The WNBA is already full speed ahead into the second half of the season, and it is going to be a sprint to the finish. Regular-season action ends in exactly one month, with each team packing 12-14 games in the final stretch.

As players re-acclimate to following the Olympic break and make one last push for the postseason, here is a look at which teams I project will make the playoffs as well as a to-do list for each team to focus on to be in the best possible position come playoff time.

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Playoff-bound

1. New York Liberty

Stay the course

The Liberty remind me of the Aces at this point last season. New York is the best team in the league, and a couple of bad games or a bad week won’t change that, just as an August swoon for Las Vegas didn’t prevent the Aces from repeating as champs. It will be interesting to see if the Liberty choose to chase the single-season wins record of 34, set by the Aces last year. New York can also tie the best winning percentage of all-time — the Houston Comets won 90 percent of their games in 1998 — by winning out, but that might be a Pyrrhic victory if the Liberty tire themselves out and don’t cap off the season with a ring. Just ask the 2016 Golden State Warriors.

The bag was DEEP and the Libs closed the West Coast tour out the right way

PHOENIX — At halftime of Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game, Arike Ogunbowale received a bit of a surprise. Team WNBA coach Cheryl Miller was talking about the group’s first half performance — which saw it enter the locker room trailing by two points — but paused amid her comments and pointed at the Dallas Wings star. Ogunbowale said Miller told her to “take a deep breath and play your game.”

Coming out of the locker room, Ogunbowale did. The former league scoring champion collected all of her All-Star Game-record 34 points in the second half.

“You guys saw what happened,” she said, reflecting on how she took Miller’s advice to heart.

Ogunbowale’s scoring barrage saw her claim her second All-Star MVP and will go down as the most memorable performance of the night. But there were plenty of other moments that delighted the sellout Phoenix crowd during Team WNBA’s 117-109 victory.

Here’s a breakdown and grade for every player who participated.

Team WNBA

Starters

Nneka Ogwumike: B+

Ogwumike was among the tone-setters for Team WNBA. She got off to a fast start — with 1:35 left in the first quarter, she had scored what was then a game-high 8 points. Her 14 points were the third-most of any Team WNBA participant and she missed only two shots.

DeWanna Bonner: B-

Bonner…

In the midst of the most highly touted WNBA rookie class in recent memory, or perhaps league history, I’ve been a bit negligent on spotlighting the veterans in 2024. Rather than focus on the WNBA’s newest entrants, let’s take a look at the opposite side of the coin as we head into the midseason break: the 40 players in the league who are at least 30 years old.

First, one caveat: This group excludes players who are already All-Stars or Olympians. A quick hat tip to DeWanna Bonner, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Dearica Hamby, Jonquel Jones, Jewell Loyd, Kayla McBride, Nneka Ogwumike, Diana Taurasi and Alyssa Thomas. They’ve already received recognition. With that in mind, here is my All-30-and-Older team.

At point guard, Natasha Cloud. In her first season in Phoenix, Cloud is posting the best 2-point percentage of her career, along with her highest assists, blocks and steals per game. The 32-year-old guard is the fulcrum of the Mercury’s unique defensive approach, as she guards the point of attack and the post, and she allows Phoenix to play without a traditional power forward because she can defend fours. When the Mercury missed three starters against the Sparks last week, Cloud stepped in as the No. 1 offensive option, scoring a career-high 31 points, including the…

The 2024 WNBA All-Star Game rosters are set with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese making their debuts in the annual showcase later this month.

Clark, the No. 1 pick by the Indiana Fever in this year’s WNBA Draft, received the most votes in the fan-voting portion of the balloting. Having already won Rookie of the Month in May, she is leading all first-year players in scoring (16.2 points per game), assists (6.9 per game), and is second league-wide in 3-pointers made (56).

On Tuesday, Reese, the No. 7 pick to the Chicago Sky, was named Rookie of the Month for June. This past weekend, she set a single-season WNBA record for consecutive double-doubles (10), and she led the WNBA in rebounding entering Tuesday night’s action. Like Clark, Reese finished in the top five of the fan vote.

The countdown begins…

Get ready to witness the ultimate clash of talent as #WNBAAllStar meets the USA Women’s National Team on July 20th at 8:30pm/ET on ABC pic.twitter.com/oEyJciHmEx

— WNBA (@WNBA) July 3, 2024

The two rookies are the only two first-time participants in the exhibition, which is set for July 20 in Phoenix.

“I’m just so happy. I know the work I put in,” Reese said. “Coming into this league, so many people doubted me, didn’t think my game would translate and I…

The Athletic has launched a new series of sports debates in which two writers break down a specific topic. In this WNBA edition, Sabreena Merchant and Ben Pickman consider the candidates for their All-Star ballots.

Ben Pickman: It’s that time of the year again when we think about who should make the WNBA All-Star Game. The annual exhibition is scheduled for July 20, with fan voting set to end Saturday. Sabreena, we both have official media ballots, which are due Friday. So let’s inevitably upset some people about where our heads are at for who should be in Phoenix. How’s that sound?

Sabreena Merchant: I’m more of a Commissioner’s Cup gal myself, but during Olympic years, the All-Star Game does take on a different level of intrigue because Team USA plays a roster of the *other* All-Stars in the WNBA. When I was putting together my initial ballot of who should make Team WNBA, I found myself drawn to which players create the best storylines competing against the national team.

