- 5/18/2025
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00:00Only two days away from the start of the 2025 season in the WNBA.
00:06After a historic 2024, the W rides the momentum into 2025.
00:11So to get you set with a season primer,
00:14two days out from the tip of the regular season with three games on a Friday night,
00:19Myles Ehrlich joins us here on the Early Line.
00:22Senior WNBA rider for Winsider covering the league and the New York Liberty.
00:26He is here on this Wednesday to set the stage for everything.
00:30The new updates for this new season.
00:33And of course, the overall scope of this campaign in the W.
00:37Myles, as always, we appreciate the time.
00:39Thanks for being here bright and early on this Wednesday.
00:43Thanks for having me.
00:44I'm so excited to talk W.
00:45I feel like all week, this is the tough spot when you finish the preseason games
00:49and you haven't started the regular season games.
00:51So I'm ready to make these games count.
00:54Opening weekend, just two days away.
00:56A triple header on Friday, a marquee triple header on Saturday afternoon and evening as well.
01:02We'll get to the games.
01:03We'll get to the stars in just a moment.
01:05But Myles, let's start with the storylines in what is new this year in the WNBA.
01:11There's a new expansion franchise in the Golden State Valkyries
01:15that will play their home games inside the Chase Center in San Francisco.
01:19There is a new length of this WNBA regular season, 44 games up from 40 a season ago.
01:27The WNBA finals will now be a best of seven series.
01:31Last year, it was a best of five.
01:33Of all of those new upgrades, Myles Ehrlich, to you, what stands out the most?
01:37What is one of the main storylines you are following entering 2025?
01:41Oh, that's tough because all of those are great, but I have to go with the longer final series.
01:47We needed more games of Liberty Lynx last year.
01:50I think it's cool to look around the league and just see the growth.
01:54Obviously, when you think about the potential CBA changing, you have to think about some of these other things like expansion and the expansion of the season length itself.
02:03But the postseason games, that's where all the juice is.
02:07That's what we're fighting for.
02:08That's what every team is pushing towards.
02:10So let's get as many of those games as possible.
02:13And also having some fun looking at superstars entering into the league.
02:17Last year, taking the league by storm certainly was Kaitlin Clark.
02:19This year, Paige Beckers gets drafted into the league.
02:22What are the expectations this year after we saw a really successful rookie season for Kaitlin Clark?
02:27Yeah, I mean, historically, rookies have struggled, especially from the guard position, and that was until Kaitlin Clark came along.
02:37And obviously, she had some turnover issues early, but she really did her thing.
02:41She set the assist record.
02:42And with Paige, she is also incredibly pro-ready.
02:45We know that she's efficient.
02:4753, 42, 89 season at UConn, where she was also among the country's leaders with a 3.5 assist over ratio.
02:55Paige has been ready for a very long time.
02:57And I think there's going to be a little bit of an adjustment with the physicality, maybe with the speed of the game.
03:02But she makes all the right reads.
03:04She's so good about knowing where she can get her shots off.
03:07And I think having Arike in the backcourt with her, encouraging her to take those shots,
03:12and also just as another outlet to keep defenses honest,
03:15that's really going to be smooth sailing from Paige from, I would say, maybe the second, third game when she gets some reps.
03:22One of the first games of this WNBA season in 2025 will be the Dallas Wings hosting the Minnesota Lynx,
03:29a 7.5-point spread in favor of Minnesota, who, of course, battled in a WNBA championship set against the New York Liberty,
03:38a wild fifth and final game, and in overtime, the Liberty winning a WNBA title.
03:44So, Miles, let's start there by looking at those WNBA championship odds for 2025.
03:50The Liberty, the favorites at plus 210.
03:53The Aces, who had won two consecutive WNBA crowns the two prior seasons at plus 360.
03:59The Lynx at plus 370.
04:01And, of course, the Indiana Fever at plus 390.
04:05A huge offseason, not just to see growth from Caitlin Clark after winning rookie of the year in the year number two,
04:11but plenty of additions in Indy.
04:14New head coach Stephanie White and plenty of veterans stack out that starting lineup now for the Fever.
04:21What is the ceiling for Indiana this year in 2025?
