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      Brittney Griner’s Tearful WNBA Teammates Play On After Her Conviction

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      Brittney Griner, the Phoenix Mercury star, was convicted on drug charges in Russia. Hours later, her teammates had a game. “Nobody even wanted to play today,” one said.UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Phoenix Mercury Coach Vanessa Nygaard and her coaching staff stood in the empty Mohegan Sun arena on Thursday, puzzled.The Mercury were set to take on the Connecticut Sun at 7 p.m., and her players were supposed to be on the court going through their normal pregame shoot-around, but no one showed up.Instead, the Mercury players were back in the locker room, glued to the television screen watching their teammate Brittney Griner’s conviction and sentencing on drug smuggling and possession charges earlier that day in a Russian court thousands of miles away. “It was like you’re waiting for a bomb to drop,” Mercury guard Diamond DeShields said.They watched with tear-filled eyes as Griner fought through her own tears and pleaded with a Russian court not to “end her life” for an “honest mistake.” Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony and fined 1 million rubles, or about $16,000. The sentence opens the door for Griner to be returned to the United States through a prisoner swap, but for the players, the news was still heartbreaking to hear.“And we’re still supposed to play this game,” Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith said after the game, adding an expletive. “Nobody even wanted to play today. How are we even supposed to approach the game and approach the court with a clear mind when the whole group is crying before the game?”Phoenix Mercury guards Skylar Diggins-Smith, left, and Diamond DeShields said they had been emotional after Griner’s sentencing on Thursday. Kena Betancur/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesNygaard said the team had eventually gone through a “version” of the shoot-around, but nothing about the day or game felt normal. The most atypical moment of the night for Nygaard happened moments before tipoff, as the lights dimmed and players, coaches and referees locked arms in solidarity for 42 seconds — matching the number of Griner’s jersey. Fans chanted “We are B.G.” and “Bring her home.”“I even linked arms with a referee, so you know you’re never going to see that again,” Nygaard said with a smile.Griner has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17 after customs officials said they found hashish oil, a cannabis derivative, in Griner’s luggage at an airport near Moscow when she was traveling to the country to play for UMMC Yekaterinburg, a professional women’s basketball team. Griner said during her trial on drug charges that the hashish oil, in a vape pen, had been packed by mistake. Players across the W.N.B.A. and other professional athletes have campaigned fiercely for her freedom. In May, the U.S. State Department said that it had determined that Griner was “wrongfully detained” and that its officials would work to free her. Experts have said a prisoner swap is the most likely path for Griner’s release; the White House recently said it had made a “substantial” proposal.In the meantime, Griner’s teammates and fans have continued their public campaign of support.As fans filled the arena on Thursday night, they were greeted by Connecticut Sun dancers and arena staff members wearing “We are BG” T-shirts. Griner’s purple and orange No. 42 Mercury jerseys filled the stands along with variations of clothing with messages calling for her freedom. Mercury players donned the “We are BG” shirts in pregame warm-ups, as did the Connecticut coaching staff and several Sun players. Sun point guard Jasmine Thomas, who has been out injured, wore a hooded sweatshirt with a picture of Griner on the front and her No. 42 on the back.Sharon White, a Sun fan and a season-ticket holder since 2002, was among those wearing Mercury colors. She was wearing a purple T-shirt that featured Griner’s name and number, which she said she wears to every game regardless of the opponent.“When I get home, I wash it and I wear it again, even when they’re not playing,” White said, adding that her friends often make fun of her for how much she wears the shirt. White said she had cried as she watched Griner’s verdict on Thursday.Sharon White, a Connecticut Sun fan, said she always wears a purple Brittney Griner T-shirt, no matter who is playing, as a sign of support.Kris Rhim for The New York Times“It just hurts — I love her as a player, and it’s just a sad situation,” White said, wiping tears from her eyes. She added: “She doesn’t need to be there. When she comes home, she doesn’t need to go back. I think none of our players should go over there.”Many W.N.B.A. players go overseas during the off-season to play for international teams to supplement their income. Griner was shown holding up a picture of her UMMC Yekaterinburg team photo from behind bars on Thursday.Among those in the picture were Jonquel Jones, the Sun forward who won the W.N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award last season. Jones, like Griner, has played for the Russian team for several years.Jones said she had never expected something like Griner’s detention to happen. After Griner’s arrest, Jones said she had learned that even cannabidiol oil, which she always carries with her to help with recovery from pain and injuries, was illegal in Russia.“My experiences over there have been so good,” Jones said. “Our team was top notch. They treated us like the professionals we are. We loved going over there because of that. So we just always felt safe. We never felt like anything would ever happen. So to see it happen to one of my teammates and be so close to it and understand that it could’ve been me, it puts it into perspective.”Jones said getting excited for Thursday’s game had been difficult; the moment of solidarity made her even more emotional.“It was like, ‘Dang, we did that, and now I got to go play basketball; my friend is still locked up overseas,’” Jones said. “So you just kind of go out there and do the best that you can do and not take the moment for granted, knowing that this is where she would want to be.”The Mercury lost the game, 77-64, with an 18-0 Sun run in the third and fourth quarters that put the game out of reach. Diggins was the game’s leading scorer, with 16 points, and Jones finished with 14. But for both sides, the numbers seemingly didn’t matter.“We’ll wake up tomorrow, and B.G. will still be in a Russian jail,” Nygaard said. “It’s day 169 or something tomorrow, and the clock continues, and we just want her to come home.” More

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      Pretty in Any Color: Women in Basketball Make the Style Rules

