After the busiest offseason in league history, the WNBA regular season is now three weeks deep. But instead of new faces in new places dominating, it’s two very familiar ones leading the way. The Minnesota Lynx (8-0) and New York Liberty (7-0), the two teams who met in last year’s Finals, are both off to undefeated starts and look like they’re on a collision course for another title showdown.
To assess the WNBA’s two biggest forces, we brought in two of our own. The Ringer’s Seerat Sohi and Kellen Becoats got together to debate which unbeaten team has the advantage in the season-long marathon. Can the Liberty run it back? Or is it the Lynx’s time?
Kellen Becoats: When the Lynx and Liberty gave us the best WNBA Finals in recent memory last fall, it felt all but inevitable that they’d meet there again in 2025. The opening salvo of the regular season has only reinforced that sentiment. After three weeks, New York and Minnesota are the only undefeated teams remaining, with a collective 15-0 record. Starting a season on a winning streak is old hat for Minnesota, whose dynastic aspirations mean it seeks more than just a perfect start to reach its ultimate goal. But this is the Liberty’s best start to a season since 1997, and they’re enjoying being the hunted once again, wasting no time showing the league why they’re the reigning champs. So in the interest of making far-too-early predictions about a season that’s less than a month old, I’d like to go ahead and declare the New York Liberty the best team in the W.
New York has the best offense in the league, the best defense in the league, and a mascot that is more famous than most of the Golden State Valkyries’ roster. Look at the silly shit the Liberty were doing during Sunday’s 100-52 thrashing of the Connecticut Sun. (No, you didn’t read that final score wrong.) New York won by 48 points, and none of its starters played more than 24 minutes and the team made 19 of its 32 3s. And the only thing that’s been more compelling than Natasha Cloud’s seamless fit with her new team is her content partnership with Breanna Stewart. So with all that in New York’s corner, do you really think the Lynx are the better team?
Seerat Sohi: This question feels like a trap. For what it’s worth, the anthropomorphic elephant is also more famous than over half the roster she purports to uplift, but I digress. More to the point, like Marine Johannes in the pick-and-roll, I’m going to patiently dribble out the pressure while the play develops—or, in this case, the Lynx put together a complete game—and throw a crosscourt curveball.
I need to talk this one out, if only to get it out of my system. I’ll start by indulging you with my worst fears about how dominant this Liberty offense could be. New York’s volume and accuracy beyond the arc early this season is truly without precedent. If it holds, the Liberty’s 12.3 3-point makes per game will shatter records previously set in 2021, 2023, and 2024 by … the New York Liberty. Their 38.6 percent shooting clip is currently 11th all time, and first among teams to average more than 22 attempts per game—oh, and they’re averaging just under 32.
Last year’s Liberty squad overwhelmed opponents with talent, but they became beatable when they lost their flow. Now, the core has another year of familiarity, and they’ve added the perfect short-roll connector in Cloud, whose drive-and-kick escapades can inject life into an offense that occasionally got too jump shot happy last season. Like Leonie Fiebich, Tash can also guard bigs when Jonquel Jones gets dragged out of the paint. Even if the shooting comes down to earth, their success is a result of an unavoidable truth: This group is hitting new peaks in sustainable ways.
Then again, should anyone really be surprised that the big-market team that was gifted last year’s championship by the refs has taken so well to being front-runners? Just kidding. I troll, I promise, with a purpose. After last year’s result, so much of the narrative energy immediately jumped to what was presumably stolen from Minnesota that it gave the Liberty a rare motivator for a reigning champ: something to prove. It’s a fire reminiscent of the one that—as The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant pointed out this week—Las Vegas rode to a back-to-back championship in 2023.
I will, however, see your T-Cloud and Stewie mash-up and raise you an incomparable duo: the StudBudz. Natisha Hiedeman and Courtney Williams are a must-see. Also, there’s a chance there’s something in Stewart’s many designer bags that’s holding her down? Stewie, once a 37 percent shooter on high-volume, high-difficulty shots, has shot just 26.7 percent on 333 attempts since August 17, 2023. At 30, she’s also averaging a career low in minutes, points, rebounds and 2-point attempts. It’s something to monitor, but not that big of a deal when you’re undefeated.
Do we have any more common ground to cover before I try to make my case for the Lynx, starting with the fact that Napheesa Collier might be the best player in the world?
Becoats: I couldn’t agree more with the “stolen championship” narrative giving the Libs something to chew on. Sabrina Ionescu has also said that winning a championship for the new members of the team is a big motivating factor for New York. Of the new players, only Tash has a ring, and I’m sure she’s hungry for another one anyway.
Speaking to your point about the differences between last year and this year, it’s honestly just so fun watching New York run its offense. I love Courtney Vandersloot dearly and Leo is a great option to have, but nothing compares to Tash surveying the court and getting to choose between passing to two ultra-versatile former MVPs and one of the best shooters in the league. And the shooting numbers the Liberty are posting would make Mazzulla Ball truthers blush. There’s just no easy way to beat them on either end and that should terrify the rest of the W.
