Happy Tuesday, Ball-Knowers!

Today, we continue our team-by-team WNBA season previews over on YouTube. Tyler and I look at the Toronto Tempo, in their first season of existence, and what their ceiling and floor might be. In the newsletter, we explore Paige Bueckers’ comments about Azzi Fudd, the two’s relationship and the limits of well-meaning coverage.

But that’s not all!

Las Vegas Aces point guard Chelsea Gray called her shot after a fun presser question and I continue to be fascinated by the emerging underdog of story at, of all places, the University of Tennessee.

As always, tell a friend to tell a friend to join our community of Ball-Knowers and tap in with a subscription (either free or paid if you want full access to exclusive content).

Enjoy!

Our WNBA team-by-team previews, starting with the Portland Fire…

And the Toronto Tempo, out now…

Callie Fin just moved from the Las Vegas Review-Journal to USA Today but continues to feed the streets with great content and questions from Aces preseason media availabilities.

Of note was this question this morning, and how Chelsea Gray answered it…

So are the Aces a legit dynasty and do we need to start discussing them as such? Some might say no, feeling like there’s a wave coming that has the chance to topple A’ja Wilson and her band of Hall-of-Famer backcourt players.

If you’re one of those people, you might want to re-evaluate your position.

Chelsea Gray may be using an active term when she says the Aces are building something but I don’t really think it’s arguable anymore that the death machine has been built in Las Vegas. Since head coach Becky Hammon arrived in 2022, the Aces have gone 117-43 in regular season play, 28-9 in the playoffs with three WNBA titles in the last four years.

Going into last season, I think it was fair to question the dynasty moniker. Were the two titles and then semifinal exit an example of a team that bridged the eras of one great to the next? Or was it a momentary hiccup and the actual generational great is the one leading Vegas?

Last year put to rest any delusions that the Aces are a case of the former. They are very firmly in the latter camp, with Wilson approaching GOAT status if she simply continues her trajectory. So while Gray can be coy, I do think that we have to maintain a certain level of coverage around the Aces even as Caitlin Clark returns, Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd build Dallas and Angel Reese moves to Atlanta.

It’s Wilson’s world. And until someone knocks them off, they are the undisputed dynasty and should be written about as such.

Isn’t it weird to think about the Tennessee Lady Volunteers as a potential great underdog story?

But, like it or not, like Kim Caldwell or not, that’s exactly what UTK is going to be heading into the 2026-2027 NCAA women’s basketball season.

This week, Tennessee added a few more pieces in Texas transfer Aaliyah Moore, Seton Hall transfer Jada Eads and now ECU’s Kennedy Fauntleroy.

What is the tie that binds a good chunk of this roster? They are either currently recovering or have recovered in the last year from a major injury.

I mean, just look at this…

That’s before you factor in a few mid-major transfers like Avery Mills and Naomi White who are looking to make a name for themselves. The rest are some variety of high-major rotational piece or underrated SEC contributor. In the way Kim Caldwell seems to have a chip on her shoulder after a disastrous second year campaign in Knoxville, almost everyone on this roster has some reason to possess one themselves.

They aren’t going to contend to win the SEC with a team like South Carolina, but for the first time, Tennessee can actually embrace a true underdog mentality. Whether Lady Vols fans want that or not, it’s that kind of fight that allowed Pat Summitt to build that program into what it has now become. Maybe this offseason was the ego death UTK needed to rediscover their fight, but if everything goes as Caldwell hopes it does, it immediately becomes one of the best redemption stories in women’s college basketball.

As a writer that loves writing about that kind of thing, I can’t help but root for the Lady Vols to figure it out with a roster of players that have something to prove.

Paige Bueckers was asked today to address the team dynamics with new teammate Azzi Fudd.

If you remember, the nature of their relationship became something of a touchstone for reporters and whether or not it was even a question worth asking. I’d like to think the general place people fell was that it wasn’t ultimately our business to know just yet. If the team falls apart and the vision Dallas Wings GM Curt Miller had disappears, then it’s fair to ask when the time is right.

Bueckers, for her part, got her chance today and drew a clear media boundary…

This, to me, is a fine way to address it and while I still don’t love asking these particular questions in a press conference setting, having it be in a scrum that’s a bit more personal vs. a dais in a large media room just makes the intent feel different.

It also lays bare the limits of well-meaning interruption. While this story has died down pretty substantially, the decision by Wings PR to interject last week when Fudd was asked about it was a Streisand-effect type of move that I’m sure they won’t make again. From a journalistic standpoint, I can accept it if a player draws the boundary and doesn’t want to discuss it. I can’t speak for other reporters but usually I’ll go more oppositional (not in this case specifically but generally) if a team press officer is shooting the question down first.

More than anything, I hope it cools off the general discussion around the topic. The Wings are going to be fine and if there’s any questions you can ask about team dynamics, it’s how a three-guard lineup might work, if Arike Ogunbowale will be okay taking less shots or if Jose Fernandez is cut out to coach at this level. Those, for my money, are far more interesting than whether or not ‘Pazzi’ is still a thing.

Why Brittney Griner chose Connecticut: Youth, leadership and a path to coaching by Heather Burns, USA Today

Marine Fauthoux always ‘had eyes on’ Liberty — and now gets a development chance with CBA wrinkle by Bridget Reilly, NYPost

Aicha Coulibaly ready for her moment as Sky weigh final roster spots by Alissa Hirsh, Chicago Sun-Times

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