A “kill” occurs when the defense prevents the offense from scoring on three straight possessions. College programs have tracked kills for well over a decade, so let's do the same for the WNBA. Here are the league's leaders in kills per 100 defensive possessions:

L.A. short-circuited a potential rebuild by trading for Kelsey Plum ahead of the 2025 season, and now it's back to where it began. For @sportsillustrated.bsky.social, I chronicled how the Sparks reached this point and what the future looks like from here: www.si.com/wnba/with-ke...

With Kelsey Plum Traded to Mercury, Sparks Have to Start Over Yet Again

Los Angeles short-circuited a potential rebuild by trading for Plum ahead of the 2025 season, and now it's back to where it began.

si.com

If you're looking for local Minnesota LGBTQ+ organizations to support ahead of tomorrow's Lynx game, consider: RECLAIM: www.reclaim.care TIGERRS: tigerrs.org Queermunity: queermunitymn.com Feel free to add more!

DiJonai Carrington says she will be a game day decision for the foreseeable future. Could make her debut for the Sky as early as tomorrow’s game against Connecticut.

Who has been the WNBA’s most clutch player this year? To answer that, I built and tested a win probability model, then measured how much each player shifts their team’s odds of winning late in close games. Sabrina Ionescu comes out on top. Here’s what goes into the numbers 👇

"Our ancestors created it for the simple reason that anything else would have been too easy for them; in their megalomania they thought to make the very sand beneath their feet intelligent. Quite pointless, for there is absolutely no way to improve on perfection.“ — Stanislaw Lem, The Cyberiad

We're officially at the All-Star break! With more than half the season in the books, here is how every team stacks up efficiency-wise across different play contexts:

The last time the Liberty lost eight times in a 10 game stretch was July 29, 2022. (New York did that twice that season, per @wbbtimeline.bsky.social) They've never had a span quite like this in the Stewart-Ionescu-JJ era.

Madeline Kenney@madkenney.bsky.social · 2w ago

The Liberty have no excuse for what happened last night in Indy. nypost.com/2026/07/18/s...

finished reading The Fortunate Fall by Cameron Reed—a queer cyberpunk story with meditations on embodiment. it's a punch in the gut. #booksky

With the WNBA season past its halfway mark (yes, you read that right!), here's how each team ranks in offensive and defensive efficiency in different play contexts: 🏀 Lynx, Aces, Fever and Wings are the top four half-court offenses 🔒 The Valkyries now have the top half-court defense in the league.

Super fun article by @thefalkon.bsky.social about transition offense and defense in the WNBA. We had a great conversation of how our staff at Indy defined transition when I was there which is awesome to see incorporated. Dan’s been publishing great WNBA analysis; give it a look!

Dan Falkenheim@thefalkon.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Cleaning the Glass splits plays into half-court, transition and putback contexts. Those same easy-to-understand numbers haven't been publicly available in the same way for the WNBA. So, let's fix that. Introducing Cleaning the Glass-style contextual stats for the WNBA!

Cleaning the Glass splits plays into half-court, transition and putback contexts. Those same easy-to-understand numbers haven't been publicly available in the same way for the WNBA. So, let's fix that. Introducing Cleaning the Glass-style contextual stats for the WNBA!

An update from the SI Union:

What are the least and most efficient shooting locations in the WNBA? Here is every 3×3 shooting zone for 2025. Each square is colored based on its points per true shot, which is the average points scored for every shot attempt (makes, misses and shooting fouls) from that spot.

Getting very into the weeds here: Home vs. away rim attempt rates aren't a clean counterfactual, but the splits might (?) be a rough signal of venue-level effects on how shot locations get encoded. Most teams are within ~5%. Valkyries and Aces are definitely beyond that.

Leïla Lacan returns and immediately shows why she's one of the WNBA's top rising point guards. Her impact is so apparent on both ends of the floor. With the way Aneesah Morrow has started the season—and BG + Olivia Nelson-Ododa back in the fold—the Sun can be pesky.

Say goodbye to the two-hour WNBA game? On average, it's taken 128.2 minutes to get from the opening tip to the final buzzer in 2026. It's never taken longer to complete a game during the first four weeks of the season. More fouls ➡️ Longer, choppier games

Technical companion is now live! It covers: - design matrix construction - APM/RAPM formulation - breakdown of implementation choices - validation setup + evaluation metrics - results across one/three/five-year windows - full RAPM ratings for 2025 www.danfalkenheim.com/RAPM/adaptin...

