Hello, hoopheads! My apologies for the lack of recaps last night, but I returned home from the Liberty game to find my League Pass account locked out and thus missed the late games (thankfully, the situation seems to be resolved). In better news, my Libs snapped out of their funk and snapped their three-game skid at the expense of the Phoenix Mercury, most notably authoring a franchise-record 23-0 run to close the third quarter. The seafoamers were one of three home teams to win last night, making Wednesday the third game day out of the last five on which the hosts had a winning record, something that didn’t happen once this season prior to this stretch. Road teams still have a 33-20 (.623) record, but they’re 12-13 since starting 21-7 (.750). With just two games on tap tonight, however, only one visitor needs to win to avoid a fourth winning day for home teams in the last six. While tonight’s schedule is light, it sure doesn’t look like it’ll be either a quiet or boring Thursday — both of these games have real banger potential.
Up first, the Las Vegas Aces (4-2) visit the Dallas Wings (4-3) (8:00 ET, Prime Video) in what I think we can all agree is first and foremost a NaLyssa Smith Revenge Game after her (short-lived) Dallas career ended with a trade to Las Vegas last year. Of course, Smith’s WNBA career took off in Sin City and the 2025 season ended with her winning a WNBA title with her new team, so I’m not sure she’s exactly Inigo Montoya when it comes to seeking revenge on the Wings. The Aces have been off for five days since having a four-game win streak snapped in a 101-95 home loss to the Los Angeles Sparks, a game in which Smith scored a season-high 22 points while the GOAT A’ja Wilson had 24 and Chennedy Carter scored 23. Wilson had a fourth straight game with 20+ points and has scored at least 19 in all six games this season and Carter pushed her total to 120 points so far this season (20 points per game), 18 more than anyone has previously had in their first six games of a season without having made a start. That mark previously belonged to Riquna Williams with 102 points in 2013 for the Tulsa Shock (who are now the Wings). Assuming Carter doesn’t start the game or find a way to score negative points tonight, she has already set the seven-game mark, as well, which previously belonged to Jia Perkins with 118 points in her first seven games off the bench for the 2011 San Antonio Silver Stars (who are now the Aces).
Dallas has been off since ruining my Sunday afternoon in a 91-76 win over the Liberty, the Wings’ third win in their last four games. They’ve had their ups and downs so far, with their recent wins coming after their coach publicly called them out and their defense still generously described as porous (12th in defensive rating), but the Wings have been easily the most improved team in the WNBA. With a win tonight, they’d earn their fifth win a full month earlier than last year when it came on June 28. The biggest difference this season is that the Wings have been just about as good on offense (fourth in offensive rating) as they’ve been bad on defense, whereas last year they were just bad on both ends. The 2025 Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers leads the Wings’ high-flying offense — pun intended, sue me — with 19.3 points per game, but her 5 assists per game rank second to free-agent addition Jessica Shepard, who’s averaging a half-dozen helpers to go with 11.7 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. It’s still incredibly early, but this is me making both a written and mental note of the fact that that only one player has averaged 10/10/5 over the course of a WNBA season (Candace Parker in 2015). The Wings’ other marquee signing, another former Minnesota Lynx frontcourt star in 2025 co-Defensive Player of the Year Alanna Smith, is still struggling to make a positive impact with her new squad. Smith is averaging just 3.7 points per game (126th of 146 qualified players), making just 33.3% from the field (123rd of 141) and has been in constant foul trouble as she’s averaging 7.5 fouls per 40 minutes (139th of 146; note: you only get 6 before fouling out). I probably could’ve saved some words by just starting with this: Smith has only 3 more points (26) than fouls (23) in her first seven games with Dallas.
After the Aces and Wings, the Indiana Fever (4-2) descend on Ballhalla to face the Golden State Valkyries (4-2) (10:00 ET, Prime Video). Indiana’s won three in a row since a 1-2 start, and is 4-0 this season when it keeps its opponent to an offensive rating under 111 points per 100 possessions. The latest win was by a 90-82 margin over the Valkyries last Friday behind 22 points and 9 assists from Caitlin Clark and a 20-point, 16-rebound double-double from Aliyah Boston while the Fever rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit. The opponents in Indiana’s win streak have all scored at rates under 96 points per 100 possessions, so it would be fair to say that the Fever’s defense has been much improved since allowing 111+ in two of the first three games. I also think it’s fair, however, to note that the last three games were against Seattle without Dominique Malonga or Awa Fam, then the hit-or-miss offense of the Portland Fire, and then against these Valkyries on the second night of a back-to-back. The Fever haven’t played in six days since then, but Clark popped up as probable on yesterday’s status report with a back issue. The third-year Fever star has proven to still be incredibly impactful on the box score in ways both positive and negative (some, like her bad defense, are invisible, but still there), as well as perhaps the most effective lightning rod for bad sports takes I’ve ever seen, in her return from a lost 2025. Clark is averaging 23.8 points (3rd in the league), 9.0 assists (leads the league) and 5.2 turnovers (also leads the league) through her first five games while putting up at least 20 points and 7 assists in all of them. That ties the longest streak of 20/7 games at any point in a season in WNBA history, a record she already owned. Her last four games also broke the WNBA record for consecutive games with 20 points and 9 assists, a record Clark previously shared (twice) with Sabrina Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot at three straight.
Golden State has played once since its loss in Indiana, but it should still be pretty fresh after smoking the Connecticut Sun by a 97-70 margin on Monday. The Valkyries have also gotten significantly more whole since seeing the Fever, with Cecilia Zandalasini having returned from a concussion in the win over the Sun while last year’s first-round pick Justė Jocytė also made her long-awaited WNBA debut. That leaves the Valkyries with a clean status report heading into tonight’s game, the second one they’ll play with their whole 2026 squad intact. Practically the whole squad got in the box score against Connecticut, with 12 different Valkyries having scored a point while 11 of them scored at least 5. Gabby Williams led the way with 15 points and continues to look like the perfect addition to the Valkyries at both ends of the floor. Golden State’s formula hasn’t changed since the last time I laid it out, but here it is again: smother the opponent on defense (WNBA-best 96.6 points allowed per 100 possessions) and make more 3-pointers than they can keep up with (3rd in percentage of scoring attempts coming from deep, 1st in percentage of points coming from deep). Leading the charge is a very different floor general than Clark, but one who I still think is every bit as good a point guard in Veronica Valkyrie (Burton), who leads Golden State averaging 14.3 points and 6.3 assists per game against just 1.7 turnovers. No one has ever gone through a WNBA season averaging 14 points, 6 assists and fewer than 2 turnovers per game. The only player to do 14/6 with fewer than 2.5 giveaways a game is Skylar Diggins, who did it last year and joins Burton on pace to do it again this year. Just like last week, whoever dictates the game’s tempo more effectively between Clark (fast) and Burton (slow) will more than likely also lead their team to a win.