WNBA Standings Breakdown And Early Award Picks

We run through the latest WNBA playoff standings, tier out the teams, and pick the first-round winners if the postseason started today. Then we lock in early award trackers from Sixth Woman to MVP, including why Olivia Miles is already forcing big conversations.
• Current WNBA playoff standings from 1 to 8 
• Why the Sparks being back in matters 
• Quick tier takes on depth and bench impact for each playoff team 
• Projected first-round matchups and who we expect to advance 
• Lynx vs Sparks as a potential must-watch series 
• Aces vs Fever as a rematch with rivalry energy 
• Early Coach of the Year leaderboard and why it’s a tie 
• Sixth Woman tracker led by Kennedy Carter 
• Rookie of the Year pick with Olivia Miles as the clear favorite 
• Most Improved candidates led by Jessica Shepard and Shakira Austin 
• DPOY shortlist including A’ja Wilson and Natasha Howard 
• MVP ladder with A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Olivia Miles, and Paige Bueckers 
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Transcript

Welcome And Quick Housekeeping

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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. Today we're going to talk about the WNBA updates like the playoff standings, the WNBA award predictions, and my WNBA All-Star selection so far. But before we do that, please make sure to hit that like and subscribe button. Comment tell anyone who's anyone about the show. I'm trying to get the ratings up a little bit. You know, just a little bit. And if you wonder where you heard this before, that's how you've been listening to me Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. So I greatly

Current Standings And Playoff Tier Talk

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appreciate your support. Now, the current WNBA playoff standings goes as follows: one through eight, right? The Minnesota Lynx, number one. The Las Vegas Aces, number two, the New York Liberty, number three, the Atlanta Dream, number four. The Dallas Wings, number five, Golden State Valkyrie, number six, Indiana Fever, number seven. And my Los Angeles Sparks, number eight. Ladies and gentlemen, we are finally back in the playoff race. I love it. Because especially based on expectations. Y'all know how I, y'all know how I got high expectations on my sparks. I'm not too, too high. I ain't saying we necessarily contenders per shade, but we at least got to get into the playoffs, right? I think we are a playoff team. First round exit, maybe, but I think we are a tough out, okay? Same with the fever. Playoff team, first round exit. And I think that's because they're building up their depth. Okay. They do have a good quality starting unit. They do have some interesting pieces on the team, but I still think they're trying to build up their team just a little bit more. They're still relatively young, even though they got a quality big three. Golden State Valkyrie, playoff team, first round exit. I think they're missing depth. Starting unit, top tier. Like one of the best starting teams, like one of the best starting fives in the WNBA. That bench area, though, yeah, it's a little bit subpar in comparison to the other teams. Golden, I mean, Dallas Wings, listen, playoff team. And before the season started, I wasn't adamant on this, but they seem to be a first-round exit. Funny enough, the Dallas Wings might be missing some wings. So again, like they have Arique, they have Paige, they have AZ. All of those look to be guards for me. And I eventually think Arique's gonna have to get traded. They're gonna have to get a wing to pair with Matty Seagre's. Like, it's gonna be a couple things that they need to do. Jessica Schabrick's been playing some good basketball. I wonder if she can play the center. There's a couple things they're gonna have to go do this upcoming offseason. And I think it's gonna be centered around Enrique Gummawale, maybe parting ways from the team. But again, playoff team this season, first round exit. The Atlanta Dream, they are a contending team, still trying to figure it out, right? I'm wondering if next season will be their actual season to win it. Because again, this season you got a couple other teams that could legitimately win it. Like the New York Liberty, and I think they're still the best team on paper. It just sucks that they're trying to, they got to get their cohesion. Because again, they're injured, they're missing some chemistry right now. Satusabi's coming back, Sabrini Ionescu's coming back, Leone Fevers came back from overseas. They got a couple of big names. They got a lot of depth, honestly, the most depth and and complete and completeness in the WNBA. They just got to be healthy and play. The Las Vegas Aces, again, they're defending champions. So we we we know what it is, right? Ajaan Wilson is a stud. Jackie Wills, or Jackie Williams is oh my goodness, Jackie Young is an all-w NBA caliber player. Sometimes hell she can even win, she can even be in the MVP discussion. So again, we gotta we got a lot to offer for the Aces, plus the point guard in Chelsea Gray. Kennedy Carter's no slouch. Jewel Lloyd has been hooping. Like we we we we got a lot of things talked about with the Aces. And then the Lynx, hey man, this is the biggest dark horse team. They're number one. Are they a second round guaranteed just because they've made it to the Commissioner Cup game? Like, we gotta wait to see, but also we gotta see how Nafisa Collier looks when she returns. Because again, this number one team bringing back their number one player, that's gonna be pretty spicy.