04:25I think that the Fever are going to have a lot of internal and external expectations
04:30because they went out and had the offseason that they did,
04:33because Caitlin is just a magnet for all of this coverage.
04:37So, there's going to be a lot of eyeballs on them.
04:39And I think that translates to regular season success for sure.
04:44They're going to be very hungry to make an impression in the regular season,
04:49especially after last year's slow start, which saw them play 11 games in the first 20 games.
04:54Sorry, 11 games in the first 20 days.
04:57So, I think that this year they're going to have a lot of juice on every single regular season matchup.
05:03So, don't be surprised if they finish top two in the standings because they're going to go into every game like it's a postseason game.
05:11If we take a look, too, at the regular season, we always like to see the greatest performers out there
05:16and see who's going to shine the most, which means the MVP race this year.
05:19You take a look at some of the people as well.
05:21Caitlin Clark, no surprise, a plus 200.
05:23Then we see Asia Wilson at a plus 230.
05:25Talk to us about the MVP, which will be a hotly contested market throughout the season here, Miles.
05:30I mean, those are the three names that I would have in there.
05:34Caitlin, Asia, Fee.
05:36They, I think, are pretty far ahead of the rest of the field.
05:40And part of that is just due to the narratives that are going to build around all of them.
05:44And you really need to be a top three, top four team to have a shot at MVP.
05:49And we saw with the first board that these are the teams that are in the mix along with the Liberty.
05:55But I think that the Liberty's talent is a little bit more spread out, so that might be part of it.
05:59But Caitlin, yeah, if she, if they can get into top four, top three, top two, she's going to be a big reason why.
06:06And narratively, that'll definitely link up there.
06:09The links are on a revenge tour.
06:12Fee talked all offseason about how she wasn't happy about game five and how that went down.
06:17That entire series was so tough.
06:19So she went to Unrivaled, the league that she co-created with Brianna Stewart.
06:23And she won MVP there.
06:25She won the one-on-one tournament.
06:27She's just been winning everything on the court since then.
06:30So she's going to come in hungry.
06:32And then Asia Wilson came off of the best WNBA season we've ever seen.
06:37So Asia's got that juice.
06:38The only thing working against her is that she's won three of the last MVPs.
06:42And it's been every other year.
06:44There's definitely a voter fatigue problem with the media and the W.
06:48So she might have a little bit of an uphill climb there.
06:50Yeah, three of the last five, as Miles said, two of the last three, including being the reigning WNBA MVP from a season ago.
06:59A second-round exit as well against the New York Liberty.
07:02It was the Aces getting the better of New York just two seasons ago to claim that WNBA championship.
07:08Plenty more looking forward to the 2025 WNBA season with Miles Ehrlich on the other side of the break.
07:15Come back and join us live right here on the early line.
07:18Live right here on this Wednesday morning on the early line on SportsGrid.
07:22Two days from now, the start of the 2025 WNBA season.
07:26So Miles Ehrlich from Winsider continues to join us here to set the stage for a new season in the W here on this Wednesday.
07:34Miles, you closely cover the New York Liberty, winning the WNBA championship a season ago.
07:40They should be restocked and reloaded entering 2025, and the oddsmakers see it as such.
07:46The Liberty in their title defense, the favorites entering this year at plus 210.
07:52So, Miles, I ask you, as New York gets ready to open the season on Saturday in Brooklyn against the Las Vegas Aces,
08:01what will New York do for an encore in 2025?
08:04So, I think that they should still be the favorites, and that's going to be true until another team is holding that trophy at the end of the season.
08:14New York lost some pieces in the offseason.
08:16They lost Courtney Vandersloot.
08:17Benajah Laney-Hamilton is going to be out for the season with a knee injury,
08:21and Kayla Thornton was selected away in the expansion draft by the Golden State Valkyries.
08:26But they retooled.
08:27They brought in Natasha Cloud, who is a perfect fit for this team.
08:30She brings so much energy off the court, but also on it, her tenacity on defense,
08:35her ability to get downhill, and her determination to get Sabrina back off the ball,
08:41like we saw her two years ago when she set the league record for three-pointers made
08:45and shooting at 42% when she did that.
