson and Aari McDonald, suffered and injury of her own against Connecticut over the weekend and may be out for a little while. Yet in spite of the complete decimation of their backcourt, Indiana has shown a remarkable resilience that is making them easier and easier to root for. I wrote in a recent Five Out that the combination of winning and national TV presence was giving them an inside track to take the moniker of ‘America’s Team’. While this win was against a hapless Connecticut Sun, the exciting nature in which Indiana managed to win probably netted them even more fans in the process. I can tell you this: Kelsey Mitchell definitely has a lot more supporters and visibility now than she did even a year or two ago.
Beyond the vibes and more macro nature of the Fever’s win this Sunday, they seemed to need it from a momentum standpoint as well. They’d lost four of their last five heading into that game against the Sun with the lone victory coming against Chicago. The loss of McDonald and Colson was felt and Odyssey Sims was still finding her way into the lineup and rotation. If they had fallen for a third straight game to a 6-26 Sun team with the league-leading Lynx up next on the schedule, alarm bells might be warranted.
“But Andrew, why are we heaping so much praise on the Fever for coming back from 21 points down against the worst team in the league?”, I’m sure you’re asking.
For me, it’s hard to come back down 21 against any team in this league. The Sun may have lost a lot of games but they aren’t a completely dead-on-arrival unit the way a team like Chicago appears to be right now. Simply put, it’s hard to dig deep and win a game like that in any professional sports league. For Indiana to do it, with the year and injuries they’ve had, speaks to their resilience and cohesion as a team. Now, with a few days to rest and get Sims fully up to speed before facing Minnesota, the Fever might reinvent themselves yet again as we all continue to wait on Caitlin Clark’s potential return.
3. Rachid Meziane Is Building A Culture In Connecticut.
I have been a Rachid Meziane fan from the very beginning but this piece from Maggie Vanoni at CTInsider completely sold me on him as a long term WNBA option.
“I came with a lot of humility,” Meziane said. “I think that I tried to earn their trust by — I really tried to listen more than I talked and stuff because at the end of the day, they are the players, and I am a coach, and I cannot make all the decisions because I am not on the court.
… We are talking about the highest caliber of women basketball players in the world. So, I really tried to learn from them. And I think that I started to put my philosophy, to put my voice after learning from my players. I think at the beginning, I was too much, not a spectator, but just, you know, observing.”
To me, that’s a genuinely revealing and interesting statement from Meziane especially considering a former player, Kelsey Bone, hopped on social media earlier this year to take a shot at her old French league coach’s perceived passivity. What’s funny to me is that much of the dialogue I heard from coaches over in Europe was centered around his passion and intensity. So it seems that he came in and wanted to strike a different tone, learned where he needed to be more assertive and is still finding his way in his first WNBA job.
But what stands out to me is a small but important thing…
I was watching Connecticut play Golden State last week on League Pass and the Valkyries were cruising to a blowout win. For many teams in the Sun’s place, it wouldn’t be surprising to see players jogging around, missing assignments, generally mailing it in especially at this point in the year. Instead, you’re still watching players dive for loose balls, attack the basket and play whistle-to-whistle. That, to me, is indicative of positive culture building.
One thing the Sun have always done really well is find high energy, high floor players that are competitors in the purest sense of the word. Alyssa Thomas is probably the best example of this, having led the team for ten seasons after Connecticut traded Tina Charles (who is another example and is now back to guide this team as a wise veteran). In the present day, the Sun have Aneesah Morrow, Saniya Rivers, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Leila Lacan and Aaliyah Edwards in what might be one of the most interesting and potentially enjoyable young cores in the league. Yes, Connecticut is the worst team in the league right now from a numbers perspective but I have a hard time thinking they’re in the worst situation. The results may not be there now but I’m a big believer in Rachid Meziane and what he seems to be building towards. If all goes well, the Sun — wherever they may end up as a franchise — are going to be a lot of fun in the future.
