Four more regular season games for the New York Liberty. That’s all.
But they are more than two weeks away as the WNBA temporarily halts for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, which begins today in Berlin, Germany. Many of the league’s best players will be representing their respective countries in the event that culminates with the gold medal game on Sunday, September 13.
Team USA includes Liberty superstar Breanna Stewart but they will be without the world’s best women’s player. USA Basketball announced on Monday that four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson of the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces will sit out the World Cup due to lingering health issues, likely pertaining to her back. Wilson, who leads the league in scoring (26.0 points per game) and blocks (2.0), and is third in rebounding (9.4), was named the 2024 Paris Olympics and 2022 World Cup most outstanding player.
Entering this season, oddsmakers installed the Liberty and Aces as the favorites to reach the WNBA Finals. Neither has that status now. The Liberty are in a three-way tie with the Washington Mystics and Dallas Wings for the No. 6 seed as they are all 24-16. The 27-13 Aces are the No. 3 seed and just one game in front of the Atlanta Dream and Indiana Fever, who are both 26-14. The top eight teams make the playoffs and they all have clinched spots with only four regular season games left for each of the WNBA’s 15 squads.
But the seedings, even for the top position, are still for the taking as the current No. 1 seed, the 31-9 Minnesota Lynx, have a narrow two-game lead over the 29-11 No. 2 Golden State Valkyries. The Lynx hold the tie-breaker over the Valkyries, having beaten them in two of the three head-to-head matchups this season and they will not face each other again over the final four games.
The Liberty mathematically can rise to one of the top four seeds and earn homecourt advantage in the first round. They sit three games behind the Aces (27-13) and two below the Dream and Fever.
Stewart, a two-time WNBA MVP who leads the Liberty in points (20.4), blocks (1.4), and steals (1.3), is optimistic about the team’s prospects despite being 2-2 in their last four games before the World Cup.
“Really happy with the direction that we’re going in, even post-All-Star break,” she said. “We’ve had losses, but… It’s kind of like, all right, we learn, we lose, we learn from it, we get better. But I think that it’d be a good break for everybody to kind of focus on themselves a little bit, enjoy the moment wherever they’re at, and then, when we get back in a few weeks, it’s kind of guns blazing.”
The Liberty will return to action on Friday, September 18, playing the Lynx on the road.
