Dan Falkenheim

everyone touches the ball on this! (phoenix’s inverted P&R has been hard to guard as is.) good ball movement to start.

Andraya Carter and Chiney Ogwumike nailing what the players are fighting for (to be paid what they deserve!) and critiquing Cathy — all before the WNBA finals tip off — is exemplary work.

Like, what do you do against *this*?

bsky.app/profile/stev...

For more numbers, check out the article!

It's been so fun to watch Alyssa Thomas shine this season and in the playoffs.

Scatter plot showing Alyssa Thomas's individual seasons by usage rate (x-axis) and effective field goal percentage (y-axis). She set career highs in both usage rate and effective field goal percentage this season.

This season, Alyssa Thomas set career highs in *both* usage rate and effective field goal percentage.

Horizontal bar plot showing the WNBA triple double leaderboard (regular season + playoffs). Alyssa Thomas has the most by far.

Alyssa Thomas is responsible for 41% of the triple-doubles ever recorded in a WNBA non-exhibition game.

She also has *10* more triple-doubles than all other players with one career triple-double combined.

(Data via @acrossthetimeline.com)

Scatter plot showing WNBA individual seasons by assists per game (x-axis) and points per game (y-axis). Alyssa Thomas is the only player in league history to average 15+ points and 9+ assists per game.

This year, Alyssa Thomas became the only player in WNBA history to average at least 15 points and 9 assists per game in a single season.

(Data via @acrossthetimeline.com)

By the Numbers: Alyssa Thomas Is the WNBA’s Best-Kept Secret As the Mercury prepare for their WNBA Finals series against the Aces, let’s break down the career of Phoenix’s triple-double threat.

As good as Alyssa Thomas is, she isn’t always discussed to the same degree as the WNBA's other generational superstars, like A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart

She should be. For SI, I broke down the numbers behind why AT is the WNBA's best-kept secret:

www.si.com/wnba/alyssa-...

I wonder if people outside of Seattle realize just how good Gabby Williams has been.

She's one of four players averaging at least 10 points and 3 steals + blocks per game. The others are A'ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier and Alanna Smith. (Data: @acrossthetimeline.com)

Should be an All Star!

such a huge credit to the Valkyries players and coach Natalie Nakase for the way Golden State has played.

it ain’t easy gelling as a team with new players, a new coach and a short training camp, and then being competitive right out of the gate.

Opinion | How Underpaid Are W.N.B.A. Players? It’s Embarrassing.

great read:

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/o...

Nobel Laureate and labor economist Claudia Goldin on WNBA pay inequity:

"These numbers suggest that the average WNBA salary should be roughly one-quarter to one-third of the average NBA salary [...] Instead, the average WNBA salary is but a minuscule fraction — a mere 1/80th"

It's really impressive how good Kiki Iriafen has been so early into her career.

I'd love to see the Mystics experiment more with some Iriafen and Shakira Austin lineups. (Although maybe Dolson's three-point shooting is needed to unlock space for Iriafen.)

Spalding's official basket ball guide for women : containing the official rules revised for 1916-17 / edited by Senda Berenson Abbott Spalding's official basket ball guide for women : containing the official rules revised for 1916-17 / edited by Senda Berenson Abbott

There are some gems in here!

babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=in...

Late night rabbit hole: Laughing at these two “wrong guarding” pictures from Spalding’s Official Basketball Guide for Women (1917)

The image shows two shooting charts. The chart on the left plots the Atlanta Dream's shot frequency vs. league average — they take more threes and less midrange shots outside the paint vs. league average. The chart on the right plots the Atlanta Dream's shooting efficiency — they are more efficient on right-wing threes and shots inside the paint.

Karl Smesko's system is alive and well in Atlanta: The Dream rank third in Rim or 3 shot frequency (70.3%) and have increased their effective field goal percentage from 45.2% last season to 49.1% this year.

There's still room to grow in efficiency, too.

The Sun posted their starting five for today's matchup against the Atlanta Dream.

Love to see the Sun continue to give Saniya Rivers a starting role off the bat. Even though Connecticut is a different group than last season, they have a fun squad and seem to be building in the right direction.

Valkyries hold off Sparks to improve to 2-1 led by French rookies Leite, Salaün The Golden State Valkyries used breakout games from French rookies Carla Leite and Janelle Salaün to beat the Los Angeles Sparks 82-73 on Friday.

"They really stepped up and impacted this game."

There's a new dynamic duo in town, and they're French and rookies and suddenly the Valkyries' key players | @sfchronicle.com

www.sfchronicle.com/sports/artic...

Jonquel Jones looking dapper af at the 2025 Met Gala 🔥😮‍💨

#WNBA #MetGala #MetGala2025 #FashionAndBuckets

Aaliyah Nye is such a sharpshooter

Happy first WNBA preseason game day to all who celebrate 🥳

definitely! it should be fun. it's an interesting puzzle to find ways to have them fit together in a way that's beneficial for the team.

Moving Reese a bit further from the basket should create more space and more efficient opportunities for Cardoso. (In theory.)

Julia's reporting indicates the Sky see Cardoso as more of the low-post fulcrum. I'm interested how Reese adapts and how the two play off each other.

The charts show where the Reese, Cardoso and the Sky offense w/ both on the floor were more or less efficient compared to WNBA league average.

(I calculate shot efficiency here as field goal attempts + points on shooting fouls. It's like a blend of eFG% and TS%)

Julia wrote a great article on Angel Reese diversifying her shot profile ahead of Year 2.

Here are a few charts (zoom in!) to hammer home why that's important.

Both Reese and Cardoso took most of their shots close to the rim. Neither was particularly efficient and the Sky's offense suffered,

A graph of the average WNBA home team point differential between 1997-2024. From 1997 to 2017, the average hovered around 3.25 points. There is a notable drop between 2020-2022 (COVID). The average dropped to 0.8 last season.

So, this surprised me, but maybe it shouldn't have:

Between 1997 and 2017, WNBA home teams won by ~3.25 points on average.

Then, an obvious COVID dip.

In '24, that number dropped to a ~0.8 point advantage. Is it small-sample noise, or could it be the effect of charters?

love the Aneesah Morrow/Saniya Rivers double tap for the Sun

trying to drive to the hoop only to be met by Ezi Magbegor and Dominique Malonga is nightmare fuel

Shyanne Sellers shooting chart. She shoots above average from almost everywhere.

Shyanne Sellers' career shooting chart is pretty, pretty good.

Sellers and Paige Bueckers are the only two players in the draft who shot at least 45% from the paint, 35% from the midrange and 40% on above-the-break threes this season.

Data and viz via CBB Analytics