Adapting RAPM for the WNBA

A rigorously validated framework for adapting Regularized Adjusted Plus-Minus (RAPM) to the WNBA. Technical companion to my SI.com overview.

danfalkenheim.com

Dan Falkenheim@thefalkon.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Can a WNBA-tailored RAPM model provide similar predictive power compared with its NBA counterpart? If so, how should it be built? The answer to the first is yes. Following Joe Sill's methodology, I built and tested a WNBA version of RAPM. Here's what I found.

Can a WNBA-tailored RAPM model provide similar predictive power compared with its NBA counterpart? If so, how should it be built? The answer to the first is yes. Following Joe Sill's methodology, I built and tested a WNBA version of RAPM. Here's what I found.

In 46 days, the WNBA ratified a CBA, held an expansion draft, opened free agency, held a rookie draft, started training camps, played preseason games, and will now, finally, begin the 2026 season We broke down each WNBA team and how they changed ahead of the 2026 season: www.si.com/wnba/everyth...

Everything to Know About Each WNBA Team Ahead of the 2026 Season

After a whirlwind offseason that was condensed into just a few weeks, it was hard to keep track of everything that happened. Here’s a five-minute guide to every

si.com

at the dollar amount other players have signed for, this may be the best value signing of the offseason so far. Natasha Mack is a better/more important player than what simple box score numbers would indicate.

Richard Cohen@richardcohen.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Source confirms to me and @herhoopstats.com that Natasha Mack re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury for two-years, unprotected, $303,600/288,600. That's a little bump for 2026 to reward her, then the expected minimum next year (although again her actual cash would be higher via the new rule). #WNBA

wnba offseason grades are up after the draft and the initial wave of free agency! some grades are tricky. the storm did really well in the draft but endured a massive exodus of talent. sun had a good draft, too, but the vision is long-term. www.si.com/wnba/wnba-of...

WNBA Offseason Grades: How Each Team Fares After 2026 Draft, Early Free Agency

It’s been a whirlwind week in the league, with a bunch of new-look rosters. Let’s assess how each front office has done so far.

si.com

i couldn't come close to beating @thefalkon.bsky.social this year but still finished with a respectable 🥈 in the kaggle march madness competition! 144th out of 3,483 teams this year with no gambling involved

John Edwards@johnbedwards.io · 5mo ago

my march madness projections for 2026 are (finally) up! johnbedwards.io/blog/march_m... while I didn't have the chance to update my methodology much from 2025, everything from last year worked pretty well. here's who i have as the highest probability teams for winning the men's tournament:

predictions of integrity? juuuuust missed out on the top eight, but I'm very happy with the score my models acheived. (No gambling or hand-modifying of predictions) congrats to everyone else!

"The Sky are known as a cheap franchise because Alter is a cheap owner. This season will be the first in which players don’t share locker room space with anyone who can afford the $49 monthly membership at Sachs Recreation Center" great column by Julia that gets into the rift in Chicago:

Julia Poe@juliapoe.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Institutional failure sent Angel Reese out of Chicago. Sky owner Michael Alter must break the cycle — or sell the team.

The Angel Reese trade exposes the Sky's central flaw: they mismanage their most valuable assets—their players. More on today's deal and Sky's history of failing to retain and build around their stars: www.si.com/wnba/angel-r...

The Angel Reese Trade Is the Sky’s Latest Blunder

Chicago’s history of mismanaging assets shows a clear pattern of incompetence when it comes to prioritizing players.

si.com

At SI, we ranked the top 68 players who will be competing in the women's NCAA tournament. These are the names to know in March. (many thanks to @emmabaccellieri.bsky.social, @blakesilverman.bsky.social, Tim Capurso and Kristen Nelson for their help with this project!) www.si.com/college-bask...

Ranking the Best 68 Women’s Basketball Players in the March Madness Field

From impressive freshmen to top 2026 WNBA draft prospects, this year’s NCAA tournament will have highlight-worthy talent.

si.com

Did Veronica Burton beat Courtney Williams that bad? Burton's win was the fastest Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament victory for any non-finals game.

With the Unrivaled 1-on-1 Tournament starting today, I broke down the best storylines, the top scorers heading in, what's changed since last year and more for @sportsillustrated.bsky.social: (there's a table ranking the top 10 players by points per possession, too!) www.si.com/wnba/everyth...

Everything to Know About Unrivaled’s 1-on-1 Tournament

Before the action gets underway, find out the top storylines, what’s at stake and how to watch Unrivaled’s popular three-day tournament.

si.com

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