play1:48Wings down the Fever in openerThe Wings go on the road and start their season with a win over the Fever.
play1:07Los Angeles Sparks vs. Las Vegas Aces – Game HighlightsWatch the Game Highlights from Los Angeles Sparks vs. Las Vegas Aces, 05/10/2026
play0:33Angel Reese gets the winning block for the DreamAngel Reese gets the winning block for the Dream.
play1:04Mercury spoil the Aces ring night with huge winMercury spoil the Aces ring night with huge win
play0:21Brittney Sykes scores first basket in Tempo historyBrittney Sykes scores first basket in Tempo history
Caitlin Clark’s 20 points not enough in Fever opener loss (1:39)Caitlin Clark’s 20 points not enough as Fever fall to Wings in opener 107-104. (1:39)
Wings down the Fever in openerThe Wings go on the road and start their season with a win over the Fever.
Los Angeles Sparks vs. Las Vegas Aces – Game HighlightsWatch the Game Highlights from Los Angeles Sparks vs. Las Vegas Aces, 05/10/2026
Brittney Sykes scores first basket in Tempo historyBrittney Sykes scores first basket in Tempo history
play1:09Liberty take down the Mystics in overtimeLiberty take down the Mystics in overtime
Michael VoepelCloseMichael VoepelESPN Senior WriterMichael Voepel is a senior writer who covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.Follow on X, Kareem Copeland, Alexa PhilippouCloseAlexa PhilippouWomen’s Basketball ReporterCovers women’s college basketball and the WNBA Previously covered UConn and the WNBA Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant Stanford graduate and Baltimore native with further experience at the Dallas Morning News, Seattle Times and Cincinnati EnquirerFollow on X, Kendra AndrewsMultiple AuthorsMay 11, 2026, 08:30 AM ET
Fever’s Clark wasn’t her normal self but was still dominant
Dallas poised to return to playoffs for first time since 2023
We saw the real Aces in Sunday’s 27-point win, not Saturday’s 33-point loss
Despite being short-handed, Liberty are a championship favorite
Reese can make the Dream an even better defensive team
Despite losing Sabally, the Mercury will contend for a top-4 seed
The Fire and Tempo will have growing pains but are fun to watch
The WNBA tipped off its 30th season over the weekend with a collection of cool moments and hot takes.
The Portland Fire, who briefly existed from 2000 to 2002, opened their “resurrection” season while the expansion Toronto Tempo played their first WNBA game.
On Saturday, the Las Vegas Aces got diamond championship rings — and then got routed by the Phoenix Mercury, who got a small measure of revenge after being swept by the Aces in last year’s WNBA Finals. But on Sunday, the Aces blew out the Los Angeles Sparks.
But that’s what the opening of the season often brings: bold statements, admittedly without a lot of data. Here are 10 such takeaways from opening weekend.
Two hundred and ninety-six days had passed since Caitlin Clark played in a WNBA game when she stepped on the floor Saturday. That might as well be a lifetime for the basketball junkie. Clark wasn’t her best self in 2025 as nagging injuries and opposing defenses knocked her averages down in points, rebounds, field goal and 3-point percentages. She was still named an All-Star, making that first-team all-WNBA selection as a rookie even more impressive.
Of course, there would be some rust, but the elite offensive talent was visible and it was clear that the franchise cornerstone will soon be completely back to her normal self. — Kareem Copeland
It’s a ridiculously small sample size — just one game — but the Dallas Wings positioned themselves to be the team to make the biggest leap forward in 2026 after winning just 10 games in 2025. Last year’s team had its worst offensive rating (103.3) since 2019 and ranked No. 9 in points per game (81.7), No. 11 in field goal percentage (42.3), No. 11 in 3-pointers made per game (6.6) and No. 12 in 3-point percentage (30.4).
The Wings go on the road and start their season with a win over the Fever.
After the ring ceremony Saturday at the Las Vegas Aces’ opener in Las Vegas, things went downhill quickly. Missed shots, lackadaisical defense and a fired-up Phoenix Mercury team turned into a 99-66 loss for the defending champions to start their 2026 title defense.
Afterward, A’ja Wilson was asked if it helped that the Aces would play again 24 hours later. She referred to the early part of Las Vegas’ schedule as “insane” — after back-to-back games, the Aces hit the road for Connecticut and Atlanta — but thought they would make the most of the opportunity to spoil the Los Angeles Sparks’ opener Sunday. They did, 105-78.
Wilson said the key for the Aces is, “We have to uphold our standard on the defensive end, and that trust factor has to come in every single night.” Coach Becky Hammon also mentioned trust between teammates on defense, and said even as well as several of the Aces players know each other, the trust has to rebuild for the entire group in the opening part of every season.
