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Good morning! We’re still wrapping our heads around the most unexpected WNBA Finals matchup in recent memory. How did we get here? Coming up today:
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🚨 Dream arena update
❓What’s next for LV and NY
🏆 Any HOFers left?
The finals start Saturday at Golden State. We’ll be back with you later this week for a full preview.
The Finals
Two new contenders take center stage
Talk over the last month has been about experience outweighing youth in the WNBA. But the No. 2 Valkyries and the No. 4 Dream flipped that concept on its head, sweeping the more experienced No. 3 Aces and No. 8 Liberty.
The Aces and Liberty account for all four of the last WNBA championships, with Las Vegas claiming three.
But this year, a new WNBA champion will be crowned for the first time since the Sky won their only title in 2021. That championship was the result of a shifting free-agency landscape that gave way to one of the most significant moves in WNBA history, when Candace Parker left the Sparks to sign with her hometown team. This year’s two finals teams instead reflect the league’s expanding talent pool.
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There was concern about how expansion would impact the player pool and whether there would be enough stars to fill out rosters. The Valkyries are a testament to the fact that there is enough depth to go around.
On to some breaking news:
Where will the Dream play?
The Dream will host games 3 and 4 of the finals at 17,000-seat State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta, the WNBA announced earlier today. Game 3 was moved from Thursday, Oct. 22, to Wednesday, Oct. 21, due to a concert conflict with the artist Sombr, and Game 4 will start earlier, at 1 p.m. ET.
The franchise did not announce a venue for Game 6. The Dream’s home since 2021, Gateway Center Arena, is the WNBA’s smallest venue at 3,500 seats — and about 30 minutes outside Atlanta.
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Last week, the organization announced it signed a multiyear deal to play home games at State Farm Arena starting in 2027. The Dream secured State Farm for the first round and semifinals this year, but the venue for their first finals appearance since 2013 was in question.
While the Dream’s season ticket holder base is significantly smaller than State Farm Arena’s capacity, they sold close to 10,000 tickets for all three playoff games there so far. Atlanta moved six games downtown this season, selling out five of them.
It’s unclear why the Dream did not have a venue plan already in place for finals games, considering the NBA’s start date. The Hawks are also scheduled to play the Cavaliers on Oct. 29 at State Farm Arena, the date the Dream could host a potential Game 6.
(Side note: Check out “do i ever cross your mind” by Sombr. Amazing song, especially if you’re into heartbreak ballads even while in a totally stable, healthy relationship dynamic as I am … this is Annie here, BTW. Send me all your sad girl music, PLEASE. I love to get emotional on the subway and pretend I’m living out a ’90s NYC rom-com.)
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Anyway, back to basketball.
Fast Breaks
🏆 A’ja Wilson officially won her fifth MVP award and third straight. See her full comments from last week.
The Valkyries defense shifted into high gear to sweep the Aces, as Marcus Thompson II explains.
🔮 Angel Reese manifested this finals trip for the Dream. Now, she’s the WNBA’s last young star standing.
🤝 Caitlin Clark strongly backed Kelsey Mitchell last Thursday, days after Mitchell expressed that being teammates with the Fever star “hasn’t always been easy” because of negative attention from fans. More details here.
😬 At a rally yesterday, President Donald Trump mentioned Fever guard Sophie Cunningham and said her looks would boost a team’s attendance.
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What’s Next
Who’s to blame for the Liberty’s exit?
Two main questions surround the Liberty after their semifinals exit: Does coach Chris DeMarco keep his job? Do the big three stay together?
The answer to the first question seemed like a no-brainer after the semifinals Game 2 reset timeout debacle. The fact New York hasn’t announced any change yet is notable, but it doesn’t mean DeMarco is out of the woods. The issue with firing DeMarco after just one season starts with the fact he’s signed to a multiyear deal, which would require the Liberty to pay him. Secondly, it would be an indictment of general manager Jonathan Kolb.
Kolb was responsible for Sandy Brondello’s firing and DeMarco’s hiring. The decision to get rid of Brondello was questionable to begin with after she brought the Liberty the 2024 championship, but a season later, the move warrants even more scrutiny. If Kolb fires the coach he was adamant would bring an era of innovation less than a year after his hire, questions arise about whether Kolb can make the right hire.