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      Angel Reese considers herself “a pink kind of girl.”Pink nails, pink hair tie, pink shoes, sometimes even “a little bit of pink in my lashes,” Reese said of the eyelash extensions she applies before basketball games. “Everything’s pink.”It’s all part of the pregame routine for Reese, who in May transferred to Louisiana State after a breakout season on Maryland’s women’s basketball team. Before Reese hits the court, she swipes on lip gloss and gels down her edges — her hairline — to prevent flyaways.“Grandma would always emphasize, ‘Don’t let anybody make your makeup sweat,’” Reese said.Reese’s devotion to her appearance for games expresses who she is as much as her playing style. Players in women’s basketball freely mix a traditionally feminine beauty standard with finishing touches that are popular in Black and Latina culture, like gelled edges. It’s a freedom that some say is an advancement in a sport whose athletes have historically been pressured to fit a mass-market ideal that has long benefited straight, white women. Reese is Black.But the introduction of name, image and likeness deals in college sports and an influx of marketing money in professional women’s basketball have added dollars-and-cents stakes to female players’ decisions to glam up. In interviews with a dozen college and professional players, women talked about how the decision on how to express themselves through their appearance has been changing.“I’ve never really felt the pressure until the N.I.L. thing started,” said Reese, whose endorsement deals include Xfinity, Amazon, Wingstop and a Washington, D.C.-area supermarket chain.Camille Lenain for The New York Times‘There is a pressure for me to look a certain way.’Stanford forward Cameron Brink usually applies concealer, eyebrow gel, mascara and maybe a little blush before she heads out for a game, but she scoffed at the idea of in-game touch-ups. “I look like this when I was playing, I’m going to live with it,” she said.Her shot-blocking was a key piece of Stanford’s run to the 2022 Final Four, where the team lost to Connecticut in front of 3.23 million TV viewers, a 19 percent increase over the previous season and a 49 percent bump from 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic. But there’s also a swelling fan base that follows Brink on social media. She posts makeup tutorials, which she loves because she views makeup as art. “It’s really relaxing to me,” she said. Brink has had deals with ThirdLove, Visible Mobile, the energy drink Celsius and Portland Gear.She acknowledged that her following — 203,000 on Instagram and 62,800 on TikTok — had built up at least in part “because I do play into that role of being feminine and dressing femininely.”“There is a pressure for me to look a certain way,” said Brink, who is white. “Sometimes it’s refreshing to go out and play sports and not worry about it.”Stanford’s Cameron Brink said that she felt some pressure to conform to traditionally feminine beauty standards but that her beauty routine was also something she enjoyed.Rikkí D. Wright for The New York TimesRikkí D. Wright for The New York TimesLast year, the N.C.A.A. changed its rules to allow college athletes to profit from their names, images and likenesses in marketing deals. Women’s college basketball players quickly began out-earning athletes in every other sport besides football, according to the marketing company Opendorse. Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers, who is white, signed with Gatorade for an estimated $1 million.Blake Lawrence, a co-founder of Opendorse, said female college basketball players had outshined their male counterparts in the N.I.L. marketplace in part because of how they distinguish themselves through their appearance.“They’re willing to create content; they’re willing to create a character that you want to follow and cheer for while on the court, while on the track, while on the grass,” Lawrence said. “That may be through hairstyle changes; that may be through makeup changes; that may be through the accessories that you bring to the field.”But with that can come tremendous pressure to fit traditional notions of attractiveness, adding another layer of competition to college basketball.“Comparing yourself to other people — oh, this girl is really pretty; oh, she looks really pretty — it’s hard,” Oklahoma guard Kelbie Washington said.Washington enjoys spraying on perfume as part of her pregame routine (Jimmy Choo is her favorite), and she pays for eyelash extensions, which can cost more than $130 a set.“Everyone is human,” she said of the urge to compare herself with others. “Everyone has those emotions, whether they say it out loud or not.”‘Women have to be so much more marketable than men.’TV ratings for college and W.N.B.A. games are rising, and the profiles of the players — among the most vocal and visible social justice activists in sports — are exploding.Within that explosion, Victoria Jackson, a sports historian at Arizona State, sees the players driving a generational shift, a reframing of norms. “Athletes themselves are pushing back against historical ideas of what it means to be a female athlete and what’s acceptable to be performed as a female athlete,” Jackson said, adding that the W.N.B.A. is “a good example” of that.Nefertiti A. Walker, an associate professor in sports management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a former college basketball player, said players didn’t necessarily feel as if they had to fit the usual standards.“What you’re seeing is certainly athletes now who, because of the changes we’ve seen in college sport — they all have pride nights, there’s gay marriage now — all these changes that have happened in their lifetime that signal it might be OK to perform their gender in a different way,” she said.That may be true on the court, but a recent swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated suggested a narrower view of sex appeal, which can be an important factor in marketing. The magazine included five W.N.B.A. players in bikinis and one-piece swimsuits with cutouts.Courtney Williams, an All-Star guard on the Connecticut Sun, said on Twitter that the shoot would have been better if it had included a player in a sports bra and baggy shorts. “There’s more than one way to look sexy, and I hope in the future we can tap into that,” she said.Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York TimesCamille Lenain for The New York TimesRikkí D Wright for The New York TimesGabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York TimesJonquel Jones was the W.N.B.A.’s most valuable player in 2021. “If u don’t fit into the normal stereotype of what feminine is or what it ‘should be’ you lose opportunities,” Jones said in an August 2020 Twitter post. “Women have to be so much more marketable than men.”W.N.B.A. players, with a maximum base salary of about $230,000, earn far less than their millionaire counterparts in the N.B.A., making marketing dollars even more important. The W.N.B.A. has a pool of $1 million that it must spend on marketing deals for players, and each team has to spend between $50,000 and $100,000 per year on player marketing deals. Any unspent amount carries over to the next season on top of the minimum.The league said it selects players to participate in marketing efforts based on a variety of factors: on-court performance, an established personal brand with an active fan base, and the willingness to travel and participate in league events.“Ideas about bodies play out most explicitly on the bodies of athletes — harmful ideas and also positive ideas,” Jackson said. “That’s another way in which this can be a space of conflict and a space of harm, too, depending on the way those ideas are packaged and sold.”‘They have no idea about what a Black woman goes through, let alone an athlete.’Tiffany Mitchell likes to feel the swing of her ponytail as she runs the court.Mitchell, who is Black, has often worn her hair in long, braided styles past her waist since she starred at South Carolina from 2012 to 2016. This kind of protective hairstyling allows her to go longer between restyling and can prevent breakage during the grind of the season with the W.N.B.A.’s Indiana Fever.Those swinging braids became an issue during the W.N.B.A. off-season in December, when she was competing with the Melbourne Boomers, a professional women’s team in Australia. Basketball Australia, the sport’s governing body, said the league’s players had to tie their hair back or up, mistakenly attributing the policy to a FIBA rule that was no longer in effect. Mitchell, one of just three Black players on the Boomers’ roster, felt targeted, since she had never had to change her hair for other international competitions. Basketball Australia later apologized and rescinded what it called a “discriminatory” policy.