So, ESPN just ranked the 50-best WNBA players this season, and it was disrespectful. It was flat-out disrespectful to one Caitlin Clark. Not only was it disrespectful to her, they disrespected all the Fever players.
We’re going to go through all of this, and we’re just going to scroll all the way down. You guys may have paused and seen all of that. Hopefully you didn’t. We’re going to go all the way from 50 to number one.
So, 50, Benaisha Laney Hamilton. I don’t hate her at 50. She was around 50 the last year she played. That being said, she missed a whole season. She’s not going to start. I think it’s tough putting a bench player, a guaranteed bench player, 50, but it is what it is.
Naz Hillmon 49. Okay. Don’t hate it. Don’t love it, either. Do I think she’s a top-50 player? Maybe. Maybe. Do I project her to be top-50 this season? Again, she’s coming off the bench. I don’t know. I’m okay with that.
NaLyssa Smith 48 is a… You know what? The shape NaLyssa Smith looks like she’s in right now means she might end up being a top-50 player. She has never been a top-50 player in her career. And there’s always been potential for that. That being said, if she reaches her potential, maybe 48. I think it’s jumping the gun a little bit, but I didn’t think she was terrible for the Aces.
DeWanna Bonner 47. Predicting her to be the 47th best player this season is a bit wild, isn’t it? You shouldn’t really be using historical precedents to predict this season. But 47 is a bit crazy.
Layshia Clarendon 46, way too low. Way too low. Slightly reduced role. I don’t think you understand. She literally leads second in the league in true shooting percentage. She doesn’t need a role. She’s legitimately one of the best role players in the league.
Wheeler as a backup point guard for the Sparks at 45. 45 is kind of crazy, especially when it’s one spot. Wheeler is not going to be as important as Fiebrich.
Nneka and Shakira Austin at 44, really? Really, that feels low when you’ve got Wheeler at 45. But again, we’ll see how it goes.
DiJonai Carrington, she’s not going to play this season. She’s still in a boot. She might not play until August, September, post World Cup break. What she’s going to be when she’s back…
Brittney Griner 42. I don’t know. I don’t know how many minutes she’s going to play. I think it’s a bit high.
Jordan Canada 41. Yeah, I think this is very high. Have they put six Atlanta Dream players in the top 50?
Tip Hayes Golden State Valks. She is getting older. Don’t hate it.
Izzy Harrison at 39. She’s injured most of the year.
Kayla Thornton 38. I think last season might have been a fluke. The team literally got no better when she left, or no worse when she left.
Azurá A’ja Wilson 37. Okay. I’m actually all right with Azurá A’ja Wilson 37.
Kiki Iriafen 36. This feels low. This feels low for an All-Star going into year two. Unless you’re saying, “Okay, the Mystics are going to stink,” which I don’t think that’s what they’re saying. 36 feels very low.
Veronica Burton 35. That feels really low. That feels real low. I thought she was snubbed for an All-W spot. I thought that second team spot between her and Paige, I thought Burton should have got it, to be honest.
Is Laila Clarendon not on this list? And Aliyah Edwards not on this list? Or am I going crazy?
Kamilla Cardoso at 34. I’m going to be real here. Kamilla Cardoso has looked genuinely garbage in preseason. Looked genuinely garbage. I hope she picks it up, but she looked real bad.
Alanna Smith 33. Again, it feels a little bit low, but I really don’t know about that one.
Riquna Williams Jackson at 32. Predicting on the season that Riquna is going to take a lot of shots for Chicago. I’m okay with that, to be honest. But we’re going to see five Chicago Sky players in the top 50, and only three Fever players.
Marina Mabrey 30. You know what? Marina Mabrey is going to get a lot of shots up for Toronto. So maybe predicting her at 31 makes sense.
Brianna Jones at 30. No one knows when she’s back. No one has a clue when she’s going to come back. So it’s a bit of a tough one.
29 feels real low for Sonya Citron. She was an All-Star last year as a rookie, averaging 15 a game, and now has a bigger role with no Brittney Sykes. That feels way too low.