If The Playoffs Started Today

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So, right now, the playoff matchups, right, we would have as follows Lynx versus my sparks, aces versus the fever, Liberty versus the Valkyrie, and Dream versus the Wings. Ladies and gentlemen, if the playoffs were to start today, these would be the matchups, and I would have the Lynx beating my sparks, unfortunately. You know, I think this would be an interesting matchup to watch for sure. We we this might even be the best matchup, honestly. There's a chance where it could be between all the playoff matchups. I like the veteran play, I like the bigs and versatility that we bring to the table. The Lynx do, like I would love to see Natasha Howard going up against DeRika Hambe and Nekka Gumake also adding feet to the mix as well. And the Fisa Collier. That's gonna be a quality battle. How does Cameron Brink do against some of these veteran players? But also, what's the bench looking like for the Minnesota Lynx, too? That's a big thing as well. So I'm expecting, I'm I'm curious what Courtney Williams will look like for the for the Lynx. I expect her to come off the bench once feet comes back to the team, right? Olivia Miles versus Kelsey Plum, who wins that battle? There's gonna be a lot of interesting narratives to talk about. Because realistically, if my Sparks can't win a game, I'm expecting us to blow up the team. Especially with the moves that we've made. But again, ladies and gentlemen, Lynx versus Sparks, that could be, that has a chance to be the best matchup in the postseason if the playoffs were to start today. Although this next one would be interesting in Aces versus Fever, because again, this was last year's playoff semifinals matchup. And if we're being honest, hell, the fever took the Aces further than the Mercury did in the play in the finals. So again, ladies and gentlemen, this is a rematch. Fever could have a chip on their shoulder. It's a redemption game. And we can also talk about this as being a mini rivalry going forward because a lot of people have high expectations of them be of the fever, mainly because of Caitlin Clark, but also you got players like Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell who are studs in the WNBA. And the Aces obviously got who they got: Asia Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray. Like they're hoopers. I still expect the Aces to win that matchup. But again, that has a chance as well as being one of the better matchups. We got Lynx versus Golden State Valkyrie. I mean, Liberty, I'm favoring the Liberty. The Liberty have too much depth and talent, honestly. Again, that starting five may make it tough against the Liberty. The Valkyrie, am I gonna say I'd be surprised if they won? I would be surprised, actually, because again, the Liberty just lost in the first round last season. I'm expecting them to get back over that hump. It'll be an entertaining series to watch for sure. I lean Liberty. And then Dream versus Wings, listen, I think ultimately the Wings don't have the defensive makeup to guard Ryan Howard and Alicia Gray and keep Angel Reese off the boards. So I think it favors the Dream. Plus, they have quality depth. They're trying to build up that bench a little bit now, for sure. But the Wings also don't have the best bench presence either. Let's wait to see what happens. So again, I'm expecting Dream to win this one, but let's keep in mind Arike Gumbawale, Paige Beckers, maybe they can get you over the hump. Jessica Shepard's been playing some good basketball. And if AZ Foot is actually knocking down shots and hitting that thing, hey, bro, wings could be a little interesting, could be a little spicy. So the playoff matchups, ladies and gentlemen, they could be a little interesting. So right now, WNBA is looking in good company. But we've talked about a couple of teams, right?

