Early 2026 WNBA Standings Check

We react to the early 2026 WNBA standings and call out what feels real versus what feels like a small-sample mirage. We spotlight surprise teams, injuries, and pressure markets while keeping it honest about how quickly the playoff race can flip.
• Current top eight seeds and why it still feels early 
• Chicago Sky sitting higher than expected and what could hold 
• Dallas Wings and Paige Bueckers buzz in the early MVP talk 
• Golden State Valkyries at No. 2 and why balance matters 
• Indiana Fever questions around turnovers and pecking order 
• New York Liberty needing to climb despite injuries and reintegration 
• Sparks frustration, veteran expectations, and what missing playoffs would mean 
• quick reads on Mercury, Lynx injuries, Dream, and Aces meeting expectations 

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Transcript

Welcome And Quick Subscribe Ask

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What's up everybody? It's your favorite show's favorite show Get a Bucket. I'm your host, Train as usual. I hope you're all having a wonderful, wonderful day. Today we're talking about the WNBA standings currently for the 2026 WNBA season. But before we talk about that, please make sure you hit that like and subscribe button. Comment to anyone who's anyone about the show. Trying to get the ratings up a little bit, you know, just a little bit. And if you wonder where you've heard this before, that's because you've been listening to me Monday through Friday at 11 o'clock a.m. Eastern Standard Time. So I greatly appreciate that.

The Current Top Eight Standings

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But let's go ahead and dive on into these WNBA standings. So far, it looks a little interesting. We got one through eight seeds in order. The Las Vegas Aces number one. Golden State Valkyries number two. Atlanta Dream number three. The Dallas Wings number four. Chicago Sky number five. Minnesota Lakes number six. New York Liberty number seven. Indiana Fever number eight. Now, some of these teams I have I expected to be in the playoff race. It's extremely early, too, by the way, ladies and gentlemen. We're talking about five games into the season. And well, we got 40 games for the WNBA season. It's pretty early.

Chicago Sky Surprise Start

SPEAKER_00 1:04

But there are some teams here that are kind of surprising me. We got here the sky. I didn't have them quite being this high, if I'm being honest with you. I thought they were that team that just might miss the playoffs. But shout out to Skylar Diggins Smith. You know, she did hoop a little bit. They did have Rakia Jackson prior to that ACL tear. Oh my gosh, that one, that one hurts. But they did also acquire Natasha Clow. So again, ladies and gentlemen, even though they lost a player like Angel Reese, I wasn't expecting them to be this high. But again, it's their earlier. Let's see if the sky can hold on to this ranking.

Wings And Valkyries Look Legit

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The Dallas Wings. Ladies and gentlemen, I didn't think the Dallas Wings were going to be here either. Like, don't get me wrong, they have talent for sure. I love Paige McBuckets. You know what I'm saying? She can get a bucket, ladies and gentlemen, without question. Enrique Gumboale, she can get a bucket herself too. Like this team does have talent. My thought, though, is this, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know if they have enough talent. That's the question mark. Like, do they have enough talent to get over the hump? I had them pegged as one of the teams alongside the Valkyries, right? Because I thought the Valkyries were still like a playoff team. Maybe they missed out, but maybe they also have a chip on their shoulder to get them into that playoff race. Well, currently, the Valkyries are number two, and the wings are number four. So I guess technically I was right. They are in the same tier, if that makes sense. But let's see if they can hold on to this. Again, Paige McBuckets, you know what I'm saying? Paige Becker's, she is, well, I'd say featured in the MVP race. I don't know if she's gonna win it. I thought it might even be a year too early, possibly even two. Let's see what happens. Because right now she looks like she hooping a little bit. But the Dallas Wings are pretty impressive. And the Valkyrie are looking pretty impressive, too. I can't hold you. Like Burton playing good basketball, Thornton playing good basketball, Gabby playing some good basketball. They have a good quality steam. Is arguably one of the best in the WNBA. It's very balanced, very underrated. You gotta love this Valkyrie team. And the fact that they're two and one, or like the number two team right now, three and one for the record, it's kind of surprising. I can't lie to you. I I'm very I look forward to seeing how long the Valkyrie can stay in this number two seed.

Fever Questions Around Fit And Turnovers

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Now, some teams that I'm kind of questionable all right now, right? The Fever, even though I had them at the seven, I have them listed as number seven on my expectations list, right, before the season started. And right now they're number eight. So it's not like it's off track completely based on my personal expectation. But ladies and gentlemen, seeing that they got Caitlin Clark, that they have Aliyah Boston, they got Kelsey Mitchell, yeah, they got some pieces that are returning and some new pieces to try to work the Kinks out, right? So it's an it's somewhat of a new team, but still, even though it's early, I I would want to see a little bit better record. Even though, you know, if they were three and one, they'd be a little higher. So having the three-and-two record isn't anything to scoff at completely. And I'm still giving some grace to Caitlin because she did miss a large part of last season. So we just got to wait and see how this ends up folding out, right? But long story short, I I am curious how the fever ended up. I am curious if Caitlin Clark will eventually stop getting a lot of turnovers like she has in the past. And I and it has happened this season as well, too. So I'm curious how that goes. I'm curious if Aaliyah Boston will remain their best player. I'm curious if Kelsey Mitchell will remain the second best player on the team. There's just a lot of ifs, ands, and buts about about this fever team that I'm curious about. So I thought those are things I'm still paying attention to. And again, it's early, ladies and gentlemen. So we're gonna speed past them.

