u/PersonnelFowl

I have recently heard a rumor from someone pretty close to the team that DT has been at practice recently and might join the team for the rest of the season the night her number is retired. Could wear 23 as 3 won’t be available. Anyone else hearing this?

The WNBA trade deadline is coming August 2. The Mercury are currently 10-18 and 5 games behind Washington for the 8th and final playoff spot. There are two games (GSV and NYL at home) before the deadline so we could be anywhere from 12-18 to 10-20 at the deadline.

Trade deadline moves aren’t as common in the W as in other sports, but what do you think we should do as we get close to the deadline?

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I had to work today so we couldn’t make the game. DM me if you have a Scorch towel that you’re willing to part with.

We have reached the point in the season where I believe we have made the possibility of making the playoffs so improbable (would require at worst a 14-5 finish) that I would like to focus on the future instead of the present season. Specifically, I want to look at the 2027 WNBA draft lottery.

As you probably know, the lottery odds are inversely based on a two year winning percentage of the teams that did not make the playoffs. The exception to that is obviously Toronto and Portland who are in their inaugural seasons. The current standings and current draft lottery odds are below:

Current 2026 WNBA standings

Current draft lottery odds

Our 27-17 record last year has scuttled our shot at great lottery odds this year despite our poor record so far this year. If we continue to lose 2 out of every 3 games we play we will finish the season 14-30. That would give us a 2 year record of 41-47 or a win percentage of 0.466. That won’t be great for the draft lottery odds as that would slot us in the 6^(th) position if we look at the above image. Who needs to win some games and who needs to lose some games to help us better our lottery odds? Let’s go case by case.

First off, the important thing to remember is if you make the playoffs, it doesn’t matter how bad you were the previous season, you are out of the lottery. That means the Wings (looking like a lock) and Mystics (iffy) making the playoffs kick their respective 2025% of .227 and .364 out of the lottery.

The Sun and Sky were awful last year as well as this year. Neither will be making the playoffs, so they are both locked into better odds than we are although Washington owns the Chicago pick.

The next teams to look at are the newbies. If Toronto and Portland can get to 21-23 (11-9 finishes) it would bump their win percentage to .477 and get our hypothetical 14-30 team two positions better, so these two winnings are a good thing for our odds.

Seattle just lost to Chicago to fall to 6-20. They finished 4 games worse than us last season, and with our season sweep, I think they hold any lottery tiebreaker with us. That means they would need to finish 5 games BETTER than us this season for us to get better odds. If we finish with 14 wins, the Storm would need to finish with a 19-25 record, which means they would need to finish their last 18 games at a 13-5 pace. That’s not happening making Seattle the 3^(rd) team to have better odds than us.

The last team to look at currently in a lottery position is Los Angeles. The Sparks are just two games out of the playoffs, so the best thing for our odds is for the Sparks to make it into the top 8 and bump with NY or Atlanta out as both will finish with high 2 year win% than us. If LA doesn’t make it in, that is ok. If they can match or beat last year’s record of 21-23, that would bump them above our hypothetical 14-30 Mercury.

TL;DR: In conclusion, it really doesn’t matter what Connecticut, Chicago, or Seattle do the rest of the season. We want Washington to make the playoffs. We want Toronto, LA, and Portland to get near .500 if not make the playoffs knocking out either NY or Atlanta or both. If that happens, we will finish with the 4^(th) best odds or a #1 draft pick, which could drastically change our outlook on 2027.

With that Chicago game (thankfully) in the rear view, the Mercury (8-14) have officially hit the halfway point of the season. It’s safe to say that this season is not turning out like any of us would have predicted.

In order to make the playoffs, the Merc need to jump several teams in the standings and get to 8th which has been held by teams at or near .500 most of the season. That means over these next 22 games, Phoenix needs to win at least 14 to even make the tournament.

I’m not going to lie, I don’t see it happening without something huge to jumpstart the team. Could that be Sami getting her season started? Maybe. I think they need something bigger though. Probably a trade or a coaching change. Maybe that’s just me being down after that brutal loss to the Sky. I felt the team had turned a corner before that game, but what a terrible regression that was!

What do y’all think? Can they claw into the playoff picture? What do you think can spark a real turnaround?

I have had two separate friends who are sports fans who don’t really watch the WNBA talk to me about how awful the AT “punch” was and how other players are targeting Caitlin. Obviously CC has a large fanbase that is mostly focused on her and her team.

Today’s media is less about journalistic integrity and more about generating clicks and views, because that’s what generates revenue today. The large CC fanbase means that the media will also focus on her, and anything that hurts her will generate even more clicks due to their outrage. That same media (which has to be slanted toward Clark for clicks) then seeps out to the general sports community. Since all of these outlets are saying the same thing to vie for the CC clicks, it becomes established fact in the sports world.

The sports media at large didn’t talk about the AT play being an ordinary loose ball scrum. They didn’t talk about how nobody on the Fever reacted at the time due to the lack of severity. They don’t talk about any of that, because they have to focus on AT “punching” Clark. I haven’t seen one discuss the racial abuse focused on the Mercury team and players individually.

The league, who has an incompetent commissioner, then bowed to the generated outrage. They failed to follow their own protocols, and suspended AT. They’ve done nothing to address the racial abuse. They’ve done nothing to support Alyssa. CC has also said nothing to stop her fans’ behavior.

Do any of y’all have any media outlets that I can direct people to for an alternative view? I hate how our digital media landscape is creating this universal view that CC is just a victim and target instead of an active participant in it.