“They have no idea about what a Black woman goes through, let alone an athlete,” Mitchell said. “So I think that me bringing it to their attention called out the ignorance because there have been players in this league that have had braids before me, and it was never an issue.”Tiffany Mitchell loves playing basketball while wearing long braids. But that became an issue when she was competing in Australia.Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times‘When I look good, I feel good, I play good.’As early as fifth grade, Deja Kelly’s mother encouraged her to create a signature hairstyle.“She would call it a ‘D-I do’: If you want to go D-I, you have to look like you play D-I,” Kelly said.She adopted a slicked-back ponytail or a bun as her preferred hairstyles. Her glam routine now — eyelash extensions, a tight bun and detailed edges — “has never affected my performance” as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s leading scorer last season. Kelly has had endorsement deals with Dunkin’, Beats by Dre, Forever 21 and the sports drink Barcode, among others.“For me, when I look good, I feel good, I play good,” Kelly said. “That’s something I always prided myself in.”Walker, the sports management professor, said her studies on women’s sports pointed to a trend: Women in basketball are showcasing greater agency and self-determination by glamming.Video by Gabriella Angotti-JonesDiJonai Carrington of the W.N.B.A.’s Connecticut Sun said she felt that she played better after she had gone through her glam routine.Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York TimesGabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times“A lot of women’s basketball players feel free to express themselves, to perform in a way aesthetically that accomplishes whatever they want to accomplish,” Walker said. “Sometimes we underestimate how business savvy they are, particularly in this day and age.”Connecticut Sun guard DiJonai Carrington has had an endorsement deal with Savage X Fenty, Rihanna’s lingerie brand. She makes sure she has on her 20-millimeter mink eyelash extensions before every game. Her nails, typically coated with some sort of bright polish, are usually done with acrylic extensions. She’s grown so accustomed to applying gel to her hairline that it takes her only about 30 seconds.“I feel like I play better. I don’t know if I do or I don’t, but I just feel like I do,” Carrington said. “And I never have wanted to compromise one thing or another, whether that’s being a hooper and being a dog on the court and still being able to look a certain way.” More

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      W.N.B.A. Season Preview: New Talent Is Here, but an Absence Looms

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      The league will honor Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner, who remains in custody in Russia, as its new season begins Friday.The longest W.N.B.A. season in league history will begin on Friday. For the first time, teams will each play 36 regular-season games as the next step in the league’s plan for incremental growth — a plan stifled for the past two seasons by the coronavirus pandemic.As the league enters its 26th season, new sponsors and some increased engagement from team ownership is inspiring some optimism about the state of the W.N.B.A. Growth in viewership at the college level means more buzz for graduating players aiming to become professionals, while new broadcast deals and a heavier emphasis from the league’s primary partner, ESPN, have made games more accessible.Looming over all that optimism, though, is the continued absence of one of the league’s best players, Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia — where she also plays professionally — since February on drug charges. An image of Griner and her jersey number No. 42 will be on each team’s court throughout the season.“We are keeping Brittney at the forefront of what we do through the game of basketball,” W.N.B.A. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.Here’s what to expect from the 12 W.N.B.A. teams this season.Seattle StormThis could be Sue Bird’s final season. The Seattle Storm drafted her No. 1 overall in 2002. She turns 42 in October.Matt York/Associated PressNo matter what happens, this season will likely mark the end of an era for the Storm and for women’s basketball. After contemplating retirement last season, Sue Bird announced in January that she would return and with the hashtag #1moreyear suggested this season would be her last. When she was drafted No. 1 overall by Seattle in 2002, the franchise had played only two seasons; four championships later, won in part by Bird’s consistency, the Storm have become one of the most dominant teams in W.N.B.A. history.The 41-year-old’s farewell tour will inevitably include many teary tributes and gaudy highlight reels, but the Storm will aim for its final stop to be a champions’ parade. The team is playing its first season in the new Climate Pledge Arena, which the Storm are sharing with the N.H.L.’s Kraken. The Storm will still have Breanna Stewart, who met with the Liberty in the off-season before signing a one-year deal, and Jewell Loyd, who also met with the Liberty before re-signing for two years. Bird, Stewart and Loyd form the team’s core, and the likelihood of playing without them in the near future makes the team’s quest for a league-leading fifth title more urgent than ever.Los Angeles SparksNneka Ogwumike will have some offensive reinforcements on the Sparks this season with the additions of Liz Cambage, Jordin Canada and Chennedy Carter.Michael Conroy/Associated PressA host of new faces crowd the Sparks roster, as Los Angeles looks to reignite this season. The team struggled last year in the wake of Candace Parker’s departure and the fallout from a legal battle with Penny Toler, the team’s former general manager.The Sparks had an excellent season defensively in 2021 but fell short of the playoffs for the first time since 2011 because of their woeful offense. This year, they’ve added starpower designed to boost their scoring with the flashy young guards Chennedy Carter and Jordin Canada and center Liz Cambage, who owns the single-game scoring record and is looking for a fresh start after promising seasons in Las Vegas that still ended short of titles. The question is how all those talents will fit together under Coach Derek Fisher: There aren’t many role players on this Los Angeles team, so sorting out responsibilities could prove challenging.Those players will join Nneka Ogwumike, still the team’s best chance at filling that Parker-size hole, as well as the veterans Brittney Sykes and Kristi Toliver as they chase a new kind of chemistry befitting the franchise’s storied legacy.Indiana FeverNaLyssa Smith, a rookie out of Baylor, could be the difference-maker for the Indiana Fever, as it rebuilds.Adam Hunger/Associated PressFor the sixth year in a row, the Fever will try to return to the playoffs — or at least not be the worst team in the league yet again. Without a modicum of success to show for years of high draft picks, Indiana was compelled to nearly start from scratch this year. The team amassed four picks in the first round alone after cutting Kysre Gondrezick, their top pick in the 2021 draft at No. 4 overall.A gaggle of rookies, then, will join the veterans Danielle Robinson, Bria Hartley, Tiffany Mitchell and Kelsey Mitchell, as Lin Dunn, the interim general manager, tries to right the ship.NaLyssa Smith, Indiana’s top 2022 draft pick at No. 2 overall, was dominant at Baylor and enters the W.N.B.A. with something to prove after an underwhelming senior postseason. She’s been clamoring to compete at the professional level and, at 6-foot-4 with impressive athleticism, Smith could well prove to be the difference-maker the Fever desperately need.Dallas WingsArike Ogunbowale, the sharpshooting All-Star, has been the center of Dallas’s offense.Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesLast season, the Wings had one of the youngest rosters in the league. Though they seem to have found some stability, having made only one non-draft addition, the 6-foot-7 center Teaira McCowan, there’s still some uncertainty about how the team will balance all that potential. Dallas has a lot of depth but few clear front-runners who can define the team’s core.Arike Ogunbowale is one exception to that rule. The sharpshooting All-Star has been the centerpiece of Dallas’s offense, and she signed a multiyear extension in the off-season. She had help from guard Marina Mabrey, her former Notre Dame teammate; they work together so well they have earned the moniker Marike.This season, the second-year Wings Coach Vickie Johnson, will try to take the team past the first round in the playoffs for the first time since 2015 by finding consistency in the frontcourt. Forward Satou Sabally, with her refined footwork inside and ability to find high-percentage shots, seems like the perfect balance for Ogunbowale’s pull-up-from-anywhere mentality — the Wings just have to make sure she’s touching the ball.Minnesota LynxLynx center Sylvia Fowles won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2021. She has said this will be her last season.Andy Clayton-King/Associated PressThe four-time champion Lynx will lose the final piece of their last two title-winning squads at the end of this season with the retirement of the 6-foot-6 center Sylvia Fowles, who was playing at a near-M.V.P. level last season despite being 35 years old then.Fowles’s continuing dominance could push Minnesota back into position to win in the postseason. However, she and Coach Cheryl Reeve will face the added challenge of competing without forward Napheesa Collier, the team’s leading scorer last season, who is pregnant and likely to miss most or all of the season.The five-time All-Star Angel McCoughtry, who injured her knee last season, will join Fowles in the effort to push the Lynx back to the playoffs for the 12th consecutive year. The veterans Kayla McBride and Aerial Powers round out a Lynx roster that could, once again, outperform expectations, thanks to Reeve’s consistent coaching and the team’s experience.Las Vegas AcesA’ja Wilson led the Aces to the brink of the championship series last season.Ethan Miller/Getty ImagesThe story of the Aces centers on one crucial off-season move: the introduction of Becky Hammon as the highest-paid head coach in the W.N.B.A. Combined with the construction of a shiny, new Aces-specific practice facility in Henderson, Nev., Hammon’s hiring was part of owner Mark Davis’s efforts to flaunt his investments in the team so far. All that’s left is for the team to finally win its first title.Hammon will undoubtedly be in the spotlight — perhaps even more so than her players — after returning to the W.N.B.A., where she first flourished as a player, and passing up what many saw as a likely shot to become the first female head coach in N.B.A. history.In her first head coaching role, the longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant will try to retool the Aces following the departure of center Liz Cambage and forward Angel McCoughtry, veteran talents who accounted for much of the team’s production. Last season ended with an ugly upset loss to the Mercury in the playoffs, one game away from the championship series. This year, Hammon will work with A’ja Wilson, the 2020 M.V.P., to take the talented team to the next level, relying on guards Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum to amp up the Aces’ offense.New York LibertyBetnijah Laney made her first All-Star team in 2021, helping lead the Liberty to the playoffs.Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesThe Liberty’s 2021 season was a surprise: It was Betnijah Laney who took the reins to lead the team back to the playoffs for the first time since 2017 and not Natasha Howard, the former defensive player of the year who missed most of the season with a knee injury or the highly-touted guard Sabrina Ionescu.This season, they’ve added Stefanie Dolson from the reigning champion Sky and hired a new coach, Sandy Brondello, to put all the pieces together. The team is full of potential but a complete mystery as far as chemistry. Despite losing 10 of their last 12 games at the end of the 2021 regular season, the Liberty were two points shy of upsetting the Phoenix Mercury in the first round of the playoffs — a confusing outcome consistent with their unpredictability last season.If Brondello, who led the Mercury to a championship in 2014, can find consistency among a group of veterans who have found a lot of success on other teams, the Liberty might be able to make a deeper run in the playoffs.Phoenix MercuryThe Mercury will try to claim the franchise’s fourth title behind veterans like Skylar Diggins-Smith, right, and Tina Charles, center.Rebecca Noble for The New York TimesThe Mercury begin the season under a particularly large shadow: the continued detention of their star center, Brittney Griner, in Russia, where she has been held since February. Her indefinite absence leaves a huge hole in the team and league, on and off the court. Until she returns, the Mercury will have to figure out how to play without one of the most dominant centers in W.N.B.A. history for the first extended period in nearly a decade.An esteemed group of veterans will also be fighting for another title. Skylar Diggins-Smith and Diana Taurasi were joined by Tina Charles in the off-season, sparking much discussion about so-called superteams in the W.N.B.A. Coach Vanessa Nygaard, in her first year, has been charged with getting the team into shape to try to claim the franchise’s fourth championship. Phoenix made it to last season’s championship series before losing in four games to the underdog Chicago Sky.Taurasi, who will turn 40 years old in June, insists that she’s not planning on retiring anytime soon. But she — the league’s career leading scorer — has had nagging injuries over the past few seasons, making the Mercury’s pursuit of another deep postseason run even more pressing than usual.Connecticut SunJonquel Jones is back for Connecticut after winning the league’s Most Valuable Player Award last season.Sean D. Elliot/The Day, via Associated PressThe Sun have been nothing if not consistent over the past few seasons, both in their regular season dominance and in their inability to finally secure the franchise’s first championship. If they were ever in win-now mode, though, this would be the time, having re-signed Jonquel Jones, last season’s M.V.P., in the off-season.Jones rejoins Alyssa Thomas, Jasmine Thomas, DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones — one of the league’s most consistent core groups. While other teams around the league are working out their rotations, the Sun and their longtime coach, Curt Miller, will look to refine a long-established dynamic. Even their biggest move of the off-season — securing the return of guard Courtney Williams — was to bring a team veteran back into the fold after her brief stint with the Atlanta Dream.Connecticut can nearly take for granted the fact that this group will reprise one of the better defenses in the W.N.B.A., with its veterans who seem to summon unfathomable energy to stifle opponents year after year. The trouble comes when the shots stop falling for the physical team. Williams, and perhaps some offense-minded young players coming off the bench, will have to close that gap.Atlanta DreamAtlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 draft, fights for the ball during a preseason