The 2026 WNBA season has just reached its quarter mark. Many teams have maintained their spot at the top, some have climbed up or down, and other teams have been stuck at the bottom. There have also been many standout players along the way. Let\u2019s take a look at the power rankings thus far.<\/p>\r\n
The Minnesota Lynx have been the most consistent team to start the season. Despite not having Napheesa Collier<\/a>, the Lynx have found ways to win. Rookie guard Olivia Miles<\/a> has put the team on her back, averaging 19 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. Miles<\/a> has a strong presence on both ends and has been a huge asset to Minnesota so far. Alongside her are veterans such as Courtney Williams<\/a> and Kayla McBride<\/a>, who help contribute on offense. The Lynx lead the WNBA with 93.1 points per game and a defensive rating of 98.5.<\/p>\r\n After starting off the season 3-4, the New York Liberty currently find themselves on an eight-game winning streak. Breanna Stewart<\/a> has been the leader that the Liberty needed this season. The forward is averaging 19.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. With her 7-foot-4 wingspan, Stewart is a strong defensive force, averaging 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. She even recorded a career-high seven blocks against the Washington Mystics on June 14. The Liberty also have a strong bench, adding depth with players such as Han Xu<\/a> and Rebekah Gardner<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n The Las Vegas Aces have remained a top team in the league this season. The reigning WNBA MVP, A\u2019ja Wilson<\/a>, is leading the league in points scored per game with 26.1. The core of Wilson, Jackie Young<\/a>, and Chelsea Gray<\/a> have immense chemistry that makes them hard to guard. Having three strong shooters on the court at all times is what makes this Aces team solid. The Aces’ bench is also strong, including veterans such as Chennedy Carter<\/a>, who is averaging 14.4 points per game.<\/p>\r\n In their second season, the Golden State Valkyries already look like an improved team. During the offseason, they acquired Gabby Williams<\/a>, a move that has proven to be stellar. Williams has put up a career-high 16.3 points per game, which leads this Golden State team. Her defensive presence never goes unnoticed, as she averages 1.6 steals per game. Veronica Burton<\/a>, who was the WNBA\u2019s Most Improved Player last season, has been another consistent scorer. The Valkyries rank among the top three teams in defensive rating at 102.1.<\/p>\r\n The Atlanta Dream made a splash during the offseason when they acquired Angel Reese<\/a> from the Chicago Sky. Adding Reese to the starting lineup meant adding a strong rebounder on both sides of the floor. Throughout this season, Reese has averaged 14.6 points and 12.3 rebounds per game. She recently recorded her 57th double-double<\/a> in just 75 games played, a new WNBA record. Another key player key to the Dream\u2019s success is Allisha Gray<\/a>. The guard is averaging a team-high 19.6 points per game. Rhyne Howard<\/a> is yet another solid scorer and is currently tied for second place in 3-pointers made on the season with 42.<\/p>\r\n The Dallas Wings had back-to-back number one overall draft picks in the last two years. Second-year superstar Paige Bueckers<\/a> has become a leader for this team, averaging 18.7 points and six assists per game. The guard has been a fantastic scorer and playmaker for Dallas. Fellow first overall pick Azzi Fudd<\/a> has not started in every game, but she has finally been implemented into the first unit. Fudd has had a few notable games that helped the Wings earn wins. But he biggest standout for this Wings team is Jessica Shepard<\/a>. The forward is averaging a double-double this season with 13.7 points and 11.5 assists per game, and she already has two triple-doubles on the season.<\/p>\r\n The Indiana Fever are led by superstar Caitlin Clark<\/a>. After missing most of last season — including the playoffs — to a groin injury, Clark is back and better than ever. The guard is averaging 20.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game this season. She is an elite scorer and a creative playmaker. She has helped her team in big moments. The Fever\u2019s leading scorer, Kelsey Mitchell<\/a>, has driven the team\u2019s offense. Averaging 20.8 points per game, Mitchell has proven to be a microwave scorer in the league, shooting 34.6% from three. The other key piece to the Fever is Aliyah Boston<\/a>, the center who is averaging 17.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Her presence in the paint can be unstoppable for opponents.<\/p>\r\n One of two expansion teams<\/a> debuting this season. the Portland Fire have already pulled off some big upsets, winning against teams such as the Liberty and the Fever. The duo of Carla Leite<\/a> and Bridget Carleton<\/a> has led the Fire\u2019s offense. Leite is averaging a team-high 14.1 points per game, while Carleton is just behind with 13.8. Carleton is known for her 3-point shooting and has hit 38.2% from downtown this season. The Fire struggle on the defensive end, which has been the reason for a handful of losses. For an expansion team, they currently sit in eighth place and would be in a playoff spot if the season ended today.<\/p>\r\n The Toronto Tempo are the other expansion team, and they are playing well for a new, balanced group of veterans. The duo of Brittney Sykes<\/a> and Marina Mabrey<\/a> has been consistent and strong on offense. Sykes is the leading scorer for the Tempo with 20.1 points per game. After a strong shooting performance against the Washington Mystics — going off for 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting — Mabrey stormed into first place for 3-pointers made this season with 43. The Tempo have also struggled on the defensive end, which is the source of their losses so far. Still, there is a lot of potential for the team, as they sit just outside of the playoff picture.