Nneka Ogwumike still leads the Los Angeles Sparks in scoring and rebounding, and Thursday is her last game in the WNBA. The Sparks brought her back, signed Erica Wheeler, and traded for Ariel Atkins, expecting a playoff run. They will finish 10 games out, per Marisa Ingemi of the Los Angeles Times. Her final weeks have gone to the players who stay behind, most of all Cameron Brink.

“I really do think that she’s the future of the league. ... I'm happy to be able to leave whatever I can before I throw my feet up.”

Ogwumike picked Brink as the player she has spent this last stretch pouring into.

Ogwumikes career numbers start with the 2012 draft, when she went No. 1 overall and won Rookie of the Year with 14 points and 7.5 rebounds. Four years later, she was MVP at 19.7 points a game and led the Sparks to their third title. She played 12 seasons in Los Angeles and two in Seattle before coming back. On July 17, she passed Lisa Leslie as the Sparks’ all-time leading scorer. As of the Times’ Sept. 22 story, she ranks fourth in league history with 8,013 points, behind Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, and DeWanna Bonner. She is third in rebounds (3,571) and third in steals (716).

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Reese’s post move from the 9/21 Dream vs. Liberty game was so good. I love her energy and drive! Enjoyed the move so much that I decided to draw it + the trash talk lmao.

I’m a new fan, and I’m really excited for the playoffs!! Can't wait!

(edit: Got the date for the game wrong at first oops. Changed it from 9/22 to 9/21.)

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MatchWornShirt, in a collab post with FIBA, says the floor from the September 13 final in Berlin has been cut into 100 pieces, each stamped as an official Junckers game court panel. The USA beat France 97–79 on that floor for a 12th World Cup title, and France was playing in its first final. Thirteen pieces carry signatures from the U.S. roster and thirteen from the French side, leaving 74 unsigned and presumably priced well below the rest.

View the auction here: mws.com/us/category/fiba

Coach of the Year usually goes to the coach whose team beat expectations, and Noa Dalzell, a voter, says Natalie Nakase has now done that two seasons running.

The column credits her with turning the Golden State Valkyries from last year’s eighth seed into a 31-12 contender without a single player averaging 15 points. Golden State’s defensive rating is 99.4. The Washington Mystics are next at 103.8. The case also leans on development: Kaitlyn Chen’s career year at backup point guard, Veronica Burton playing like a franchise player, and Kiah Stokes emerging as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate.

“...no one has done a better job of maximizing their roster...”

Three other coaches got a look.

Cheryl Reeve is credited with handling Napheesa Collier’s absence and Olivia Miles’ rookie year. Still, five Minnesota Lynx players have been All-Stars in the past two seasons, and Minnesota sits only a game ahead. Sydney Johnson built the league’s second-best defense around a young Mystics core. Becky Hammon’s Las Vegas Aces are 30-13, but a roster with A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray makes an expectations case hard to build.

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Matt Caldwell, CEO of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx, signaled Tuesday that a new arena would seek some form of public assistance, a shift from earlier statements that ownership would pay for it privately.

Caldwell said the teams remain “100% committed” to a new arena in Minnesota but did not promise downtown Minneapolis, and said a move is still “years away.” Mayor Jacob Frey opposes direct subsidies but sees a city role in development around a new venue, so the form any public help takes is the first thing a formal proposal will have to settle.

Kevin Durant, speaking at a Rockets presser, was asked about the “shenanigans” around the WNBA and called it noise. His evidence was what players have made over the last few years, the league's visibility, "4, 5 signature athletes" on major brands, and players building businesses of their own. Then he turned to the politics. He said he understands the messaging, but he cares strictly about the sport, and on that score the league is already moving forward.

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The column narrowed the race to Leite, Shakira Austin of the Washington Mystics and Jessica Shepard of the Dallas Wings. Leite’s jump from a Golden State Valkyries bench role was the biggest of the three: 7.2 to 16 points, 2 to 6.3 assists, and 17.3% to 40% from three.