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This brings us to the second question: Is it beneficial to keep Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu? DeMarco has received scrutiny this season for not establishing a culture, failing to maximize a roster amid injuries and getting outcoached in the playoffs. But the roster he had to work with, constructed by Kolb, also deserves some criticism.
DeMarco said after being eliminated that the Dream and the Valkyries were playing a “different brand of basketball.” That brand is predicated on defense anchored by athletic, speedy guards. The Liberty’s most athletic guards were Pauline Astier and Marine Fauthoux.
Ionescu dealt with a nagging back injury for much of the year, which she said after Game 3 was more difficult to manage than she let on. The injury aside, though, Ionescu isn’t quick enough or athletic enough to keep up with the likes of Rhyne Howard or Jordin Canada.
Similarly, outside of a dominant Game 3, Jones was outplayed by the Dream forward Reese. The problem there is that Reese is just one of many young bigs around the league who will continue to give Jones problems in the years to come. Stewart said she believes “1,000 percent” that the Liberty had enough to get the job done.
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The answer here may lie somewhere between the Liberty needing a better coach and making a few tweaks to their roster.
How will the Aces reload?
Expect the three-time champions to be back as contenders in 2027, but they’ll need an offseason makeover to account for the injury to NaLyssa Smith. Without their best athlete and offensive rebounder, the Aces looked sluggish as they were swept by Golden State, not unlike their middling form during the first half of the 2025 season before they acquired Smith.
Las Vegas can’t count on Smith’s availability in 2027 after she sustained a non-contact leg injury on Aug. 23, forcing the Aces to strike in free agency or explore trades. Unless Las Vegas can convince Napheesa Collier to play second fiddle to A’ja Wilson (or even third to Jackie Young and Wilson), Kayla Thornton is probably the best unrestricted free agent power forward.
She’s more perimeter-oriented than Smith and less effective on the glass, but she’s a tenacious defender, and coach Becky Hammon would be able to weaponize Thornton’s spacing after she made 34.7 percent of her 3s in 2026. Among restricted free agents, Emily Engstler and Awak Kuier seem like good fits in Las Vegas. Engstler brings the physicality, even if she needs a little more discipline (like Smith in 2025!), while Kuier is more finesse but oozes potential.
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One semifinals loss isn’t enough to make the Aces reconsider their star-driven approach. A little better health, and Las Vegas could be hosting a finals game Saturday.
But the Aces do need to optimize the back end of their roster; they got so little out of four of their 12 roster spots and didn’t even add a developmental player until July. When they needed help after Smith, Jewell Loyd and Stephanie Talbot went down, Las Vegas didn’t have answers. That didn’t end up mattering in 2025 when the Aces enjoyed better health, but they need to insure against injury next season to maintain their championship potential.
🎙️ The “No Offseason” podcast crew dove further into the Liberty’s and Aces’ futures on the latest episode. Listen wherever you get your shows.
Legacies: Any HOFers on the Dream or Valkyries?
A WNBA champion has been crowned without a first-team All-WNBA player only a handful of times: No. 6 seed Chicago in 2021 and during the Detroit Shock’s run in the 2000s, when they won three titles in six seasons (2003, 2006 and 2008). The 2026 All-WNBA teams have yet to be announced, but this year’s champion is likely to join that club.
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The more interesting question is what winning a title would mean for the legacy of the players on the Valkyries or Dream. Championship teams are historically led by Hall of Famers: 23 of the league’s 29 titles have been won by top-10 players (at least according to my list), and that expands to 25 if you include Lisa Leslie at No. 11.
If Golden State wins, does that put Gabby Williams on the fast track to the Hall? If Atlanta wins, is Angel Reese in line to be a generational player, or does that honor get bestowed on Rhyne Howard? Perhaps the Valkyries will be thought of as a collective, like those Detroit squads with Katie Smith, Swin Cash and Deanna Nolan. But the Dream are top-heavy; winning would put their finals MVP in an entirely new echelon, historically.
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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