2026 WNBA 1st Weekend Recap With Tré

We recap the WNBA’s first weekend and dig into what the biggest Game 1 storylines actually mean beyond the headlines. I break down Wings vs Fever, my Sparks getting punched by the Aces, and why the Liberty’s depth already looks like a title-level advantage. 
• Paige Bueckers’ efficiency and control against Indiana 
• Why Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston drive the Fever 
• Caitlin Clark’s turnovers as an early red flag 
• What Dallas needs from Arike to stay elite 
• The Sparks’ rough start and what must change fast 
• Dream vs Lynx and which trends feel real 
• Olivia Miles’ early impact and the rookie bar 
• Expansion outlook for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire 
• Liberty vs Mystics overtime and New York’s depth without stars 
please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, and tell anyone who's anyone one about the WNBA and then two about my show.

Transcript

Welcome To WNBA Wednesdays

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up, everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show, Get a Bucket. I'm your host, Trey, as usual. Hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. And if you wonder where you've heard that, that's because I talk Monday through Friday at 11 o'clock a.m. Eastern Standard Time. So I just want to make sure y'all remember that. But, you know, we talk about basketball here, ladies and gentlemen. So we're going to talk about the WNBA recap. It is Wednesday. That's right, WNBA Wednesdays, if you will. I told y'all I'm excited about the first weekend of the WNBA season. And ladies and gentlemen, I don't think it disappointed at all. Let's go ahead and talk about some of the game, shall we? So, the wings versus the fever, this was probably my best game of the weekend. And I gotta say, it did not disappoint at all. For starters, y'all know I love myself and Paige Beckers. I've been a fan since her high school days, ladies and gentlemen. She's just a quality hooper. She can get a bucket. You know what I mean? Like hence the show name, get a bucket. But Paige Beckers and the Dallas Wings. Versus Aaliyah Boston and the Indiana Fever. That's right. I didn't say Caitlin Clark. You could say Kelsey Mitchell too. But hear me out. Because this game boasted the last four number one picks. I know a lot of y'all are focusing on Paige Becker's versus Caitlin Clark, right? Like that's been a narrative that the WNBA is going to be trying to be spinning. I've been saying that since last season. And it's still there, but I think it's fair to say Paige is greater than Caitlin. Paige has always been better than Caitlin, to be clear, ladies and gentlemen. I've already talked about that, so I'm not going to talk about that no more. May note it from time to time, but you know, that's that that is what it is. That's a factual statement now. Hear me out. Aaliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, they are the best players on the Indiana Fever, and they've been the best players on the Indiana Fever. Dallas Wings ended up beating the fever 107 to 104. Shout out to Paige, Arique, and even Odyssey Sims. I miss Odyssey Sims, man. She was a hooper, bro. She's a hooper, bro. But also the Dallas Wings look pretty daggone good. They truly do. I'm wondering can Arique remain stellar? Because last season she dipped a little bit. I know you're trying to re know you're trying to integrate Paige, right? Number one pick. Can Arike remain this way? Well, she's had the history. The efficiency was really productive. Can we keep it going? Let's see what happens. But also, too, AZ FUD. She shot 50% from the field, 50% from the three. Didn't get to the free throw line, but that's okay. She only took two shots, ladies and gentlemen. She had 18 minutes of play. It won't bad. It won't bad. It just won't the best either. But hey, they might not have needed her earlier. But we'll see what happens with AZ as time goes on. But ladies and gentlemen, what I really want to focus on again, this fever squad, right? Kelsey Mitchell, 30 points. 