Hello, hoopheads! The longest active win streak in the WNBA continues to be a crown that lies heavy on the wearers, as the Atlanta Dream’s four-game win streak became the latest league-leading run to fall in last night’s 77-66 loss at Golden State. The Valkyries held the Dream to just 27 points in the first half and 40 through the first three quarters — giving Atlanta 53 points in a span of four quarters dating back to the fourth quarter of its previous win — and had a 23-point edge heading into the final frame. Atlanta showed the resilience that has been its early-season hallmark, cutting that lead to a single-digit margin (mostly behind the play of its second unit), but the Dream ultimately couldn’t make the stops they needed down the stretch. Gabby Williams led the Valkyries with 23 points and Kayla Thornton added 17 while going 5-for-10 from deep including two big triples in the final 3:20. It’s obviously too early for this to matter, but the teams will play again at Ballhalla on Friday and then on the 4th of July in Atlanta, and the Valkyries’ win makes this three-game set a preview of an actual first-round playoff series if the postseason started today (between the No. 3 and No. 6 seeds). There’s one Valkyries game and two Dream games in between the second and third legs of their faux-first-round series, but it’s a notable quirk in the schedule nonetheless. Elsewhere on Tuesday, the Minnesota Lynx overcame a 12-point deficit to avoid a second straight loss to the Washington Mystics, with Olivia “Love Takes” Miles and Natasha Howard scoring 21 points apiece to lead the way and providing the late heroics as they so often have this season. The Chicago Sky also bounced back, snapping a six-game skid in a 101-78 rout of the Portland Fire.
The other big news last night, unfortunately, was Caitlin Clark’s early exit from what eventually became an Indiana Fever home loss to the Phoenix Mercury. Fever head coach Stephanie White blasted the officials after the game for, in her terms, not protecting Clark, who exited with a back injury. That said, it isn’t entirely clear if either of the plays White specifically took issue with — a scramble for the ball in which Alyssa Thomas pushed off of Clark’s throat while getting off the floor and a landing space foul which was not upgraded to a flagrant for a reckless closeout on review — had anything to do with Clark’s injury. It’s worth noting that not every landing space foul is a reckless closeout, but even if this one shouldn’t have been upgraded I am always inclined to join White in saying “refs, you suck,” just like I do at least once or twice every time I go to Barclays Center (including for concerts). Clark has been listed as probable with a back injury on every injury report since Indiana provoked a league investigation by holding her out of a game last month when she hadn’t been listed on the injury report, and this was the second time Indiana had played Phoenix, a notoriously physical team, in three days, with tensions already running high after Monday’s game saw a handful of technical fouls and an ejection. I don’t know whether Clark has been playing with a legitimate back injury that got aggravated last night or if the Fever pressed the “Caitlin Clark is out with a back injury” button that they’ve created for themselves to get her out of a situation they weren’t comfortable with, but I honestly hope it’s the latter because I enjoy watching her play and would hate to see another of her seasons marred by injury. As far as I can tell, there was not an update on Clark’s status postgame, and Indiana isn’t required to file an injury report until 5:00 local time tomorrow, as it doesn’t play again until Friday.
The league’s longest win streak, and in fact its only active win streak, will be on the line again tonight when the Dallas Wings (11-6) visit the Las Vegas Aces (12-5) (10:00 ET, NBA TV/local affiliates) looking for a third straight win. The Wings’ nascent win streak has come by a total of three points and against teams with an 8-27 combined record after following up a 93-92 win over the Chicago Sky last Friday with a 112-110 overtime win over the Seattle Storm on Sunday, but ya know what, those wins look just fine when you’re the only team in the league to have won more than one in a row. Those triumphs also pushed the Wings past their win total from a 10-34 (.227) campaign in 2025 and gave them three wins in their last four games. That span started with a 96-66 thrashing of Las Vegas last Monday which made Dallas 2-0 against the Aces this season while scoring 191 points in the two games (95 and 96). Tonight is the Aces’ only chance to get one of those licks back in the regular season, as the teams will wrap up their three-game set tonight. Las Vegas is coming off its second double-digit loss in four games since winning six in a row, although the Aces were quite a bit more competitive on Tuesday against the Liberty than in the loss to Dallas last week. Dallas rookie Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, is the leading scorer in the Aces-Wings series with 41 points so far, having scored 22 in the first meeting and 19 in the second while going 17-for-24 (70.8%) from the field including 4-for-7 (57.1%) from deep. A’ja Wilson is the only other player to score more than 15 points in both games, tallying 21 and 18 points in the two games in succession.
The first game on tonight’s schedule, which sees the Los Angeles Sparks (8-8) visit the Toronto Tempo (8-9) (7:00 ET, Prime Video/local affiliates), came with a major dose of bad news when Los Angeles announced yesterday that Kelsey Plum is sidelined with a lower left leg injury (the opposite side of the ankle injury she missed time with earlier this season) and will be reevaluated in four weeks. It should go without saying that the Sparks are a much worse team when Plum isn’t on the floor (to say nothing of missing both Plum and Cameron Brink for the time being), but if you need further evidence, check out the game they lost at Connecticut earlier this season or the one they dropped to Las Vegas the next time out. Toronto can relate, as it will be without both top scorer Brittney Sykes and rookie standout Kiki Rice once again tonight, having gone 3-5 dating to the game in which Rice sprained her ankle against the New York Liberty. The Tempo are coming off of a 7-point loss to the Dream on Monday, although they hung around and made Atlanta work for it despite allowing 59 points in the first half.
Last but not least, my beloved New York Liberty (12-6) visit the Seattle Storm (3-15) (10:00 ET, local affiliates/League Pass) after beating the Aces by a decisive, if not quite dominant, 11-point margin on Tuesday. The Libs had some relatively good news on the injury report last night, as Satou Sabally is listed as questionable with a head injury. I say that’s relatively good news because it is notably a different designation than concussion protocol, which is the last place I’d like to see any player end up, but particularly one with Satou’s history of concussions. Seattle set a dubious franchise record with an 11th straight loss in Monday’s overtime heartbreaker against Dallas after coming up two points shy of snapping the streak while it was only tied for the record. Apologies to my dear Gamecock Bestie aka Bestie 3.0 fka CBS Bestie, who is a member of the extended Storm family, but I hope the streak goes to 12 in a row tonight.