08:48That's going to be really helpful.
08:50Big role for Rebecca Gardner, who was having an Achilles injury last year.
08:54Maureen Johannes is back.
08:56There's just a lot of pieces to really love here.
08:58And outside of that, the rest of the court returns, so there's going to be some synergy there.
09:03I think that the Liberty might start a little bit slow because they're trying a new thing
09:06with an offense, with their offense.
09:08They're trying a five-out system that is going to be a little bit of a learning curve,
09:13especially when you have to pick your spots for players like John Quill Jones
09:16and Brianna Stewart to duck in.
09:18Niero Saboli will be taking the ball from the perimeter a lot and driving more downhill.
09:23So I think we're going to see a little bit of clunkiness to start,
09:25but they know that the goal is not to be great in May.
09:30The goal is to be great in October.
09:32Absolutely, Miles.
09:33You take a look at the favorites here at the FanDuel Sportsbook,
09:35the New York Liberty at a plus 210 price,
09:37followed by the Aces, the Lynx,
09:38and then there's the Indiana Fever at a plus 390 price.
09:42Obviously, the spotlight always goes towards Kaitlin Clark.
09:45The expectations for you this year for Kaitlin Clark,
09:48and also explain to us what changed in the offseason with the Fever
09:51and maybe the expectations of a championship could be there this year.
09:56The expectations for the Fever go hand-in-hand with those for Kaitlin Clark,
10:00and it's hard to set because she just broke so many records her rookie year.
10:04She was so dominant her rookie year, and I mean, looking at this board,
10:09points per game, assists per game, three-point leader,
10:12all of that coming from one player,
10:14and now you fill out a starting lineup with veterans.
10:17They bring in—well, first of all, they bring back Kelsey Mitchell.
10:19It's probably the biggest move of the offseason for them,
10:22and then that just takes pressure off Kaitlin.
10:24But you bring in Dewana Bonner, who just has so much length
10:28and can just knock down shots from anywhere.
10:31You bring in Natasha Howard, who's a four who has formerly won
10:35a Defensive Player of the Year,
10:36so she can slot in in the frontcourt with Aliyah Boston,
10:38and it's just such an imposing and just terrific starting five.
10:43And I think that that's just players that can help take some of that pressure off of Kaitlin
10:48because there were times last year that teams were bringing two to the ball
10:52just because they knew, okay, Aliyah Boston, this is her first year
10:55playing so much pick and roll.
10:57We can live with Aliyah Boston in the short roll.
11:00Now you can't do that anymore now that she's got more reps under her belt,
11:03and now that you've got such strong cutters,
11:05a lot of good defensive communication coming in there,
11:09I really think that the sky's the limit for the fever this year and for Kaitlin.
11:12Multiple triple-doubles for Kaitlin Clark last year,
11:15the only WNBA rookie to ever have multiple triple-doubles in their rookie campaign.
11:21337 assists in total, the single-season record in WNBA history.
11:27Paige Becker's a minus-370 favorite, as we mentioned,
11:30to win Rookie of the Year.
11:32Miles, of the six games that we have right now on Friday and Saturday,
11:36I ask you a difficult question in this final minute.
11:38What are you most excited for to start off this WNBA season?
11:42I mean, I've got to be a homer here and just say that it's the ring ceremony
11:46happening at Barclays on Saturday.
11:49And I think there's also just that extra little juice, as you guys alluded to,
11:53is the fact that they're playing the Aces, who beat them in the 2023 finals,
11:57and are going to have a little bit of extra.
11:59There's going to be a little bit of mustard in that game, too.
12:01So I have to just look forward to that.
12:03I'll be in the building there at Barclays on Saturday.
12:06And it's just the perfect way to start off the season from a coverage perspective for me.
12:11It really is a five-point spread in favor of the Liberty
12:14as they begin that title defense in Brooklyn on Saturday against the Las Vegas Aces.
12:20Miles Ehrlich, as always, we greatly appreciate the time.
12:23A wonderful job setting the scene for what should be an exciting new season in the WNBA in 2025.
12:28Thanks so much, guys.
12:30Great to talk to you, as always.
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