Not lower than Sykes. Not lower than Jewell Lloyd. Is Kennedy Carter going to be higher than this? Kennedy Carter has to be higher than Jewell Lloyd.
Aerial Atkins for the Sparks. So, the Sparks have four of their starting five ranked 26 and higher. Aerial Atkins at 26 above Sonya Citron. I don’t know.
Courtney Williams 25. Gabby Williams 24. Fair enough. I think Gabby Williams will have a bit better of a season than that, to be fair.
Kayla McBride 23. Yeah, I’m okay with that.
Angel Reese 22. All right. I think this might be a bit low for Angel, but within a couple of spots.
Angel Reese, I’m going to be real here. What Angel Reese has done to Dearica Hamby whenever they face off against each other might violate the Geneva Convention. If you ever watch Angel Reese’s averages against the Sparks for her career are something like 18 and 17. It’s something stupid like that. I think she had one 20-point game. I think it’s like 18 and 17, not 18 and 19.
I think she’s lost to the Sparks once in her career. She hit a three against the Sparks and had 24 on a bad wrist as a rookie. There is no world in which Dearica Hamby is going to be having a more impactful season. And again, Dearica Hamby is the most empty stats player in the world. You might as well call her E Erica Hamby, because the defense is definitely optional with her.
Arike at 20. Okay. I see you. Arike at 20.
Skylar Diggins 19. Okay. Fair enough.
Jonquel 18. She’s dropped a lot. She was like six last year. She’s got hurt. She was near the top of the MVP race and then got hurt.
Chelsea Gray 17. She was pretty bad last year. And she was pretty bad for Team USA. I think this might be a bit high. I wouldn’t put her above Angel.
Nneka 16. That again feels low.
Satou 15 after the super concussion and becoming the fourth option on a team? I don’t predict Satou to average more than like 13 or 14 a game. How bad did she end the season? She was averaging like 21 points a game at one stage.
That is so low, A’ja Wilson. That is so low. That is so, so low for A’ja Wilson. Oh my god. 14. How exactly is a player who came off a season where she got robbed of an Unrivaled MVP, is in the shape of her life, and is now shooting the three ball off the back of being voted as one of the top 10 players in the WNBA last year, gone down four spots as a prediction?
Rhyne Howard, 13. The idea of Rhyne Howard is better than the player of Rhyne Howard.
Kahleah Copper, 12. She was terrible last year. She was terrible. She was the offensive centerpiece for the Mercury. What are we talking about? She was awful last season. She got a 30-point game in a meaningless game for the final while 3-0 down.
So, Kelsey Mitchell, off the back of an All WNBA First Team season, somehow goes down to 11. Somehow goes down to 11. This is genuinely one of the most disrespectful things we have seen.
Kelsey Mitchell, after an All WNBA First Team season. And by the way, Rookie of the Year All WNBA First Team in 2024, who they have at number 10? A one-season wonder Allisha Gray. One-season wonder Allisha Gray is above Kelsey Mitchell. What are we doing? One-season wonder Allisha Gray because she finished one spot above Kelsey Mitchell in MVP voting last year?
So, Caitlin Clark at 10. This is one of the most disrespectful rankings I’ve ever seen because Sabrina Ionescu is ahead of Caitlin Clark. Sabrina Ionescu stunk it up in the playoffs last year.
While Caitlin was injured, fair enough. Sabrina stunk it up in the playoffs last year, was injured the entire offseason. It says here injuries limited to 13 games. She was still named an All-Star. So she’s down at 10 because she got injured.
But it’s very clear on this list that currently being injured is irrelevant. As Breanna Stewart is currently in and around where she should be, who’s currently injured. No one knows when she’s coming back. DiJonai Carrington might not be back this season and is way higher than she should be at 43.
So it’s very clear from ESPN that currently suffering a bad injury is not being taken into account while ranking these players. But getting injured a year ago is good enough to drop you six spots on this list. She was ranked four last year.
So, a player with double ankle surgery didn’t play, I can guarantee you is probably still top two in Napheesa Collier. Who, by the way, again was number three last year on this list. They had Stewie ahead of her. She was number three last year on the list and since then has had double ankle surgery and hasn’t ran in seven months.