<\/p>\r\n The Los Angeles Sparks are led by the second-highest scorer in the league, Kelsey Plum<\/a>. Plum is in her second season with the team after being traded by the Las Vegas Aces. She is one of the best scorers in the league, averaging 25 points per game. The guard is also a fantastic playmaker, averaging 6.4 assists this season. The Sparks struggled when Plum<\/a> was out due to ankle sprain, going 1-2 in her absence. They were unable to compete against the Lynx and Valkyries, losing back-to-back blowout games. With a fully healthy team, the Sparks may be able to find a way to move up in the WNBA standings.<\/p>\r\n The Washington Mystics were a team with a lot of promise in the preseason predictions. The starting five consists of first-round draft picks: Sonia Citron<\/a>, Kiki Iriafen<\/a>, Shakira Austin<\/a>, Georgia Amoore<\/a>, and Michaela Onyewere<\/a> (originally drafted in the first round by the New York Liberty in 2021). In this year’s WNBA draft, Lauren Betts<\/a> and Angela Dugali\u0107<\/a> were both first-round picks out of UCLA. Despite all of this talent, the Mystics have struggled to find consistent chemistry with their players. The team has dealt with minor injuries to Citron, Iriafen, and Austin throughout the start of this season. Those ailments could be partially why the chemistry is not there yet. Citron has been the leading scorer for this Washington team with 17.4 points per game. Iriafen has averaged 14.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.<\/p>\r\n The Phoenix Mercury were in the 2025 WNBA Finals. After trading away their star in Satou Sabally<\/a>, things have not been the same. The Mercury find themselves with a 2-8 record over their last ten games. Their leading scorer is Kahleah Copper<\/a> with 19.3 points per game. Alyssa Thomas<\/a> is averaging nearly a triple-double this season with 14.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game. However, the lack of contributions from other players has prevented Phoenix from going on any kind of winning streak.<\/p>\r\n The Chicago Sky moved on from Reese\u00a0and acquired Rickea Jackson<\/a> from the Los Angeles Sparks. Unfortunately, Jackson, who was putting up career-high numbers, suffered a torn ACL<\/a> in May, leaving her out for the rest of the season. The Sky have had a hard time generating offense. The main scorer has been veteran Skylar Diggins<\/a>, who is averaging 15.5 points per game. Other than Diggins, no one else has been stepping up. The Sky find themselves in 13th place in the standings and will need bench players to rise to the occasion.<\/p>\r\n The Seattle Storm are currently in a rebuild, as they traded away their core three of Nneka Ogwumike<\/a>, Gabby Williams, and Skylar Diggins during the offseason. The Storm\u2019s struggles this season are expected, since the team has first-round picks that will eventually become top players in this league. The acquisition of veterans such as Natisha Hiedeman<\/a> and Stefanie Dolson<\/a> has helped to mentor the younger players. French standout Dominique Malonga<\/a> is back from a concussion that kept her out for eight games. Malonga currently leads the Storm in points per game with 15.8 and rebounds per game with 6.9.<\/p>\r\n The Connecticut Sun have struggled the most this season. They traded away their leading scorer, Marina Mabrey, during the offseason. The team will also be relocating to Houston<\/a> next year. With all of this noise, it looks like the Sun will start over and focus on being a top team after the move takes place. Aneesah Morrow<\/a> has been a solid player for them this season, averaging 11.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. The Sun struggle on the offensive end, as they average 78.1 points per game this season.<\/p>\r\n \u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2026 WNBA season has just reached its quarter mark. Many teams have maintained their spot at the top, some have climbed up or down, and other teams have been stuck at the bottom. There have also been many standout players along the way. Let\u2019s take a look at the power rankings thus far. WNBA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5846,"featured_media":201238,"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":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,49709],"tags":[1631,49157,3153,49063,50045,49637,4153],"class_list":["post-200272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-wnba","tag-aja-wilson","tag-angel-reese","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-caitlin-clark","tag-gabby-williams","tag-kelsey-plum","tag-paige-bueckers"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200272","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\/5846"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200272"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201239,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200272\/revisions\/201239"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}2. New York Liberty (11-4)<\/h3>\r\n
3. Las Vegas Aces (11-4)<\/h3>\r\n
4. Golden State Valkyries (10-5)<\/h3>\r\n
5. Atlanta Dream (9-4)<\/h3>\r\n
6. Dallas Wings (9-6)<\/h3>\r\n
7. Indiana Fever (9-5)<\/h3>\r\n
8. Portland Fire (8-9)<\/h3>\r\n
9. Toronto Tempo (7-8)<\/h3>\r\n
10. Los Angeles Sparks (7-8)<\/h3>\r\n
11. Washington Mystics (6-7)<\/h3>\r\n
12. Phoenix Mercury (4-12)<\/h3>\r\n
13. Chicago Sky (4-10)<\/h3>\r\n
14. Seattle Storm (3-13)<\/h3>\r\n
15. Connecticut Sun (2-14)<\/h3>\r\n