50% shooting from the field. She got to the free throw line pretty swell as well, too. Aliyah Balston, 23 points. Not bad at all. Three steals, one block. All right, like we got two-way player right here, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to see her uptick them rebounds a little bit, but I'm not mad at it. I'm not mad at it at all. Four rebounds, three assists. I can work with that. Caitlin Clark goes seven of eighteen, five rebounds, seven assists, five turnovers yet again. Again, ladies and gentlemen, could she be leading the league in turnovers again? That could be a problem. And I that's something I've been trying to talk about with Caitlin Clark. But, you know, the stands have been trying to say, oh, she's good. She's better than Paige, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, again, I told y'all seven of eighteen from the field, two of nine from three. She went 100% from the free throw line. But those five turnovers are quite glaring. Meanwhile, Paige Beckers, 20 points on eight of 10 shooting, one of three from the three. Free throw line, Paige, we got to do better than that, though, sweetie. Three of six, that's tough. That's not nut. That's hey, and maybe just a bad day from the free throw line. But she had three rebounds, four assists, one turnover, one steal. Like the assist to turnover ratio is just spectacular. The efficiency by Paige is spectacular. Could we have a world where Paige is higher than Caitlin Clark in the MVP discussion? We got to wait and see. But this game here just tells me I can't wait to see the remainder of the season. For the Dallas Wings, I'm so excited, bro. I'm so excited. Also, I'm still kind of pissed because, you know, my I wish my Sparks was able to get Paige backers when we were able to. We did just another discussion for another day. But again, that was my number one game of the weekend forecasted. So I hope y'all watched it. If you haven't, please go back and watch it or at minimum watch the highlights. It was a good game. But the efficiency by Paige and Arique and Odyssey Sims and Kelsey Mitchell and Dalih Boston. Pretty spectacular. Caitlin Clark, you know, you're coming off of a season-long, almost a season-long hiatus. I hear you. So I'll give you a little grace. But that five turnovers, though, we got to improve. And that's been consistent for her. But we'll wait and see if that can change. Next game that we got to talk about, ladies and gentlemen. Aces versus the sparks. Listen, Aces got dog walked. Come here, little fellow. Like she they got dog walked game one by the Mercury. And I don't know if that put a chip on their shoulder or not, but they they decided to dog walk my sparks, bro. And it really hurt. Because I came into this thinking, all right, we got Kelsey Plum, Dear Gambey versus the Aces. Remember, those two players used to play on the Aces, so they gotta have a chip on their shoulder, right? And I'm trying to figure out if my Sparks are contenders. Like, what's their contending status? Now, to be fair, Kelsey Plum, 10 of 18 from the field, 4 of 8 from the three-point line, right? 27 points. That ain't bad. But as my portant guard, I will say this: I need more than two assists from Kelsey. I get you on the 27 points. She had the most points throughout the entire game. I hear you, heard you. But again, I need a little more assists as well. Shout out, NECA. You know what I'm saying? You do what you do. Dearica, listen, sweetie, we gotta do a little bit better than that. Four of 11, you only got 12 points. You was on the floor 27 minutes. I need a little bit more production than that, baby. I need a little more production than that, all right? And then, yeah, Ariel, I know we just got you. I know your role's a little bit different. Shout out to them three steals that you got. But that three of that three of 12 from the field, zero of six from three, that's disgusting work. I don't, I we look, we can't have that happening. You played 32 minutes. We gotta do better than that. I don't know what's going on with Cameron Brink, ladies and gentlemen. Eight minutes of play, three rebounds, three turnovers. And considering the fact that we just trade up Rakia Jackson, I need to see better production than that. I'm just calling Spade of Spade. Cameron, I need to see you producing, sweetie, because again, this Las Vegas Aces team, yeah, they're stout. They are, they're one of two contenders for me in the like the seat, like before the season started. They're one of two contenders. So I get it. We're going up against a stout team, but we can also make noise ourselves, ladies and gentlemen. I got question marks around our team. Also, my team took nine more shots and made 14 less buckets than them. What in the world is going on? Also, 10 blocks and 11 steals by the Aces. Kudos to y'all. But zero blocks and only eight steals from my sparks? That's disgusting work. I'm pissed. I'm hurt. I get it. I get it. I get it. It's game one. But it sucks because we were at home. You know what I mean? Now, again, kudos to Kelsey Plum and Natum Goomake. Everybody else, though, we got it, you know, I don't. Erica Wheeler, one of 11, 0 of 6 from Sheesh. Yeah, this was just abysmal. I'm sorry right now. We got to turn it around because if we if we don't make the playoffs this season, ladies, which is which is something I gotta stay with. This sort of start, we gotta blow it up. We gotta blow it up. And that's gonna suck because we uh we just gave away Rakia. But again, this was another game that I was paying attention to. I wish I hadn't. But let's move on, shall we? To the Dream versus the Lynx. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I did say that these were two contending, well, I should say contending teams, but right now for the playoffs, we gotta see if they're contending status, right? Keep in mind, okay, this is early, but I think they're trending in the right direction. For the dreams barometer, it was it was very interesting. They were aggressive, right? They got a lot of rebounds, they got a lot of free throw attempts. Are 30 free throws sustain sustainable? I don't know. I genuinely do not know. 46 rebounds. Is that sustainable? Like they had a 21 rebound advantage over the Minnesota Lynx. And the final score was 91 to 90. I got a couple things to even address about that. I don't know if I'll say them just yet. Because again, to be fair, right? You got Natasha Howard, somebody who, you know, is trying to get her feel for the for the Lynx, right? They're missing the feet of collier. Yeah, they they they they're still trying to figure some things out. But keep in mind, their rookie, Olivia Miles, just went off. Like 21 points, eight assists, three turnovers, two steals, two blocks. Like, respectfully, hell, there may be a world where we can talk about Livia Miles hiding Caitlin Clark. It's again still early. So let's pump the brakes. But she's hooping right now, ladies and gentlemen. She's hooping. Courtney Williams, you did your thing, could be it, could improve the efficiency, but I'll take it because you know you got six rebounds and six assists. 14.7 of 18 from the field. Again, six assists to two turnovers plus three steals, I'll rock with that. And then, of course, Kayla McBride's aka Kayla McBucket's AKA Kayla, get a bucket. 20.7 to 13 from the field. And again, there's no Nefisa Collier, ladies and gentlemen. That's kind of scary. And again, the advantages that the dream had, and you only win by one. Yes, you're on the road. I'll give you credit. But again, ladies and gentlemen, we got to point that out. Now, Alicia Gray, you know, you gave us 24 points, 7 of 18, but the free throw line is where you did your damage. 9 of 11. Are they always gonna have someone who's just gonna get to the free throw line? Will it be Alicia Gray or Ryan Howard? Hell, will it even be Angel Reese? I don't know. Speaking of Angel Reese, we got 11 points, 14 rebounds, four of 11 from the field. We could improve from that. She gave five turnovers, but she also gave us two steals and three blocks. And shout out to Nas Hillman as well, too. I really like Nas Hillman because I think her and Angel Reese could make a nice solid front course pairing for the future. But right now, like I said, early ladies and gentlemen, it's early. It's early. But I think both teams are trending in the right direction. And not to mention, when they get when the Lynx get in the Fisa Collier back early June, I think that's the time that we're expecting her to return. They could be scary. They really could be scary. So I'm looking forward. I'm so looking forward to seeing these girls play. Oh, man, I'm looking forward, boy. Now, let's talk about two teams that just joined the WNBA, right? We got the Toronto Tempo and we got the Portland Fire. Now, if you saw last year, the Golden State Valkyries ended up making the playoffs, right? Yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen with neither team. Keep in mind, I think the team that actually has the best chance of getting to the playoffs would in fact be, uh, I'd say the Toronto Tempo. You know, you got Britney Sites, Marina Mavery, but I don't think neither new team, neither two, neither organization is gonna make the playoffs. I'm sorry, again, it's early, but I don't think they trended in the right direction. They still need to, shoot, they need to tank. They need to tank personally. And there's no disrespect, to be fair. They played against the Mystics, they played against the Tempo, played against the Mystics, a playoff team, and the Fire played against the Sky. The Sky could be a potential playoff team. We'll wait and see, but I don't know about that just yet. But they do look interesting. So again, maybe the competition was a little too stiff, but I don't think they're gonna get there. But we'll wait and see, because the Toronto Tempo did get fairly close to the Washington Mystics, even though the Washington Mystics, I don't think, had the best game personally. But again, that's another discussion for another day because they're still trying to figure it out themselves. Speaking of the Washington Mystics, ladies