Early WNBA Award Predictions

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Let's talk about some WNBA award predictions. Like the MVP, the depoy, the most improved player, the rookie of the year, the sixth woman of the year, and the coach of the year. Because these are some interesting things. I'm just going to run through these quickly because again, this is going to be a nice little tracker. Here's what I'm looking at early on into the season. We're about, we're a little bit over a quarter of the way into the season. So with that, we got my early predictions, my early trackers, right? Let's start it off with Coach of the Year. I got Jose Fernandez and Cheryl Reeve kind of tied. Okay. Jose's on the wings, Cheryl's on the links. And the reason why I say this, wings currently have less all-stars on their team. Okay. And they're top five. I did not have them at all on my expectations list for the playoffs. I thought there was a possibility, but again, my expectations, I didn't quite have the wings there. So they're they're they're fighting this uphill battle for me, and I like it. And that's why they're here. Again, the Lynx are number one team. They're the number one team, and they're not playing without Nefisa. And they're playing without Nafisa. They're playing without Nafisa Collier. I stated based on my expectations, if they are top two, I I gotta consider, I gotta consider Cheryl for Coach of the Year. And they're number one without Nafisa Collier. That speaks volumes. So again, for me, it's a tie. If you say fee, if you say Cheryl Reeve, I don't lose any sleep. And if you say Jose Fernandez, I don't lose any sleep because both teams have been playing above expectations. Even though the Lynx have a better team to me, still, what they're doing is fairly impressive. So, Coach of the Year, it's a two-way tie right now. Sixth woman of the year. Typically, this goes to the player who's coming off the bench and scoring the most. And right now, this is Kennedy Carter's award to lose, to be clear. She's averaging, I think, about 14 points on the defending champions in the Las Vegas Aces. Her and Jewel Lloyd are gonna look a little interesting, come playoff time. That's all I'm gonna say. Like it's gonna be a really interesting time frame for the Las Vegas Aces. Could they run it back? We'll wait and see. But Kennedy Carter, Sixth Woman of the Year. Yeah, it's low-key her award to lose, respectfully. If there's anybody that could give her a run for her money, it could be Courtney Williams if she gets booted to the bench sooner. Because Navisa Collier returns. I expect Courtney to be the one that comes to the sixth woman. Because again, that is her best position. But as of right now, that's the only other person that I can consider that would actually usurp her. I would love to throw my sparks into the mix with Cameron Brinkford. Actually, Ray Burrell, I will say, has an interesting chance because she's been hooping recently. And if Ray keeps napping the way she does off the bench, we may have something to talk about. Shout out Ray. Love you, baby. Hope you keep doing what you're doing. But right now it's Kennedy Carter to lose. Rookie of the Year, this was easy to peasy, lemon squeezy. Olivia Miles. Nobody else is going to beat her for this award. I'm sorry. Like, nobody else. Again, the way she's been hooping on this Lynx team, I'm not even going to, respectfully, I'm not even going to mention another player in the W that even could win Rookie of the Year. It's hers to lose at this point in time. Like, even if she stopped, she doesn't have to play another game and she already got the award. I'm just telling y'all right now, that's how it's going to be. Forget a game's threshold if it was what, like, dog, she's she got the award. So kudos to Olivia Miles for winning the Rookie of the Year award. We're in June right now, and I expect that to hold up throughout the end of the season. Most improved player, though. This one has a little bit more meat to it, right? We got two players. One of them I did not expect. The other one I kind of had up here. And she was quite high on my list, too, in fact. But Jessica Shepard is the one I did not expect. We're looking like, we're looking like Sabonis and Jokic over here. I'm telling you right now, just off the numbers, just off the numbers, if I'm not mistaken, she's giving something like maybe 13 points, 12 rebounds, and like five assists, six, six, six, yeah, 14 points, 12 rebounds, six assists. I'm telling y'all, that's not bad at all. That's not bad numbers at all, whatsoever. Not too, too much on the defensive end. You know, 0.8 steals, but still, that's a big jump from whatever she was doing in the past on the on the links. So kudos to Jessica. You looking like a stud right now. I can't even hold you. But