WNBA Power Rankings: Who’s closing out the regular season strong?

We’ve hit the final stretch of the WNBA season and the gap between the haves and have-nots is wider than ever. Of the seven teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs, six are coming off losses, and five have losing streaks of at least four games. Meanwhile, only one playoff team isn’t currently on a win streak.

How do all of the league’s teams compare at this point? Let’s take a look at the final regular-season power rankings.

WNBA Power Rankings

The Liberty look like contenders again

It’s been an up-and-down season for the New York Liberty, as injuries and shooting issues have led to a lot of inconsistency. However, it looks like New York might be hitting its stride at just the right time, as the team had a fairly convincing 93-81 win over the Minnesota Lynx on Friday, then blew the doors off the Tempo on Sunday.

The current starting unit — Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart, Leonie Fiebich, Pauline Astier and Sabrina Ionescu — does a good job negating some of the earlier spacing concerns, and with most of the key players healthy (sans Satou Sabally, who is out for the remainder of the season due to a concussion), the team is able to lean on its best players. All five starters played at least 27 minutes against the Lynx.

Are there still concerns here? Sure! Stewart’s 3-point shooting has been an issue, and Astier is going to be playing in her first WNBA postseason. But you have a roster with two former MVPs in the frontcourt, and that’s a big advantage in a playoff series.

Dallas keeps winning, but…

The Dallas Wings have now stretched their winning streak to six games. Sure, some of that is about who the team has played, as only one win in that span was against a playoff team, but six wins in a row is stlll impressive, especially when you consider this team still has so many questions

One of those questions is whether the team will have Alanna Smith back in time for the playoffs. Without her the team is relying on Maddy Siegrist and Alyssa Clark more, which has worked in small doses but seems like it might not be sustainable across a playoff series. Against the Mercury, for example, Clark played 19 minutes and went 0-for-5 from the floor.

The general lack of shooting with Azzi Fudd sidelined is another concern that, for the moment, hasn’t really reared its head much, but it’s one the team will have to contend with. Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale are your only players who can really score off the dribble, and there’s also not a reliable catch-and-shoot threat on the roster either. For now, the Wings keep winning, but there’s reason to doubt that continuing in the playoffs.

The World Cup break killed the non-playoff teams

We took approximately three weeks off for the FIBA World Cup and upon returning to the court, one thing was very clear: the teams with nothing to play for very much knew they had nothing to play for.

Non-playoff teams have been getting destroyed since the league returned. Saturday’s 87-82 win by the Wings over the Mercury is the only game between a playoff team and non-playoff team that’s been decided by single-digit points. Every other contest hasn’t been close.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Part of winning in sports is about concentration, and if you have no playoff shot and have to go take three weeks off, you’re not going to be concentrated on winning games when you come back. It’s like working during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day.