game against the Sun.Sean D. Elliot/The Day, via Associated PressThe Dream seem like they have been in rebuilding mode for several seasons now, winning single-digit games in each of their past three seasons and facing turnover at the coaching and ownership tiers.But this season, Atlanta will attempt to actually start fresh, with the first-year head coach, Tanisha Wright, and a slew of young talent joining Tiffany Hayes and Monique Billings, who have stuck with the Dream through all those losses. Aari McDonald, whom the Dream drafted with the third overall pick last year, will be joined by the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft, Rhyne Howard — whom Atlanta traded up to snag — and Kristy Wallace, who spent the past few years honing her skills in an Australian professional league. The veterans Erica Wheeler and Nia Coffey, both of whom last played for the Sparks, round out the upstart group, which will aim to outperform expectations and make it to the playoffs for the first time since 2018.Chicago SkyKahleah Copper had a breakout season with the Sky in 2021 and was named M.V.P. of the finals.Paul Beaty/Associated PressAfter winning their first championship as underdogs in 2021, the Sky return as contenders to become the first W.N.B.A. team to win repeat titles in two decades. Many core members of last season’s team are back, including Candace Parker; Kahleah Copper, last year’s finals M.V.P.; and the veteran guards Allie Quigley and Courtney Vandersloot. The team added center Emma Meesseman, who was the finals M.V.P. when the Mystics won the 2019 championship.The Sky must have been certain that this group would be enough when they traded away all of their 2022 draft picks, relying instead on their veteran squad and the talents of Coach James Wade to lead them to another deep postseason run. Copper in particular, who stuffed her 2021 finals highlight reels with circus shots and tough layups, will look to continue her breakout run this season.Washington MysticsThe Mystics’ season could hinge on whether Elena Delle Donne has fully recovered from a back injury.Nick Wass/Associated PressSince winning the W.N.B.A. championship in 2019, the Mystics’ fate has revolved around one variable: whether Elena Delle Donne, who has played just three games in the past two seasons, can get and stay healthy. Delle Donne sustained a back injury in the 2019 W.N.B.A. finals that required multiple surgeries, left her with lingering back issues and has taken extensive therapy and conditioning work to overcome.If Delle Donne and Alysha Clark, who missed last season with a foot injury, can stay on the court, Washington’s roster suddenly looks a lot more solid. Ariel Atkins, Natasha Cloud and Myisha Hines-Allen are all settled well into Coach Mike Thibault’s system, and Elizabeth Williams, a new addition, can provide support in the post if Delle Donne isn’t ready to go. More

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      WNBA Playoff Preview: The Sun Are Ready to End the Storm's Reign

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      Connecticut has the league’s best record, but Seattle has the best track record. But none of that may matter if the Las Vegas Aces hit their stride.Had the Connecticut Sun not saved their fan appreciation night for the last game of the W.N.B.A. regular season, Coach Curt Miller may have preferred to forfeit.Already comfortably holding the No. 1 seed, Connecticut (26-6) wanted a win — but didn’t need one. The Sun just needed to stay healthy. Connecticut got the win — a 20-point blowout of Atlanta for its 14th victory in a row — but lost DeWanna Bonner for the game because of back tightness in the first quarter.The sight of her hobbling toward the locker room was anxiety-inducing for a fan base with high expectations. With everyone on the court, the Sun believe this is their year to bring the franchise’s first championship to Connecticut.But A’ja Wilson, last season’s most valuable player, and the second-seeded Las Vegas Aces (24-8) believe it is their year to win. After all, Wilson took the Aces to the finals in 2020, despite Las Vegas being without several key players because of injuries and medical exemptions. The Aces were swept by the Seattle Storm at the league’s Florida bubble. But now the All-Star center Liz Cambage is back, and Las Vegas’ formidable and explosive starting backcourt of Chelsea Gray and Riquna Williams has dominated and the team has gotten key contributions from the second-unit firecrackers Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young.A finals pitting the league’s best offense (Las Vegas) against the league’s best defense (Connecticut) would make for a fun battle for the W.N.B.A.’s 25th title crown. But when playoff action begins Thursday, with two single-elimination games, six other teams will be out to disrupt any potential storybook endings.Here’s what to expect.First Round: Single EliminationNo. 5 Phoenix Mercury (19-13) vs. No. 8 Liberty (12-20)The Liberty ended the regular season the way it began: with a glimmer of hope that the franchise can reclaim its bygone glory. A hot start earned Sabrina Ionescu honors for player of the week and Walt Hopkins the season’s first award for coach of the month, but the success did not stick.Before defeating the Washington Mystics in their final regular-season game, the Liberty had lost eight consecutive games. And while the win kept their playoff hopes alive, the Liberty’s ticket to the postseason came down to losses by two other teams on the final day of the season. Now, the Liberty must overcome a bleak 5-11 road record to win against a Phoenix team that thrives when cornered and happens to be peaking at the right time.The Mercury compiled a 10-game winning streak after the Olympic break but dropped their last three games with Diana Taurasi sidelined by an ankle injury. Yet even in its season-ending loss, Phoenix turned in one of its best performances of the season on the steam of role players like Sophie Cunningham and Shey Peddy.But Phoenix would be remiss to overlook the Liberty.The Liberty can force the Mercury into a scrappy battle if: Natasha Howard, the Liberty’s rebounding leader, can get the team second-chance scoring opportunities and involve Sami Whitcomb, the Liberty’s best 3-point shooter; Betnijah Laney, the team’s leading scorer; Michaela Onyenwere, the leading candidate for the Rookie of the Year Award; and Jazmine Jones, who can own the paint. A Liberty win is unlikely but not impossible.No. 6 Chicago Sky (16-16) vs. No. 7 Dallas Wings (14-18)Led by a combustible duo known as Marike — Marina Mabrey and Arike Ogunbowale — the Wings battle harder and smarter than their upside-down record indicates. Coach Vickie Johnson, in her first season, has persuaded players to buy into her rotation experiments. The result is a young and tough squad that fears no foe and has picked up wins over Chicago, Phoenix and Seattle.Candace Parker, a six-time All Star, won a championship with the Los Angeles Sparks. She’s the second-leading scorer, and top rebounder, for the Sky.Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesCandace Parker has made an undeniable impact in her first year in Chicago, helping the team to a seven-game winning streak in June. But the team has since limped to the finish. For the postseason, the Sky will be evenly matched with the Wings, though they play two different styles of basketball — with Dallas strong on the outside, and Chicago at its best inside. The Wings rank second in the W.N.B.A. in second-chance points per game (12.3) and lead the league in offensive rebounds per game (10). To win, the Sky will need to play better defense.Second Round: Single EliminationNo. 