WNBA Weekly Power Rankings

Published in

Her Hoop Stats

5 min readAug 6, 2019

Week of August 5, 2019

Welcome back from our rankings All-Star break! As the WNBA is now also past their All-Star break and the race for playoff spots heats up, we are excited to bring you commentary on all 12 teams! Our team member Jonathan Chang has joined our weekly power rankings to provide this more comprehensive coverage. You can find the top six teams covered by Megan and the bottom six covered by Jonathan below.

As far as the rankings themselves go — our top three stays the same in the first week back from the All-Star break. But Los Angeles is making waves with the return of Candace Parker and is certainly making a case to be a part of that top tier. If they can get all three of their frontcourt stars (Parker and the Ogwumikes) on the court together, the Sparks are a serious threat to every team in the league.

Here are this week’s rankings (movements from last week’s rankings are noted in parentheses):

1. Connecticut Sun

Record: 16–6, Offensive Rating: 101.9, Defensive Rating: 96.0, Net Rating: 5.9

The Connecticut Sun’s season seems to be all about streaks, and they’re on another one: seven straight wins. They remain at the top of the league standings and our power rankings after the first week of post All-Star play. We did see Connecticut hit a five-game skid before, however, and the Sun will need to avoid that in their quest for a double-bye in the playoffs.

2. Washington Mystics

Record: 15–7, Offensive Rating: 112.0, Defensive Rating: 101.6, Net Rating: 10.4

In the biggest surprise since All-Star break, Washington suffered a big loss at the hands of a Taurasi-less Phoenix team this weekend. However, the Mystics narrowly keep the second spot on this list, by finishing on top in the second half of their game with the Aces that was made up last night. The Mystics did have the 15-point advantage heading into the second half, and neither A’ja Wilson or Liz Cambage played in the second half, but they finished with a 29-point win.

3. Las Vegas Aces

Record: 15–8, Offensive Rating: 99.1, Defensive Rating: 91.0, Net Rating: 8.1

If Wilson and Cambage were both playing, the Aces would likely have the second-place spot on these rankings. That being said, without Wilson, Vegas fell to the Sparks. And then, without Wilson and Cambage they allowed the Mystics to double the margin in the earthquake make-up second half. The Aces did pick up two wins over Dallas as well, but that’s not enough to push them past Washington in our rankings.

4. Los Angeles Sparks (↑3)

Record: 13–8, Offensive Rating: 99.8, Defensive Rating: 98.5, Net Rating: 1.3

The Sparks surged up three spots this week, behind the return of Candace Parker and a three-game win streak (including a win over the Las Vegas Aces). They already sit just one game behind the Aces and 2.5 behind the top-ranked Sun in the WNBA standings. Add that we haven’t seen the Sparks at full strength yet — Chiney Ogwumike did not play in either game with Parker — and it seems very possible that L.A. may be among our top three when they get to full strength.

5. Chicago Sky

Record: 12–9, Offensive Rating: 100.1, Defensive Rating: 99.2, Net Rating: 0.9

The Sky have admittedly had an easy go of things lately, with five of their last six games being against teams ranking in the bottom four of the league. That being said, they were able to win all five of those games and played Connecticut tightly at home in the sixth. The post-All-Star stretch of their schedule will be more difficult, as they play our top four teams seven times before the end of the season. Time will tell if they can hold on to their league standing and a playoff berth.

6. Phoenix Mercury (↑2)

Record: 11–10, Offensive Rating: 101.2, Defensive Rating: 99.8, Net Rating: 1.4

Phoenix is playing short-handed to say the least and is still without Diana Taurasi, but they still managed to get the win over Washington this past weekend. The win itself was rather convincing at 103–82, despite the Mercury getting just eight points from their bench. While offense got it done against the Mystics, the Mercury were also able to hold Connecticut to 68 points last week. Despite dropping that game, they proved they can compete with the league’s top talent and moved themselves up on the list.

7. Seattle Storm (↓3)

Record: 12–11, Offensive Rating: 98.3, Defensive Rating: 98.1, Net Rating: 0.2

Seattle fell three places in the power rankings this week after losing two games to Los Angeles and Washington last week. Unfortunately, the powerhouse opponents won’t be enough to excuse the Storm from their disastrous -17.1 net rating during that stint. It didn't help that two of their top three scorers struggled from the field: guard Jordin Canada shot 6-of-20 (30.0%), while All-Star Jewell Loyd went 3-of-14 (21.4%).

8. Minnesota Lynx (↓2)

Record: 11–10, Offensive Rating: 98.0, Defensive Rating: 97.4, Net Rating: 0.6

The Lynx played just one game last week, and it wasn’t a good look: after leading Indiana, 48–38 at the half, they were limited to just 27 points in the second half to lose by 11. Their losing streak now sits at four, and while they face the Atlanta Dream next, they fell to the pedestrian opponent in their last meeting.

9. Indiana Fever

Record: 8–15, Offensive Rating: 100.3, Defensive Rating: 103.2, Net Rating: -2.9

The Fever posted a 2–0 record that included the aforementioned second-half turnaround against the Lynx and a two-point win over Atlanta behind All-Star Game MVP Erica Wheeler’s game-winning layup. Despite shooting 39.7 percent from the field, the Fever managed to post a league-best 83.2 defensive rating over the two-game stretch to become one of the three teams to go undefeated last week.

10. Dallas Wings (↑1)

Record: 6–16, Offensive Rating: 93.9, Defensive Rating: 100.8, Net Rating: -6.9

Dallas remains a struggling team, but Arike Ogunbowale’s performance gave Wings fans a reason to celebrate last week. The rookie guard averaged 20 points per game on 48.8 percent shooting from the field over three games and was unconscious from deep: 2.7 3-pointers per game on 61.5 percent shooting. A 1–2 record with a win over the struggling Liberty bumps them up a spot on the power rankings.

11. New York Liberty (↓1)

Record: 8–13, Offensive Rating: 96.1, Defensive Rating: 104.1, Net Rating: -8.0

Four teams went winless last week, but New York stands out — its -22.6 net rating was the week’s worst net rating by far. (Seattle came the closest with a -17.1 rating.) There was no surprise when the red-hot Sun beat the Liberty by 15 behind guard Courtney Williams’ 28 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. But unexpected was the 23-point beatdown by the young Wings team, who defeated New York, 87–64 behind Ogunbowale’s 22 points.

12. Atlanta Dream

Record: 5–17, Offensive Rating: 90.0, Defensive Rating: 101.2, Net Rating: -11.2

Atlanta has now lost seven straight, making the streak the worst of this WNBA season. The past week saw no improvement as the Dream ranked dead-last in points per game (67.0), field goal percentage (31.8), free throw percentage (69.4) and assists (14.5). And while they came close against the Fever, Wheeler’s game-winning layup gave Indiana the 61–59 win.

If you like this content, please support our work at Her Hoop Stats by subscribing for just $20 a year. All stats are compiled from Basketball-Reference for games through August 4.