also, Shakira Alston, ladies and gentlemen, Shakira Alston has stepped up for these Washington Mystics. And when I tell y'all, I look, sometimes I think she's the best player on the team. Sometimes I think it's Sonia Satron. Either way, Shakira Alston giving me 15 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 0.7 steals, 1.3 blocks. She's looking more comfortable in her role on this Mystics team. She got the she got the extension, right? The contract extension. Kudos to Shakira. And she was the one that was that I had expected. Matter of fact, she was my number one answer when I made that list before the season started. So kudos to these two ladies. I'm gonna be paying, I'm going to be paying attention to which one continues the longest. Because it's right now their race. Now, Depoy, that one's a little bit interesting, right? We got here a couple of names. Now, Asia Wilson, right? You gotta throw her name in here. She's the only person that I actually expected to get up here on this list. I'm talking about who made my expectations list before the season started, to be clear. And you can kind of look at her support and CAS because other people on this list that I'm about to list off, on things like defensive ratings or defensive win shares, right? Again, stats are not everything. But these players who have that I'm about to list off do have some of their teammates on this list as well. Asia don't as much. So that does kind of speak volumes. She's getting 1.3 steals, 2.2 blocks. That's not bad. So again, when we're comparing Asia to everybody else, her supporting cast does, in fact, help out Asia. Asia might have to do a little bit more defensively. Even though you got Jackie Young, Jewel Lloyd is a quality defender, Kennedy Carter, quality defender like Chelsea Gray, quality defender. They have quality defenders on the team. I won't take that away from her. Asia just continues to be a D-poy conver in the de-point conversation. You know what I'm saying? Can't slide her. But also a player like Natasha Howard on the links, again, no Nafisa Collier, plus her versatility, even though she's only given 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks in comparison to Asia, that's still not a bad number at all, ladies and gentlemen. Good effort. And she's extremely versatile, like I've been pointing out. And her team is number one. And she's also contributing on the offensive end as well, too. And again, no Nafisa Collier, who is their best player offensively and defensively. You got to give some love to Natasha Howard. You have to. From a team success, from a production standpoint, from a versatility standpoint, I'm not going to lose any sleep if she wins it over Asia Wilson. And she's won it before. So I mean, you know, she has a good resume. We also got John Quell Jones, who remember I told you about Asia Wilson, right? Well, John Quell also giving the same statistical numbers defensively as Asia. 1.3 steals, 2.2 blocks. That ain't bad. So if we're going to give some love to Asia, we can also give a little love to John Quell Jones as well, too. Plus her team is third. Asia's a second. I'm just saying, and the link of the Liberty, while the deepest team, remember, I've told y'all, they have had injury issues. So we can expect to give John Quell Jones a little bit more value. Now, as the season progresses, maybe because the you know Liberty are getting healthier, maybe it won't be as much on John Clay. Because we also got Brianna Stewart, who if we're basing things on like defensive ratings, I think she's in the top five in defensive win chairs and defensive rating as well, too. Let me double-check that. But even if but if that's the case, you gotta note things like that as well, too. So again, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I think it does I this is a good little listing. I could have brought up players like Gabby Williams as well, too, because she's always in the mix as well, too, ladies and gentlemen. Because Gabby's Valkyries, hey, they they're looking pretty solid as well, too, defensively. And she's the leader of that team for sure. So I can't slight her. But right now, these are my deep point listings. Let's wait and see how the season progresses because we got a couple names to follow. So that's gonna be a good look, that's gonna be good to follow. I'm excited personally. But now we got to talk about the MVP listing. We got to throw up the usual suspect, right? Asia Wilson, Brianna Stewart. I would have said in the feast of Collier, but again, injuries have hurt that. So, you know, kudos to the usual suspects. Asia is actually the only player I expected. I would have thrown Brianna up here, but I thought her team was too deep, right? So I thought maybe there was not enough votes to go around. But Brianna, because