After what felt like an eternity without a game that matters towards the regular-season tally, the WNBA is back tonight on ION. We’re being treated to a doubleheader, with the Minnesota Lynx making their lone trip to the Big Apple this season to take on the New York Liberty and the Chicago Sky in the desert against the Las Vegas Aces. Let’s dive right in.
The 2026 season has been one of significantly more highs than lows for the Lynx. Sitting at 15-4 atop the WNBA, they’re nearly at the finish line of recovery for Napheesa Collier and Dorka Juhasz, who both are on the court in practice for the first time this season. Until then, the likes of rookie superstar Olivia Miles, Courtney Williams, Natasha Howard, and Kayla McBride will continue to keep the team afloat, if that’s even the right word for the best team in the league. Nia Coffey might not make it to Chicago as an All-Star, but her production speaks for itself. At the head of it all is Cheryl Reeve, who seemingly always has something up her sleeve year in and year out.
🏀 @Kia Rookie of the Month 🏀
Olivia Miles takes home her 2nd #KiaROTM honors!
The rookie averaged 21.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 5.6 APG for the @minnesotalynx during the month of June.#WNBASeason30 pic.twitter.com/xGbJrq0kck
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 3, 2026
Unlike Minnesota, the recent stretch of games before the Commissioner’s Cup break wasn’t as kind to New York. After an eight-game win streak that featured six games against teams with sub-.500 records, the Liberty lost four of their last five games to end June. Amid a rash of injuries, they’re still adjusting to rookie coach Chris DeMarco’s system without Sabrina Ionescu for most of the first half of the season. New York is still a team to be feared come playoff time, but for now, they have to prove it against the best in the league. A home matchup against Minnesota is the perfect place to start.
In so many words, the 2026 season has been a failure to date for the Sky. After losing Rickea Jackson for the season with a torn ACL, the team has lost 12 of its last 15 games. One of the most confusing characteristics of the team is when it decides to show up to games. For example, after allowing the Portland Fire to score the second-most points in a regular season game (124), they went toe-to-toe with the Aces down six with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter before the Aces pulled away down the stretch. There’s no guarantee that the same unit shows up in the same fashion with a different result tonight, but three-time MVP A’ja Wilson is listed as questionable with a leg injury that forced her to miss the Commissioner’s Cup earlier this week. For the Aces, the Sky shouldn’t be marked as an easy win, but if the same team that played Portland is in Las Vegas, maybe it should be at this point of the season.
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Born and raised in Chicago, Christan Braswell is a women’s sports journalist with a focus on the WNBA and women’s college basketball. He’s an avid fan of elevator screens and stuffed-crust pizza. Outside of sports, he’s an avid cook and lover of the great outdoors.
The end of another week in the WNBA means a night full of hoops on ION, the league’s home for Friday night games. Tonight, there’s a triple-header on the network. […]