3 Minnesota Lynx (22-10) vs. Lowest-Seeded Winner in First RoundMinnesota achieved a level of success that seemed impossible after a series of injuries and absences left Coach Cheryl Reeve relying on multiple players on seven-day contracts. Minnesota started the season on a four-game losing streak that ended with the arrival of Layshia Clarendon from the Liberty in late May.Aerial Powers averaged 18 points per game in September, including a 27-point outburst in the season-closer against Washington. So, if Clarendon remains healthy, Sylvia Fowles continues her double-double ways and Powers stays hot, the Lynx should be able to handle whichever team advances to play them.A true title run, however, depends on Napheesa Collier finding the consistency that has thus far eluded her.Jewell Loyd scored 37 points in the Storm’s final regular-season game, a welcome close to an up-and-down post-Olympic run for Seattle.Lindsey Wasson for The New York TimesNo. 4 Seattle Storm (21-11) vs. Highest-Seeded Winner in First RoundEven amid personnel changes — Alysha Clark, Natasha Howard and Sami Whitcomb departing in free agency before the season and Noelle Quinn assuming head coaching duties with the season already underway — Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird and Jewell Loyd let the rest of the league know just how serious they are about winning a third title in four seasons.But the Storm were not the same after the Olympic break, losing six of their 11 games, including a 32-point blowout to Chicago at home.Seattle was without Stewart (foot) for its last two matchups. And Loyd, in the season-ender, poured in 37 points. The Storm’s title chances improve with Stewart in the mix. But if she can’t play, or plays hobbled, Quinn has a deep well of talent to draw from — starting with Loyd.Semifinals: Best-of-FiveConnecticut’s Jonquel Jones, left, and A’ja Wilson of Las Vegas, right, could find themselves facing off for a championship soon. Each has lost in the finals.Dana Jensen/The Day, via Associated PressNo. 2 Las Vegas Aces (24-8) vs. Highest-Seeded Winner in Second RoundWilson and Cambage may be recognized as the team’s biggest stars, but they are not alone. Coach Bill Laimbeer has stacked his roster deep with superstars calling themselves a second unit. When Dearica Hamby, a two-time winner of the Sixth Woman of the Year Award, comes off the bench alongside a pair of gritty, former No. 1 draft picks at guard, Plum and Young, play intensifies, pace quickens and momentum shifts. Understanding Wilson and Cambage’s tendency to draw a lot of defenders, Laimbeer expects his second unit to feast on the scoring opportunities this presents.And they have — Plum, in particular. Her frenetic energy on defense has worn down offenses and her willingness to compile 30-point shooting performances when needed has kept the Aces in games. If Las Vegas makes a return to the finals, it will be because of its second unit and the steady, sometimes unsung, contributions of Williams and Gray.No. 1 Connecticut Sun (26-6) vs. Lowest-Seeded Winner in Second RoundIf Plum is the secret weapon for the Aces, the Sun’s is Brionna Jones: a 6-foot-3 forward who showcased a range of talent in increased minutes in 2020 that inspired Miller to keep her in the starting lineup. Remarkably light on her feet, Jones has sharp court awareness and quick hands that allow her to be at the right place at the right time for collecting rebounds and scoring on putbacks.And while Jones dazzles with the best spin moves in the game, Jonquel Jones keeps her head down, coolly carving up defenses and thwarting offenses. Their performances have been fostered by a complete team approach and riding the hot hand. Any player, whether Bonner, Briann January or Natisha Hiedeman, could go off for big buckets at any time. But Connecticut’s quest for a franchise-first title runs through the Joneses. More

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      The Connecticut Sun’s Chemistry Goes Beyond W.N.B.A. Bonds

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      Four Sun players also played college basketball at Maryland, giving them a connection that is proving fruitful on and off the court.They started off 5-0, and even now, at 9-5 entering Sunday, are better than nine of the W.N.B.A.’s dozen teams. The Connecticut Sun also are, somewhat unexpectedly, atop the Eastern Conference standings. They made it to the league semifinals in the IMG Academy bubble last season, but weren’t projected to be a title-contending team in 2021.Part of their sudden success can be attributed to chemistry, some of which has been in the making long before several players arrived in Connecticut.“We played for years together,” the rookie forward Stephanie Jones said. “Like, me and Kaila Charles, we played for years, and then me and my sister for a year, and having the background there, we all know where each other comes from in Maryland.”Jones is in her first year in the league after a college career with Maryland, where she played for four seasons alongside Charles. Her older sister, Brionna Jones, has been with the Sun for five years after playing at Maryland with Stephanie for one season and another with the Suns’ veteran forward Alyssa Thomas.Thomas is out this season with an Achilles’ tendon tear, but she is one of the most notable Terps in the league when healthy. Her presence alone on the Suns’ bench has had an impact this year.“Having a background with A.T., even just her being on the sidelines, like she understands where me and Kaila come from and what we’re doing,” Stephanie Jones said. “She gets what we went through those four years. Her communication with us makes our chemistry great.”Stephanie Jones wasn’t drafted into the W.N.B.A. right after college, but the opportunity to play in the league this season allowed her to team up with her older sister, Brionna.Stew Milne/Associated PressJones didn’t find a roster spot right out of college and wasn’t in the W.N.B.A. last season. The Sun selected Charles in the second round of the 2020 draft with the No. 23 overall pick, and she made an impact right away, averaging 5.4 points and 2.6 rebounds over 17.9 minutes per game.At Maryland, Charles was one of six players in the school’s history to crack the top 10 in career points and rebounds. She started all her games at Maryland, tying Thomas’s record of starting 135 games. Charles hasn’t played as much yet this season, with returning players and a deeper roster, but Thomas has still taken notice of her fellow Terps’ development.“I haven’t been able to play with her yet, but watching her grow as a pro, seeing that in Florida, she’s done a good job,” Thomas said. “She’s having a good second year. There’s a lot more room to grow, but she’ll keep getting better each and every year.”While Charles was forging a pro career, Jones was still looking to make a roster, spending her 2020 season in Poland. She signed a training camp contract with the Sun in March and played her way onto the final roster. She has appeared in seven of the Sun’s first 14 games, averaging 2.3 points in seven minutes per game.Part of her comfort level has been playing with her sister.“It’s one thing playing together in college, but in the pros, that was always a dream,” Brionna Jones said. “To get to the league and then play with my sister, that’s really special. I’m always in her ear trying to help her along, do everything I can to make the experience good for her and make sure she’s catching all the little nuances I missed out on my rookie season.”Brionna Jones and Thomas also play overseas for the same team, USK Praha, so their connection has run through a few avenues.