of her team being injured, has been hooping. So you gotta give her some consideration. Again, Asia, the way she's doing, Jackie Young's still there, Chelsea Great, everything I heard you. She's still been dominant, so you gotta give her some love. Olivia Miles, okay? When we look at her team success plus her own player production, yes, it's her rookie season. But she has been hooping. And again, no Nafisa Collier does help out. So if Fee comes back, and let's say Olivia takes another jump, I'm curious what that does for her in the MVP standings now. Because somebody may try to say, well, Nafisa Collier has like helped out with that situation, so it made it easier for her, which is true. Which is true. But also you can look at it as a rookie is not necessarily outplaying a top three player in the W, but has taken on the mantle with the top three player in the W on the team, and that does speak volumes. And when we're talking about value, that is very valuable, especially when we're talking about going into the playoffs, because now you let fee ramp up over the over the season. And keep in mind, it's not like fee is ball dominant. So again, we got to give Olivia Miles in her rookie season some success, some credit. And again, early on, I told y'all I'm not giving her the MVP nod at that point in time. Now I'll start to give her a little bit more consideration because again, there's more time has passed. So it wasn't just a flash in the pan. And if she's continuing to play this way, especially during all-star break, that speaks volumes. So Olivia Miles for WNBA MVP is a real thing. As well as Paige Becker's currently, ladies and gentlemen, I understand Jessica Shepard has been hooping, right? Again, what was it, 14 points, 13 rebounds, six assists? That's nothing to scoff at statistically at all. But when I look at Paige Becker's playing, right, there was a game where, and I forget who they played against, but Paige Becker's was not playing because she injured her right ankle. And the wings lost drastically. And when she came back, Paige didn't even have the best game across the board like she typically would. But I saw Jessica Shepard's game improve. And that was one thing that made me realize and confirm, reconfirm, Paige is the engine that drives that Dallas Wings team, who I did not even expect to make the playoffs. Again, did I say that they could make the playoffs? Yes. I thought they could make the playoffs. Did I expect them to be at one point in time the number two team in the league or top five team in the league? No. I didn't say that. I didn't think that. I didn't. And I'm a huge Paige Beckers fan. And this is not biased at all, ladies and gentlemen. I'm just looking at what I've seen. Again, Paige Beckers from Impact, basically comparing her supporting cast to those like Asia, Olivia Miles, Brianna Stewart. Paige Beckers wins the supporting cast nod. When we're talking about all-stars, Olivia Miles, who as a rookie, is playing with more players who have been on all who have been selected to all-star teams. Jessica Shepard has not been to the all-star. Let me double check that, but I don't think she was. Brianna Stewart got a gang of all-stars on her team. Asia Wilson has a gang of all-stars on her team. Olivia Miles has a gang of all-stars on her team. Paige has one. Outside of herself. So again, the fact that the wings are where they are speaks volumes. And if they get any higher, you gotta add her higher on this list. Like let's say if they get to top three, you gotta put Paige Becker's arguably number one. You have to. But the MVP race, ladies and gentlemen, as the season progresses, this is going to be a fun time. So I'm looking forward to seeing how this happens, where this goes, who's gonna win it out. But ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that does conclude the end of the episode.

MVP Ladder And Closing Questions

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So I'm curious, one, do you believe that the playoff race is gonna remain the same? And if so, who would you have win these playoff matchups? And then my WNBA Awards, I gave y'all the prediction, the predictionslash expectations before the season started. And we're talking about now my updates for them. I'm curious, did I forget anybody? Y'all let me know. Because I look, I would have loved to put people like Kelsey Plum up there or Neko Ogumake, because you know I'm a Sparks fan, but I can't be by I can't be with so much bias. So I'm curious if y'all, if y'all think I left somebody out, let me know. And we can talk about it. Comment below. But like I said, ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the end of the episode. So 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 Get a Bucket. I hope you're all having a good one. Take care.