But Caitlin Clark, because she got injured a year ago, is now down at number 10. Make it make sense. Make it make sense, ESPN. Make it make sense. This is ridiculous. This is absolutely ridiculous.
And by the way, all of them have been snubbed. You know when people are like, “Oh, the Indiana Fever have three of the top 10 players. They should be doing well.” Ironically, according to ESPN, the Indiana Fever barely have one top-10 player. They’re this close to not having any top-10 players. They barely have a top-10 player.
Based on ESPN, only three top-50 players compared to six for Atlanta. Six top-50 players for New York. Five for the Aces. The Storm have four. The Wings have three. The Mystics have three. We’re in the category of the Mystics.
KELSEY PLUM OVER CAITLIN CLARK? THEY WERE LAST PLACE BEFORE JULIE ALLEMAND SHOWED UP. She played every game last year pretty much and her team was in last place for a large chunk of the season.
Kelsey Plum over Kelsey Mitchell? I think in a vacuum you could argue Kelsey Plum’s a better player than Kelsey Mitchell, but Kelsey Plum doesn’t even have a point guard on her team. Erica Wheeler? Who’s not even a starter? I just don’t know.
Paige at eight. I actually don’t mind Paige at eight. Paige should be around eight. Paige six through eight. I’m actually okay with that. Paige should probably be somewhere between six and eight. She should be fighting for an All-W First Team spot. If she stays healthy, a lock for an All-W Team spot, should be fighting for first team.
So, her ability to become a top-five player will determine how she can elevate a Dallas Wings team. So, Paige Bueckers, if she’s able to get the Dallas Wings to the playoffs, she’s a top-five player.
But Caitlin Clark, who was the reason why the Fever got to where they were in the first place, and their record without Caitlin Clark wouldn’t have made the playoffs last year, their record with Caitlin Clark was the third seed, she’s 10.
Allisha Gray at seven is wild. She had a great year. Still wild.
Sabrina is the most overrated player in women’s basketball history. Despite foot, toe, and neck injuries that lingered all season, forced to miss six games, she equaled her career-high scoring average during the 2024 championship run.
She was literally one of the worst players in the playoffs. She had zero points in the fourth quarter of playoffs. Sabrina Ionescu is the most overrated player in the WNBA.
She had zero fourth-quarter points. She had 16 points on 18 shots in game one. And this is a scorer. She then had nine points on 13 shots in game two and then zero in the fourth quarter of a game three that she did play well in up to the fourth.
And she ended the season on a streak of 11 straight games 18 points or under. She had an 11-game streak to end the season where the Liberty went 6-5 to end the season and Sabrina averaged under 15 points per game.
Jackie Young, five. Don’t agree. Especially as a prediction coming into this season, I just don’t agree.
Breanna Stewart, four. Behind Alyssa Thomas. I think this is one of the opposite ones. Breanna Stewart learned how to shoot again. She’s figured out how to shoot. I’d put her at two, especially because Fee’s just had double ankle surgery.
Napheesa Collier at three? There’s no logic for Fee at three. There’s actually no logic for Fee at three. Because if you are assuming she’s healthy, she’s two. If you are assuming, like most people should, that a person who’s just had surgeries to both their ankles and has not ran in seven months is probably not going to have the greatest season in the world, you’re looking at her closer to eight to 10.
There’s no logic for her at three. Either she’s healthy and good to go and you put her at two, or she’s not healthy and you don’t put her anywhere near three. Because a not healthy Napheesa Collier is not as good as definitely a healthy Caitlin Clark.
Alyssa Thomas is two. She’s a bulldozer. Apparently, the referees are going to call a little bit more, which means she might struggle.
And A’ja at one, I don’t really care. But if we’re being real here, the Indiana Fever having three players in the top 50 is madness. In my opinion, especially like Aliyah Boston below Rhyne Howard is wild.
They predict the Dream to be the best team in the league based on these rankings. And they’re not going to be.
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