“We can’t get rid of each other,” Thomas said. “We love playing with each other. We know each other’s game so well each and every night.”She added: “I just love going out there and playing with her, and even off the court, we hang out all the time. We’ve had years getting to know each other.”Thomas is Maryland’s career leading scorer and rebounder, whose record is unmatched in both the women’s and men’s programs.Her impact on Maryland has almost certainly been one reason Coach Brenda Frese can recruit as well as she does, and Maryland has been a destination program in the last decade.Kaila Charles is still learning the rhythms of the W.N.B.A. in her second season, but she has the support of her fellow Terps, like Alyssa Thomas.Sean D. Elliot/The Day, via Associated PressCharles and Stephanie Jones felt that impact, too.“They’re always going to push you to be your best,” Charles said. “Like, Coach always talked about being comfortable being uncomfortable. And that’s one thing that really sets us up to play at the next level, because just to be able to develop your game, you have to not be comfortable and still be able to be successful.”The Sun have been playing without Jonquel Jones, who could be a candidate for the Most Valuable Player Award and has been competing in the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2021 for Bosnia and Herzegovina. She has missed four games but could return soon.The Sun’s first game without her and her 21.6 points per game was a loss to Seattle, the first Sun home loss of the season. Her absence leaves room for one of the young Terps, like Charles or Stephanie Jones, to step up.Last season, it was Brionna Jones who took charge with Jonquel Jones out of the lineup after opting out of the 2020 season. Brionna became one of the Sun’s most consistent players, which has carried over to this season with 13.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game in more than 30 minutes per contest so far.At this point, the group is used to playing without some of its best talent. Last season, the Sun found ways to still succeed; Charles was a part of that, her rookie year, and said she was still learning.“This feels like year two of my rookie year,” she said. “Everything is kind of new still, playing in different arenas, adding the travel component to go with the game, having the fans back in the arena also makes things completely different than last year.”The Sun have already proved they can contend when it’s unexpected, and perhaps the Maryland bond of the Jones sisters, Thomas and Charles is helping.They certainly think so.“As a team we like each other so much, and we get along off the court, too,” Brionna Jones said. “So I think that allows us to have success on the court.”“It’s easy for us to talk to each other,” she continued, “to hold each other accountable, and I think that helped us a lot down the stretch last year. It allows us to be successful now. When you know people and care about them, you trust them. I think that makes it easier to succeed.” More

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      W.N.B.A. Suspends Coach for Body-Shaming Liz Cambage

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      Cambage, the Las Vegas Aces center, said Connecticut Sun Coach Curt Miller had made disrespectful comments about her weight during a game on Sunday.The W.N.B.A. suspended and fined Curt Miller, the head coach of the Connecticut Sun, after he was called out by Las Vegas Aces center Liz Cambage for body-shaming her during a game on Sunday.The fine is $10,000, and the one-game suspension will keep Miller out of Connecticut’s matchup with the Seattle Storm on Tuesday.“If there is one thing about me, it’s that I will never let a man disrespect me,” Cambage said in an Instagram video on Sunday. “Ever. Ever. Ever.”Though Cambage did not refer to Miller by name — “Little sir man, I do not know your name,” she said — in the video she said “the coach of Connecticut” had tried to appeal for the referees to call a foul by saying, “Come on, she 300 pounds,” in a reference to her.Cambage, who is listed at 6-foot-8 and 216 pounds on the Aces’ roster, said in the video that she is 235 pounds and “very proud” of her body.Connecticut Sun Coach Curt Miller said he “made an inappropriate and offensive” comment about Cambage that he regretted.Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressMiller apologized Monday morning in a statement from the Sun. His suspension was announced in the evening. “During last night’s game, while arguing a call with an official, I made an inappropriate and offensive comment in reference to Liz Cambage’s height and weight,” Miller said. “I regret what I said in the heat of the moment and want to sincerely apologize to Liz and the entire Aces organization. I understand the gravity of my words and have learned from this.”In her call-out of Miller, Cambage spoke about how the uneven power dynamic between players and coaches made the situation difficult for her. She described Miller’s comments as “protected abuse — because we can’t do nothing back.”This is Miller’s sixth year coaching the Sun, who are undefeated in five games this season and have the best record in the W.N.B.A.Cambage is a three-time All-Star in her fifth W.N.B.A. season and second with the Aces. The Tulsa Shock, now the Dallas Wings, selected her with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2011 draft. She’s averaging 13.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game this season for the Aces, who lost last year’s finals to Seattle. Cambage opted out the 2020 season for health reasons. More

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      W.N.B.A. Preview: The Mystics Get Their Stars Back in the East

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      Also: Much has changed for the Atlanta Dream since last season, and Candace Parker brings championship hopes to the Chicago Sky.The W.N.B.A. begins its 25th season on Friday with the returns of some big-name veterans and the debuts of promising rookies.“Rosters are stacked with incredibly talented veterans, and the last few rookie classes are bringing a whole new element to the fierce competition within the league,” W.N.B.A. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told The New York Times.Below, our reporters tell you what to expect this season in the Eastern Conference. (And here’s what to expect in the West.)Washington MysticsNatasha Cloud opted out of the 2020 season to focus on social justice.Jessica Hill/Associated PressThe Mystics are hoping to rebound from a forgettable 9-13 season, which they played without Elena Delle Donne, who won her second Most Valuable Player Award in 2019 as she led the team to a championship, and Natasha Cloud, who sat out to focus on social justice.This year, Delle Donne and Cloud are back and they will finally get to play alongside another former M.V.P. in Tina Charles, who went to Washington in a trade from the Liberty but opted out of last season for health reasons.“Even though we have some people out, we’ve lost some people to injury, we still have a really scary team on paper,” Cloud said during media day, adding: “I think we’re going to shock a lot of people in this league. You know me, that’s the underdog mentality, so we’re ready.”One positive from last season’s short-handed squad was the emergence of Myisha Hines-Allen, who averaged 17 points per game and shot 42.6 percent from 3-point range. She might not be relied upon as much this season, with a healthy Delle Donne and Charles in the lineup, but she is another reliable option on defense after averaging 8.9 rebounds per game last season.Hines-Allen could also fill in a gap in outside shooting: Alysha Clark, who signed with Washington as a free agent after winning a championship with Seattle last year, is out for the season after injuring her foot while playing overseas. Clark shot 52.2 percent from 3-point range last season.Atlanta DreamChennedy Carter missed time with injuries during her rookie season but could have a bounce-back second year.Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated Press“I’ve got no idea what positions you play,” Mike Petersen, the Dream’s interim head coach, said he told his players. “But if I don’t know, the other team’s got no chance.”Atlanta’s off-season has been marked by change. Pressured by players, the Dream’s previous owners sold the team to a group that included Renee Montgomery, a former Dream player. Gone are Chris Sienko, the team’s former president and general manager who was fired in April, and Nicki Collen, the former head coach who left for a job at Baylor earlier this month. Now Petersen will exchange convention for creativity to get the best out of an eclectic roster.Calling it “silly” to follow the practice of assigning players numbered positions, Petersen said he will form lineups with the five best players, regardless of position. “Basketball players are basketball players,” he said. “Everybody has to be able to pass, dribble and shoot. And everybody has to play defense.”On the Dream, those bodies are small: Aari McDonald, the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft, is 5-foot-6; the veterans Odyssey Sims and Courtney Williams are both 5-foot-8; and Chennedy Carter, picked fourth overall in the 2020 draft, and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, in her first season with the Dream, each stand 5-foot-9.Petersen did not hesitate to play three guards during the team’s lone preseason matchup on May 5. And if these smaller players with big games execute what he envisions, perimeter shooting will spread the floor for the 6-foot-7 center Kalani Brown and the 6-foot-4 forward Cheyenne Parker, a free-agency acquisition, to operate in the paint.New York LibertyNew York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu underwent surgery for an injured ankle and is ready to return this season.Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressAll eyes are on the Liberty this season for many reasons. Chief among them is the return of last year’s No. 1 overall pick, Sabrina Ionescu.Ionescu’s much-anticipated rookie season was cut short when she suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain during the first half of the Liberty’s third game.Her season over before it began, Ionescu underwent surgery but is back and ready to go.“I’m excited for this season,” Ionescu said in a call with reporters. “I’m taking it one day and one step at a time.”Along with managing Ionescu’s return, the second-year head coach Walt Hopkins will have to handle the unexpected loss of guard/forward Jocelyn Willoughby, who is out for the season after tearing her left Achilles’ tendon. In 2020, her rookie year, Willoughby averaged 5.8 points and 2.4 rebounds per game while shooting a team-best 40.5 percent from 3-point range in 22 games, five of which she started.But here’s what should help: the off-season acquisitions of the three-time champion Natasha Howard and the two-time champion Sami Whitcomb from the Seattle Storm, and Betnijah Laney, who won last year’s Most Improved Player Award and was named to the All-Defensive team after a breakout season with the Atlanta Dream.The Liberty finished 2020 in last place with a 2-20 record and are still searching for an identity and footing.“Everyone wants to be here, they want to win, they want to support one another,” Hopkins said. “If we learned anything from last year it’s how to bounce back from a loss.”Indiana FeverIndiana Fever forward Lauren Cox, right, missed the beginning of last season after testing positive for the coronavirus.Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressThe Fever finished last season with the lowest-ranked defense (111.8 points allowed per 100 possessions) and missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. This season, the second-year Coach Marianne Stanley’s goal is to have a stronger defensive identity.“Each and every player on this team needs to buy in to the defensive end of the floor and make sure they’re doing everything they can to improve and make us a team that is stingy on defense,” Stanley said during her media day news conference.Indiana gets a shot in the arm with a healthy Lauren Cox, who missed the beginning of last season after testing positive for the coronavirus, and a positive outlook for Victoria Vivians, who last played a full season in 2018. Stanley said Vivians had been an early standout during training camp.Add to that the growing star power of Kysre Gondrezick, drafted fourth over all this year out of West Virginia, and the Fever are on the cusp of having not just a stronger defensive identity, but a concrete team identity as well.“She’s shooting the ball well,” Stanley said of Gondrezick. “She’s fitting in with her teammates. Just getting adjusted to the rigors. Just about as we expected. She’s a pretty well-rounded guard, and we really like what we’re seeing in her.”The Fever lost Candice Dupree to Seattle in free agency but added Danielle Robinson and the bigs Jantel Lavender and Jessica Breland.Chicago SkyChicago Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot set a single-game assist record last year with 18.Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressArguably no other team had a better off-season than the Sky, who landed Candace Parker, the top free agent, champion and winner of last season’s Defense Player of the Year Award.Parker, who had spent her entire career with the Los Angeles Sparks, will add veteran experience to Chicago, a team two years removed from an unexpected playoff run and coach of the year honors for James Wade.The Sky’s star power continues with shooting guard Diamond DeShields and forward/center Azura Stevens, who are both returning from injury, and Courtney Vandersloot, who set a single-game assist record last year with 18.With a stellar roster headlined by Parker, and a high-scoring offense (ranked fourth last season) expectations for the Sky are, well, sky-high.“I think it creates expectations from outside,” Wade said. “My goal is to just get us better, that’s it. We’ll end up where we are going to end up.“Having the players we have, it puts us in a conversation where people think we can do better than a lot of other teams. I just try to get us in situations where we can win games and build some confidence around what we want to do.”Connecticut SunConnecticut Sun forward Jonquel Jones, left, battling for the ball against Washington Mystics center Emma Meesseman.Nick Wass/Associated PressIn 2020, the Connecticut Sun once again overperformed. Without the 6-foot-6 forward Jonquel Jones, who sat out the season, the Sun still managed to nearly knock off the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces in the playoffs. Their upset-filled run to the semifinals was fueled in large part by Alyssa Thomas’s tireless defense and consistent scoring; even after she dislocated her shoulder early in the Sun’s second game against the Aces, Thomas led the team to victory two days later with a double-double.Thomas won’t be with the Sun this season, though, meaning they once again will be short-staffed. She injured her Achilles’ tendon while playing overseas, and isn’t slated to return until 2022. Jones is back, though, and together with the veteran star DeWanna Bonner — 6 feet 4 inches — creates an unenviable matchup for even the league’s most elite bigs.The Sun have favored a slower, grind-it-out pace, averaging the third-least points per game in the W.N.B.A. last season. But without the defensive might of Thomas and with two forwards who can shoot 3s in Bonner and Jones, it seems possible they might favor a more offense-oriented style in 2021.Forward Brionna Jones reached a new level in 2020, more than tripling her points per game and becoming an important contributor on defense as well; now, she adds to the size and overall athleticism of the Sun. The veteran guards Briann January and Jasmine Thomas round out the starting lineup. More