{"id":136866,"date":"2025-05-02T19:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T23:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=136866"},"modified":"2025-05-02T18:21:53","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T22:21:53","slug":"young-cores-wnba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/05\/02\/young-cores-wnba\/","title":{"rendered":"The 3 Best Young Cores in the WNBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the start of the WNBA season<\/a> nearing, there are a few teams you should keep an eye on. There are several reasons why you should keep an eye on these teams. The main reason is that they have a great young core that will only get better. Having a great young core is both a blessing and a curse. Despite being fearless, the inexperience of Indiana Fever’s young core falling short in the playoffs against the Connecticut Sun was telling. Before the season begins, let’s explore which teams have the best young core in the WNBA.<\/p>\n

The 3 Best Young Cores in the WNBA<\/h2>\n

Los Angeles Sparks<\/h3>\n

The Los Angeles Sparks have a great young core consisting of Rae Burrell<\/a>, Rickea Jackson,<\/a> and Cameron Brink<\/a>. Jackson and Brink are two players you should be looking out for. Jackson was drafted fourth in last year’s draft, while Brink was the second pick. Brink will be extra motivated this season as she missed much of her rookie season with a torn ACL<\/a>. If Brink can stay out of foul trouble, she could compete for Defensive Player of the Year alongside Napheesa Collier<\/a> and A’ja Wilson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jackson should have had a more prominent role in her rookie season, particularly when Brink wasn’t injured. If she had played more minutes, she could have given Caitlin Clark<\/a> a run for her money in the ROTY race. It is scary to think that the Sparks would have had an even better young core had they not traded for Kelsey Plum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dallas Wings<\/h3>\n

The Dallas Wings have two players they can rely on for the long haul in Paige Bueckers<\/a> and NaLyssa Smith<\/a>. In Bueckers, they have a potential future MVP winner<\/a>. This year’s No. 1 overall pick is one of the best midrange shooting prospects we have ever seen, and she can read opposing defenses well. The 6-foot guard is also a remarkable player defensively. She averaged 0.8 blocks and 2.1 steals in her last year of college with UConn.<\/p>\n

Smith is a very capable player in her own right. The 6-foot-4 forward is versatile and can score and rebound in the paint.\u00a0 There is a reason why she was the second overall pick in 2022. She will want to get back on track after a disappointing ending with the Indiana Fever. Smith left the Fever as she fell out of favor with the franchise when her playing time diminished. If she can learn from that experience, there is no reason why she can’t come back stronger.<\/p>\n

Indiana Fever<\/h3>\n

Out of all the WNBA teams, the Indiana Fever has the best young core. You will struggle to find a better duo under 25 in the league than Caitlin Clark<\/a> and Aliyah Boston<\/a>. Both are generational players who were drafted No.1 in their draft class. Clark had an all-time great season for a point guard in her rookie season. In year one, she averaged 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 8.4 assists. Her ceiling is limitless, as she could win multiple MVPs before she turns 27 and ultimately go down as one of the best offensive players in history.<\/p>\n

Boston is also a tremendous player. She is a great rebounder and can score at all three levels. The 6-foot-5 guard may not possess the same offensive threat as Clark, but she can hurt you in different ways. Overall, the Fever have an extremely bright future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the start of the WNBA season nearing, there are a few teams you should keep an eye on. There are several reasons why you should keep an eye on these teams. The main reason is that they have a great young core that will only get better. Having a great young core is both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5455,"featured_media":137414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,49709],"tags":[1631,2919,49063,50084,49637,4664,49658,4153,50098,50003],"class_list":["post-136866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-wnba","tag-aja-wilson","tag-aliyah-boston","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-cameron-brink","tag-kelsey-plum","tag-nalyssa-smith","tag-napheesa-collier","tag-paige-bueckers","tag-rae-burrell","tag-rickea-jackson"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136866"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137415,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136866\/revisions\/137415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}