As for Stewie, I really want to believe that the shooting will recover, but I thought the same thing last year before she finished at a tick below 30 percent from 3 for the regular season and got worse in the playoffs. Her current mark of 18.2 percent definitely concerns me, but she’s the only rotation player shooting below 35 percent. Even Satou Sabally’s 35.7 percent mark should be taken with a grain of salt since she’s taking over half her shots from beyond the arc and is fifth in the league in 3-point attempts. So it’s not a major worry yet, but I assure you all of New York is talking about it in hushed tones. That’s enough Libs talk, though, let’s get to your squad. (Also let it be known that we could write a whole other blog about StudBudz, because every new clip I see becomes my favorite.)
Sohi: Let’s start with the fact that Collier, who’s leading the W in scoring (25.1 points) with shooting splits (53/41/91) that would make Karl Smesko swoon, is just impossible to guard. Last year’s Lynx, at times, passed without a purpose and didn’t always get the ball into the hands of their best players. This year, Phee is taking the reins and maximizing her all-world talent.
There’s no one defender or scouting report that can account for a player who is lethal from everywhere on the court. Handoffs, slips, drives, post-ups—she throws the kitchen sink at you. Deny the pass, and she’ll back-cut you to smithereens. Trap her, and there’s no one who’s more pliable or patient under duress. She’s either breaking through or making the right pass. Everything she does, on and off the ball, is unpredictable. Pair her with Courtney Williams, the best midrange practitioner in the game, and you’ve got the league’s most efficient high-volume pick-and-roll duo. Phee, whose game has grown incrementally over the years, is just a little tighter with her handle this year, a little more accurate inside the arc, a lot more accurate outside it, and more importantly, a lot more aggressive, ranking fourth in the W in field goal attempts.
For a player that’s often been accused of being deferential, the last stat sticks out the most. She simply won’t allow herself to be denied, and at this point, there’s no scenario her game can’t adapt to. She’s a walking in-game adjustment, and she’s at the height of her powers, as a player and a leader. I imagine we’ll remember her resolve through Minnesota’s minor hiccups as nothing more than MVP-farming. Besides, the fact that the Lynx are 8-0 despite their inconsistency should terrify the rest of the league.
There are also subtle compositional differences within both squads this year. In the Finals, which were decided by a total of 18 points over five games, the Liberty scored exactly 18 more second-chance points than Minnesota. But the absence of Kayla Thornton (now on the Valkyries) and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (who suffered a season-ending injury), as well as a more spaced-out system, has resulted in New York generating a league low offensive rebounding rate and a near league low in second-chance points early this season. The Lynx, who struggled to collect their own misses and were last in the WNBA in paint points last year, have been aided on both fronts by the return of Jessica Shepard, whose physicality inside gives them a counter to their free-flowing, jumper-heavy style.
Becoats: You’re making a lot of good points. The second Phee walks on court, she just feels inevitable. Similar to how ridiculous it felt to consider anyone for MVP other than A’ja Wilson last year, the former UConn great is starting to leave the rest of the league in the dust. It’s absurd that the reigning Defensive Player of the Year has also made 41 (!!) percent of her 3s and has increased her points average by nearly six this season. She’s putting it all together like Voltron.
But I honestly think the secret sauce in Minny, outside of having one of the greatest coaches of all time, is continuity and depth. Just about the entire rotation that made the Finals run last year is back and ready to contribute. Alanna Smith’s inside-outside game is exceptional for a big, and her sharpshooting spreads the floor to let Courtney, Phee, or Natisha Hiedeman slide into the open paint for better shots. It’s also worth mentioning that Alanna and Kayla McBride are scorching the shit out of the net, with the latter splashing over 52 percent of her shots from beyond the arc.
Where New York seems to overwhelm teams with an abundance of talent at nearly every position, it feels like the Lynx want to kill you with a thousand cuts. Sure, you might blow up the Phee-Court handoff, but maybe the latter senses that and slides into her middy with all the space her shooters are providing. Maybe you chase Alanna off the perimeter, but you don’t see Shepard creeping toward the basket for an uncontested layup. Or maybe you’re so focused on stopping everyone else that Hiedeman lights you up for 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting. The attack is so varied and beautiful to watch, and it’s been fun to see the team’s chemistry continue to grow after last year’s playoffs.
But we could talk in circles about how good these teams are for days! Do you have any parting thoughts on these juggernauts?
Sohi: In lieu of an upcoming matchup (the Lynx and Liberty don’t play until July 30, unless they match up again in the Commissioner’s Cup), I wonder who’s going to lose first. The answer, for both teams, might come on June 17, as the Lynx take on the Aces and the Liberty take on the upstart Atlanta Dream, whose giant frontcourt of Brittney Griner and Bri Jones could cause problems on the boards.
On a larger level, I keep thinking about how both teams have harmonized their talent and found a perfect balance between star dominance and egalitarian flow. After a frenzied offseason, the Lynx were the only team in the WNBA to return the same starting lineup, and the Liberty retained most of their core. While teams like the Fever, Aces, and Dream struggle to put their new puzzle pieces together, the two teams at the top of the league are comfortably humming above the fray, as paragons for virtues of continuity.
Becoats: What a poetic note to go out on. For now let’s enjoy getting to witness pure dominance—and this is goodforthe sport, no matter what people think of “superteams”—and hope we get a full series of Lynx-Liberty 2.0 in the playoffs. Will the Lynx enact their revenge or will the Libs become the next great WNBA dynasty? I guess we’ll (probably) have to wait until October to find out.