Los Angeles Sparks vs. Las Vegas Aces – Game Highlights
Watch the Game Highlights from Los Angeles Sparks vs. Las Vegas Aces, 05/10/2026
Liberty take down the Mystics in overtimeLiberty take down the Mystics in overtime
The Atlanta Dream ranked second in the league in defensive rating last season (100.5) and lost center Brittney Griner, who has been on the WNBA’s all-defensive teams seven times, in free agency. So how could Atlanta improve on defense? Angel Reese at age 24 is a better rebounder than Griner, 35. Plus, Reese is quick and versatile enough to guard a wide range of players.
Obviously, Reese — acquired in April in a trade with Chicago — doesn’t have nearly the experience that Griner does, and at 6-foot-9, Griner has a bigger physical presence. But Reese has led the WNBA in rebounding the past two seasons, and she made the game-ending block Saturday in the Dream’s comeback win at Minnesota. For the game, she had 11 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks. Reese is eager to show she is a championship-caliber player, and her defense can be a big part of that. — Voepel
Angel Reese gets the winning block for the DreamAngel Reese gets the winning block for the Dream.
Minnesota Lynx point guard Olivia Miles immediately showed that she belongs. Not only does the No. 2 draft pick belong, she made her first case to be named Rookie of the Year. Miles became the fifth player in league history to record 20 points and five assists in their first game, joining Candace Parker, Tonya Edwards, Dawn Staley and Cynthia Cooper. She called it a night with 21 points, eight assists and three rebounds, and nearly helped the Lynx upset Atlanta.
The Phoenix Mercury pummeled the Aces 99-66 on Saturday, then fell 95-79 at Golden State on Sunday. Despite the different outcomes, it looks as if the Mercury are prepared to contend without Satou Sabally, who led the Mercury in scoring (16.3 PPG) in 2025 (her only season in Phoenix) but is now with New York.
Phoenix will replace her production in part with players whose profiles might not be as high, but whose talent is impressive. As mentioned above, Nogic is a 28-year-old guard from Serbia playing her first WNBA season. She had 19 points Saturday and 16 on Sunday, making four of five 3-pointers in both games. Nogic played at Providence from 2016 to 2019, averaging 13.8 PPG for her college career.
The Mercury still have veterans such as Alyssa Thomas, Kahleah Copper and DeWanna Bonner to lead the way. But they also should get a boost from players looking to make a name for themselves. — Voepel
Mercury spoil the Aces ring night with huge winMercury spoil the Aces ring night with huge win
Sandy Brondello summed up the Toronto Tempo’s first game in franchise history in one word: “ugly.” And the same could be said for the Portland Fire, which were sloppy in Saturday’s 98-83 loss to the Chicago Sky. However, both the Fire and Tempo proved to be highly competitive, pushing their opponents to the last possessions of their games. And that is a great sign for the two organizations.
The Fire overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to tie the score in the final minutes of regulation, but they ran out of steam. Carla Leite had 18 points and Bridget Carleton, the No. 1 pick in the expansion draft, added 13. With the flowing style of offense coach Alex Sarama is deploying, it’s going to take the Fire time to learn how to play next to each other in this system. — Kendra Andrews
Brittney Sykes scores first basket in Tempo history
Brittney Sykes scores first basket in Tempo history
The Sparks believe Ogwumike is the specific vet they need to be competitive again. On the court, she looked comfortable, finishing with 19 points and 10 rebounds. And in the locker room she’s viewed as the ultimate teacher. The vibes are high in L.A.
But the Sparks lost to the Aces by 27, and there are kinks that need to be ironed out. Los Angeles scored fewer than 20 points in three quarters Sunday, and allowed Las Vegas to get 63 points in the second half. — Andrews
That offensively inept team was nowhere to be found in Saturday’s win at Indiana. Dallas scored 107 points as it shot 59.1% from the field and knocked down 12 3-pointers on 52.5% shooting from behind the arc. Arike Ogunbowale was the offensive juggernaut (22 points, 3-for-7 from 3-point range) that she’d been throughout her time in the WNBA before last season’s career-worst numbers. Newly added Odyssey Sims scored 20. Free agent signee Jessica Shepard flirted with a triple-double. Paige Bueckers looked like the player named second-team all-WNBA in 2025, and the Wings didn’t even need anything from No. 1 pick Azzi Fudd. In just one game, the Wings presented as one of the better offensive units in the league and a legit playoff team. — Copeland
On Saturday, Hammon — known for her colorful analogies — compared the Aces’ poor defense to household defense. She said the Aces gave up entirely too much court space before they really started defending. “It’s like trying to stop an intruder [from getting] to your refrigerator, and they’re already in your kitchen,” she said. “You’ve got to meet them outside the white picket fence.” On Sunday, the Aces flipped that, shooting 62% from the field while holding the Sparks to 37%. That should be more what the Aces look like defensively most of the time. — Michael Voepel