Why The Liberty Feel Behind

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Arguably, my most disappointing team. I mean, outside of my sparks, because they're not even in the top eight. And I'm telling you right now, if we don't make these playoffs, this, you know what I'm saying? Like I'm a little frustrated. But the New York Liberty, okay? The New York Liberty are number seven. Again, three and two. They're trying to figure some things out. Also, they're trying to reintegrate players or integrate players, like Satu Sabley, who's new and coming off injury herself. Also, I don't has Sabrina played? I think maybe like one game, maybe one game. So they're still injured themselves. Leone Thiebish has not played for the Liberty yet. I need the Liberty to get on track and dominate. I don't want to see them slip in the rankings like they did last year because that's how they ended up playing a tough five seed. And it oh, or was it a four seed? Either way, they were the four or the fifth seed. They don't need to have that happen again. They need to be comfortably at the top part of the standings. That's just my personal opinion. And I need to see that from the Liberty, or else I'm gonna think maybe they don't get to the finals yet again, even though I've said on paper they look like they are the best team. So, again, ladies and gentlemen, that's probably the team that I would say is the most disappointing. And I'm gonna throw my bias out of the

Sparks Frustration And Mystics Patience

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out of the mix. But to be fair, though, my sparks, I can say I'm disappointed. Hear me out, right? With the Mystics, right? The Mystics are two and two. My Sparks are two and three. Where if the season were to end today, both teams would be out of the playoff race. But hear me out, though. With the Mystics, I can at least bank on the fact that they have youth, right? Like they had three all-stars last season. Cool. Youth is something you gotta you gotta go through some trials and tribulations if you're a young team, okay? Especially if you don't have vets on your squad like that. And we don't, I think the the person who has the most years on their belt right now for the for the mystics is in fact Shakira Alston. And I don't even really want to call her a vet just yet. She's just a young player still. So, ladies and gentlemen, I can I can live with the Mystics not making the playoffs. I can't live with the Sparks not making the playoffs. We got Nekka Ogumake, we got Kelsey Plum, Dear Cahamby, Ariel Atkins. We got some veteran players on that team. I cannot afford to see us lose respectfully because we've we've invested too much into Kelsey Plum. Like come on now. Like we gotta we gotta get the ball rolling because we missed out on some draft picks ahead like last year and the season before. So if I'm my sparks and we and if we miss the playoffs, I think that speaks volumes on players like NECA, D'Erca, and Kelsey. But more specifically, D'Errica and Kelsey. Because y'all should have a chip on your shoulder, given how we missed out on the playoffs last year. And y'all supposed to be top-tier players. So I think if we can't get to the if we can't get to the playoffs, I'm not talking about to the finals, but I'm not saying I'm not saying win a championship. I'm talking about just getting to the playoffs. So we can't do that as a team this season that speaks volumes on you two, and I think your statuses are going to start dropping amongst the WNBA players. That's just me personally. And I think that's fair because now that's back-to-back seasons where we lost out and we could have actually gotten there. We have the talent to do so. We should. So again, ladies and gentlemen, that's biased slash unbiased. Spark should be able to get to the playoffs. But right now, we do have a couple of teams in our way, that's

Mercury, Lynx Injuries, Dream, Aces

SPEAKER_00 8:06

for certain. The Phoenix Mercury, kind of surprising, but again, early. It's it's still early. It's like they're they got a two-and-four record. Like I said, we're four to five games, or we're five to six games into the WNBA season, ladies and gentlemen. So currently, I I would like to see the Liberty go up a little bit. The links, I can understand them being where they are given the fact that Navisa Collier's injured, right? You you you're trying to work that you're trying to work out some kinks with players like Olivia Miles, who you just drafted, and hopefully she can carry her weight into the postseason. That's where we're expecting the the links to go. Not gonna lie to you, the dream are kind of right where I thought they would be. Even though it's only, again, three games, two and one record. Hey, you know, I expect them to be a top three seed. Matter of fact, I think I had them. No, they were number four for me. Lynx, I said, you know, they may have been that that I thought links could have been the third seed, but they also are losing. Or they lost in the feast of Calio, so that that may hurt them a little bit. So Dream should get vaulted up to that third seed. So the Dream and the Aces are the only teams that are really doing what I thought they should be doing. Again, the Aces, they're making a name for themselves again as a contender. Kudos to them. Liberty, I need to see y'all up the ante just a little bit.

Listener Thoughts And Sign Off

SPEAKER_00 9:21

But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I'm curious what y'all are thinking so far for the WNBA season. It does seem like 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, tell anyone who's anyone, one, about the WNBA and two about my show. My name is Trey. I'm the host of the bucket. I hope you are all having a good one. Take care.