4. Washington May Arrive Earlier Than Expected
The Mystics were in the playoff hunt at the end of July, hovering around .500 and sitting right where most Washington basketball teams have over the last decade: somewhere between the 7th and 9th seed. No man’s land, as it were. They traded Brittney Sykes to Seattle in what was perceived to a proverbial waving of the white flag on the season. Washington would officially hand the guys to their two star rookies, Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, and position themselves to benefit from a deep 2026 WNBA draft class. Instead, both rookies took the reins and, after a four game losing streak, have won three of their last four and have the chance to pull right back into the playoff race.
I can’t necessarily say that I expected it. Losing a player like Brittney Sykes, who was the Mystics leading scorer and key defensive presence, should’ve been a hindrance that would’ve been impossible to rebound from so late in the year. Instead, Citron has been given more on-ball responsibilities and flourished while Iriafen has had four double-doubles in as many games.
Now consider the following: The Mystics have not only possession of their own 2026 WNBA Draft pick but also a first rounder from Seattle and another from New York. That’s some damn good GM’ing by Jamila Wideman.
While there was plenty of hype around Washington’s 2025 core of Iriafen, Citron and Georgia Amoore (who is out for the year with an ACL injury), I’m not sure that anyone believed they’d be able to contend for a playoff spot without Brittney Sykes. Shoot, even with Sykes it felt like a ‘Tank for JuJu’ situation in some respects. Instead, the Mystics have won three of their last four games, have shown their quality against more than a few top end teams (wins against Seattle, Vegas, Minnesota and Indiana this year) while seeing their two top picks perform up to and even beyond their expectation. With the boatload of picks they have in the coming years, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were talking about Washington as the team of the future sooner rather than later.
5. The MVP and Rookie of the Year Races Are Tightening. That’s a Good Thing.
Alright, let’s discuss the award races and specifically MVP and Rookie of the Year.
In the last couple seasons, I’ve noticed a not-so-great precedent forming where we more-or-less anoint a player as award winner a month into the year. From that point on, no one can necessarily come up and win the award. Rather, the frontrunner can only lose it so if you start hot out of the gate and manage to hang on, you’re probably good.
While I understand that viewpoint, I don’t love it in terms of fostering the type of pure basketball discourse we could use more of in the game.
As Napheesa Collier has sat out with injury, A’ja Wilson has surged into the conversation.
While Paige Bueckers has maintained an incredibly high floor, Sonia Citron has played out of her mind on both ends of the floor since Sykes was traded away from Washington.
If you were to put a gun to my head, I’d still be voting for Phee and Paige to win those aforementioned awards. But just because they remain the frontrunners doesn’t mean that any type of conversation to the contrary is blasphemous. Last season, when Collier surged in the back half of the year and the Aces began to flounder, it felt as though advocacy for Phee was deemed as heresy against Wilson. But the fact of the matter is that these are the good types of basketball discourse we should be having. While Cathy Engelbert and the WNBA have been working overtime to try and position Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese as the league’s pre-eminent rivalry, the true Ball-Knower battle lies between the W’s two best forwards.
It’s okay to take sides, I promise.
Over the course of the last year and change we’ve had to watch the emergence of standom in the W. What felt once like reasonable basketball talk is now more akin to a street fight between Barbs and Hotties over album release numbers. No, Napheesa Collier’s UConn connections don’t mean that she’s getting more play within media than A’ja did last season. If you like and value Sonia Citron’s candidacy for Rookie of the Year it doesn’t mean that you hate Paige Bueckers. It just means you might look at and value different things on the basketball court. Are there some individuals that come at it from a place of hating (ethical or otherwise)? Sure.
But if we distill any and all debate as a form of hating then we actually lose the opportunity to grow the game in the ways that we, as fans, want to: by letting the basketball and the incredible accomplishments of these women lead the discussion.
In my opinion, Phee is still leading the way but if injuries continue to keep her sidelined while A’ja puts up 30-20 performances and leads her team to, say, a two seed in the postseason then I’m not faulting anyone for voting for the latter.
If you think that Sonia Citron impacts winning more than Paige at this juncture, that’s fine! You can make that argument on merit. So let’s allow people to do that. That’s how you truly let the game grow on its’ own terms and eventually, make it as big as any other sport in the American landscape.
Share this post