Notes of the Night, May 9, 2026: Bad Day for Home Teams, Great One for Neutral Fans

The WNBA season tipped off on Friday, but it really kicked into gear on Saturday, with a four game slate which delivered four road wins, three bangers and one rather large bit of fodder for discourse. I don’t even mean the Las Vegas Aces’ ring-within-a-ring that the broadcast could not stop talking about for the entire game. Here’s what went down on the first Saturday of the 2026 WNBA season:

Minnesota jumped out to a 52-33 first-half lead despite playing without superstar Napheesa Collier and rising forward Dorka Juhasz, capitalizing on a baker’s dozen Atlanta turnovers before the break. The Lynx’s 15-point halftime lead would slowly evaporate, however, as the Dream settled into the game and Allisha Gray took it over for a time, with 14 of her game-high 24 points coming in the third quarter. Atlanta got back in the game in the third quarter, but wouldn’t take the lead until the final seconds. The Dream’s first lead proved to be the only one they’d need, however, as Te-Hina Paopao hit the game-winning jumper with 12 seconds to play before consecutive blocks from Allisha Gray and Angel Reese sealed the deal.

In addition to just being a fantastic game, there were a couple of individual performances that had me looking up great lists of names. If you know me, you know that’s the shit I live for. Reese was up-and-down, committing four of those 13 Atlanta turnovers before halftime, but she only had one after the break while finishing with 11 points and 14 rebounds in her Dream debut. That was part of an overall dominant effort by Atlanta on the glass, where it had a 46-25 advantage and a 51.4% offensive rebounding rate (19 offensive boards to 18 defensive for Minnesota). The (Area Codes) Barbie recorded her 50th career double-double in a WNBA-record 65 games, which is eight more double-doubles than anyone else has ever had at this point. The other five players to record at least 30 in their first 65 games are a who’s who, and you can see that list below. Not to be outdone, Minnesota rookie point guard Olivia “Love Takes” Miles proved that she is not a psyop, recording an unprecedented 21 points, 8 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in her WNBA debut. The only other players with at least 21 points and 7 assists in their debut: Candace Parker and Dawn Staley.

Saturday got off to an incredible start with the fourth college-or-WNBA meeting between Paige Bueckers and Caitlin Clark, with Bueckers evening the head-to-head record at 2-2 as the Wings held on to win a back-and-forth game in the first WNBA season opener with both teams reaching the century mark. Both teams would also end up with a trio of 20-point scorers, becoming the third and fourth teams to have that happen in a season opener. The only other times it had occurred were in 2022, when the Las Vegas Aces got 20+ points from Dearica Hamby, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, and the following season, when the Wings got 20+ points from Natasha Howard, Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally. Ogunbowale was also a part of Dallas’ trio of 20-point scorers today, finishing with a team-high 22 while Bueckers and Odyssey Sims each had 20 on the nose. Bueckers was a sparkling 8-for-10 from the field while Sims hit one of the biggest shots of the game, pushing the Wings’ lead to 105-100 on a very tough banked fadeaway with 36 seconds left. They still had to sweat it out, however, thanks to a 2-for-6 effort at the line the rest of the way. Shouts are due to Jessica Shepard, who had 12 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists in her Wings debut and had to play longer minutes than probably intended due to Alanna Smith’s early foul trouble. 

Indiana got clean looks for the tie from about 30 feet from two of its three 20-point scorers (Clark and Mitchell), but couldn’t get either to fall. Mitchell finished with 30 points on 11-for-22 from the field (9-for-13 inside the arc), Aliyah Boston scored 23 points on 9-for-14, and Clark finished with 20 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds in her first competitive WNBA game in almost 10 months. Both the rust (game-high 5 turnovers) and her remarkable penchant for making highlight reel plays were evident at times, but it’s worth noting that Dallas took advantage of her on the defensive end. I can’t tell you exactly what the Wings shot against Clark (in part because WNBA dot com’s stats page isn’t working), but Dallas was 6-for-6 in the first half with her as primary defender. Anecdotally, it only seemed to get a little bit better after the break. 

It wasn’t particularly surprising to me that the Aces came out a little flat after being feted at their ring ceremony, nor that the Mercury came out like a team on a mission after watching said ceremony seven months removed from losing the WNBA Finals. What was somewhat surprising, however, was that Phoenix was dominant in the first half despite Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper starting  3-for-13 from the field combined. That had a lot to do with the absolutely sizzling shooting of 28-year old first-year player Jovana Nogić, who had 16 points and was 4-for-4 from beyond the arc at the break. She quieted down in the second half, but the rest of the Mercury starters heated up, all finishing with at least 10 points led by Thomas’ 20. 

The Aces, on the other hand, suffered the sixth-largest loss by reigning WNBA champion and the largest in a season-opener, but I wouldn’t worry. For starters, the 2025 Aces took one of the worst losses in WNBA history last August and immediately engaged never-lose-again mode, so perhaps this was actually what Becky Hammon was hoping for. On top of that, the 2023 Aces had a 38-point loss, tied for the largest by a reigning champ, and went on to win another title. A’ja Wilson was still very good in one of her relatively quiet games (19 points, 8-for-15 from the field, 4 rebounds) and Las Vegas has 43 games to figure it all out before the playoffs. It was great to see free-agent pickup Chennedy Carter back in the WNBA and seeming to fit in seamlessly (10 points, 5-for-8 from the field, 2 assists, 2 steals) after being out of the league last season.

Portland hung around for a little over three quarters in its return to the WNBA and set a league record for attendance in a team’s first game with a crowd of over 19,000, but in the end it was the new-look Chicago Sky who came out on top thanks to a 30-16 edge in the fourth quarter. Kamilla Cardoso, the remaining half of Chicago’s former twin towers after Reese was traded away, led the victorious effort with 22 points and 14 rebounds while Skylar Diggins added 21 points, 11 boards and 7 assists in her debut with the team. Rickea Jackson, also making her Sky debut, finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds. 

Portland was within a possession at the 6:30 mark of the final frame, but it was outscored 23-11 the rest of the way while being outrebounded by a 46-24 margin. I’ll also note that’s almost the exact same margin as the Dream had against the Lynx (46-25), who were not playing their first game in franchise history. Carla Leite led the Fire with 18 points while Bridget Carleton added 13, but they went just 7-for-21 combined from the field (33.3%) while their teammates hit 44% (22-for-50).