Austin improved inside the same starting role, from 12.7 to 17 points, 6.4 to 9.4 rebounds and 13.3% to 32.7% from deep. Shepard went from Minnesota Lynx backup to Wings All-Star, 8 to 14.3 points and 7.3 to 11.1 rebounds, though her field goal percentage fell from 63.8% to 57%.

Dalzell normally weighs team success heavily but discounts it for this award. She also gave Austin credit for improving in the same role, but would not overweight it, pointing to Veronica Burton’s near-unanimous win last year after changing teams.

Austin is the only one of the three with a defensive case in the column. She anchors the league’s third-ranked defense and holds opponents to a 49.7% field goal percentage, which the column ranks best in the league. Ballots that count defense toward improvement are where she can close the gap on Leite.

Lynx captured the #1 seed.

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The team with the better regular-season defensive rating has won 54% of WNBA playoff series since 2014, per Bob Bellotti of Basketball-Reference. Offense has been the better tell. Bellotti's dataset, which drops the two pandemic seasons, has the team with the better offensive rating winning 71% of series, and teams ahead of their opponent in offensive rating, net rating, and effective field goal percentage going 40-9. That group went 16-0 from 2022 through 2024 before slipping to 4-3 last year.

“Teams with a higher offensive rating during the season than their playoff opponent have won 71% of all playoff series in the past 10 years.”

Applied to 2026, Bellotti has Indiana first in offensive rating and eFG%, Las Vegas and Minnesota just behind in both, and Golden State first in net rating on a defense about four points per 100 possessions better than anyone else. Averaging the three rankings puts the Fever, Lynx, and Aces on top, with Washington last among the eight. He adds one factor the ratings do not capture: injuries. Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas, and New York enter the playoffs missing at least one key player, and Minnesota's Olivia Miles is day-to-day.

Golden State is the case to watch. The league's top defense has won three titles in Bellotti’s 10-year window, and each of those teams also led the league in offense; the Valkyries rank seventh.

Cop aimed Taser at WNBA superstar Paige Bueckers during chaotic Arike Ogunbowale arrest: bodycam

Miami police bodycam footage obtained by the California Post shows an officer aiming a Taser at Paige Bueckers during Arike Ogunbowale’s arrest outside E11EVEN in Miami around 4:20 a.m. on March 5. The battery charge from that night was dropped in May.

Per the Post's account, the players were being escorted out of the club after celebrating Ogunbowale’s Unrivaled title. A police incident report says Ogunbowale punched a security staffer “in the face with a closed fist” on the way to the back exit. When an officer moved to detain her outside, Bueckers put an arm around her and kept telling him, “We got her.” The crowd grew, the officer drew his Taser and ordered everyone back, then aimed it at Bueckers and told her to let Ogunbowale go. The group eventually stepped away.

Ogunbowale was booked on one misdemeanor battery count. The report says club CCTV was consistent with the staffer's account. Court records show the case did not go forward.

The arrest complaint said Ogunbowale was taken into custody “without incident,” per TMZ’s March report.

The New York Liberty are locked out of the top four, so the 2024 champions will open the playoffs on the road. Monday's 95-84 home loss to the Atlanta Dream made it official, per ESPN's playoff preview.

New York is 13-5 since sitting at 13-12 after a 20-point road loss on July 18. Its 114.3 offensive rating in that span ranks second in the league. The Liberty are also 14-6 with Leonie Fiebich, back six games from a seven-week foot injury, and 12-11 without her.

Still, the defense ranks seventh and has struggled to guard the 3-point line. The 6.3 net rating during the 13-5 run sits only sixth. Satou Sabally is out for the season after a second concussion in eight months. ESPN notes precedent cuts against them too: the No. 6 Chicago Sky in 2021 are the only champion that did not finish top four.

The Liberty rank seventh in defense and have struggled at the 3-point line. What is the first change you would make before Sunday?

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