and gentlemen, they ended up playing the New York Liberty. And this is the game that I was really looking forward to watching. Because again, you got the New York Liberty, who's I project to be the best team in the WNBA. Forget seating and standing right now. They are, oh my God, they're just ridiculously deep, right? Well, they they they they played the Washington Mystics at home. I wish I had gone to that game. I was a little busy personally. That's another discussion for another day. But the Liberty went to overtime and beat the Mystics 98 to 93. Now keep in mind, like I just told you, the Liberty are the best team in the NBA in the WNBA to me, right? They did this without two of their best players. They weren't playing Satu Sabli nor Sabrina Ionescu. They just sat them out just because they didn't want to destroy the Mystics. Now I'm playing, they're injured right now. But again, ladies and gentlemen, they won without those two-star players. Like these are all WNBA caliber players. These are MVB caliber players, ladies and gentlemen. And they won the game against a very tough, young, but tough, Washington Mystics team. So the Mystics, barometer, again, they're young and developing. We got a question is if Georgia Amore is their future point guard, because they have Sonia Citron, Shakira Austin, Kiki Erie Effen. They have a good team around them. They do. But if Georgia O'More can, she she gave seven assists, one turnover, that ain't bad. That's not bad. Plus a little steal to boot. Can she continue to do that and just play her role solidly? I'd be curious. Also, Rory Harmon. Look, like hey, four assists, five turnovers. We can do a little bit better than that. But Rory is a rookie, so we'll give it a little grace. Let's see what she does next season. But she's pretty spectacular herself. I like how she plays on the defensive end. Ladies and gentlemen, I do like the Mystics in the future. Could they be slipping for me come playoff time? I don't know if I have them as high as like a fifth seed no more, but again, it's still early. Are they trending in the right direction? We got to wait and see. Because again, to be fair, they played up against the New York Liberty team that boasts Brianna Stewart, John Quell Jones, Maureen Johannes, this chick, Pauline Astro. Hey, bro, 18 points on six of 10 from the field, five rebounds, seven assists, two turnovers, and two steals. Huh? And she a rookie, by the way. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. And shout out to Banaje Laney for coming back off injury. She didn't score the most. She got it from the free throw line, gave us two rebounds, one block, no field goal attempts at all whatsoever. But again, she's coming back after a year-long hiatus, and she's like a defensive specialist for them. She can get a bucket herself too. So just like I said about Caitlin Clark, I'm gonna give a little grace. But to be clear, Bonaj Laney Hamilton, she ain't never do this when she was playing the game of basketball. Caitlin Clark was getting them turnovers when she was playing the game of basketball when they were healthy. So again, I'm I'm I have a little bit more grace for Bonaj than I do, Caitlin, but we'll give more time because it's day damn one. It's game one. You know what I'm saying? But this just showed me that the New York Liberty do have some depth to their team. And keep in mind, too, they don't even have Leone Phoebe on the squad yet. So they're really missing three starters, and they put BTA. Well, I guess it wasn't BTA work, but it's still a good game to watch for sure. But ladies and gentlemen, this was overall exciting. The only game that won't excite them was My Sparks. And matter of fact, we better show up May 23rd. Because that's when we get to play this the Aces again. So you know what I'm saying? I need to see that. I need to see a step up personally. But overall, ladies and gentlemen, W NBA first weekend. It was exciting. I'm happy the W's back. We got some entertainment to watch, and it's the sweet spot too, because the NBA playoffs is still on as the season for the W NBA is starting up. I love basketball right now. I promise you. It's so tremendous. It's so great. Do y'all hear the passion in my voice? I'm just saying, this is really spectacular. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, you gotta watch the WNBA if you haven't already. You gotta start tuning in. But trust me, it's a good one. But that does conclude the end of the episode. So, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, please make sure to like, subscribe, comment, and tell anyone who's anyone one about the WNBA and then two about my show. My name is Trey, I'm the host, Kid of Bucket. I hope you're all having a good one. Take care.