Pickman: Already we have a difference of opinion as that didn’t cross my mind at all, though I guess maybe it should have considering this is an exhibition for the fans. When I was putting together my ballot, I tended not to think about Team USA at all, frankly. The exercise we’re tasked with…

The Athletic has launched a new series of sports debates in which two writers break down a specific topic. In this WNBA edition, Sabreena Merchant and Ben Pickman discuss the league’s rivalries.

Ben Pickman: Sabreena, did you know it was rivalry weekend last weekend in the WNBA? A stretch in which the league scheduled matchups, or at least markets, that are actual rivalries. Let’s use that as a jumping off point for this week’s conversation. Was there a rivalry game last week that caught your attention?

Sabreena Merchant: If you’re referring to Skylar Diggins-Smith’s first return to Phoenix, absolutely. I’d argue that prior to 2023, when Sue Bird retired, the Storm-Mercury games had a good run as the best rivalry in the WNBA. The 2018 semifinals: What a time!

Pickman: I think the recent Storm-Aces playoff series rivaled (no pun intended) that, too. I guess we’ll see what happens now, though, with Seattle and Phoenix.

Let’s really jump in, though, with another rivalry that some key participants —notably Indiana Fever coach Christie Sides — say has been around for a few years: Fever-Sky.

Merchant: Enlighten me, Ben. Prior to the arrival of this rookie class, when have Chicago-Indiana games been hotly contested?

Pickman: Well, I assume geography plays into it, and…

The U.S. women’s basketball roster was officially announced Tuesday, and in six weeks, the 12 players will go after a record eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal. With seven players who’ve already appeared on Team USA (and an additional two who were on the three-on-three team, known as 3×3, the last time around), this is an experienced group that enters the Games as the favorite.

Experience and maturity are only heightened considering the roster skews toward players in their late 20s; the youngest players are 26 and Diana Taurasi at 42 is the oldest. Unlike previous iterations of Olympic rosters, no recent college grads were included. Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark’s exclusion from the roster has been the subject of much debate, and reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston also wasn’t selected.

The next chapter in The Greatest Dynasty Ever.

The 2024 USA Women’s National Team is here.

#USABWNT x #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/BdDki5De5O

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) June 11, 2024

With 12 versatile, slightly older players, coach Cheryl Reeve has plenty of flexibility with lineups and rotations, similar to how the defensive-oriented coach operates with her Minnesota Lynx squad. She is known for getting the most out of her players, orchestrating…

The Connecticut Sun are back to their winning ways.

After suffering their first regular-season loss to the New York Liberty on Saturday, the Sun responded in dominant fashion, routing the Indiana Fever 89-72. Indiana had a brief lead at 7-5, but Connecticut gained control with a DeWanna Bonner 3-pointer and didn’t trail for the final 37 minutes.

This was the third meeting of the year between the Sun and the Fever, and there was some hope on Indiana’s side that the young Fever were closing the gap after turning a 21-point loss on opening night into a four-point defeat one week later. Instead, the margin between the two teams has increased again, with Connecticut firmly in championship contention and Indiana fighting to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

The Fever came into this matchup with a little momentum, having won two of their previous three games. But they put up a defensive stinker, falling behind by 20 points in the first half as they allowed the Sun to shoot 61 percent from the field and 6 of 8 on 3-pointers. Connecticut let go of the rope in the second half after the lead crested to 28, but the Sun still had five players finish with at least 10 points and had 22 assists to 10 turnovers.

Even as Connecticut raced out to a 9-0 record, coach Steph White…

The sun has set on Connecticut’s undefeated start to the 2024 season.

In a rematch of last year’s WNBA semifinals, the New York Liberty won their fourth consecutive matchup against the Sun, this one an 82-75 win on the road at Mohegan Sun Arena. It was the Sun’s first loss of the year after starting the season 9-0, the seventh team in WNBA history to do so.

Now the Liberty are winners of six in a row and claimed a key victory over the rival Sun for the Commissioner’s Cup qualifying.

New York was led by Jonquel Jones, the former Connecticut MVP, who had 22 points, including nine in the fourth quarter as the Liberty outscored the Sun by 10 in the final period to earn the victory. Jones had a game-high four 3-pointers, clearing the paint for the New York guards, in particular Sabrina Ionescu.

Jones continued to torment her former team and was the best player on both ends of the floor. She had a versatile offensive attack, sprinkling in four 3-pointers and five buckets in the restricted area to go along with five assists. Her ability to space the floor allowed her to face up and find cutters, and that extra bit of playmaking was key for a Liberty offense missing starting point guard Courtney Vandersloot.

COAST 2️⃣ COAST @jus242 pic.twitter.com/xl0oXYSDfy

— New York…

CHICAGO — It was late in the third quarter when Angel Reese found herself on the ground again, locked in a losing battle under the basket with veteran power forward Alyssa Thomas.

Before Saturday’s game — her long-awaited, regular-season home debut — Reese said she was excited to play against Thomas, a skilled, bruising post player she used to watch at the University of Maryland.

And even after getting choke-slammed to the ground by Thomas as they tangled for a rebound late in the third quarter — a play that earned Thomas the heave-ho with a flagrant-2 foul — Reese wasn’t changing her tune following the undefeated Connecticut Sun’s 86-82 win over Chicago at Wintrust Arena.

“It’s no hard feelings to A.T.,” she said. “Obviously, I know she purposely, probably, didn’t do it towards me, but just being able to come out there and just be strong and stand on two feet, it was going to be a tough game and that’s what I’m built for. And my teammates had my back throughout the whole game. So I was prepared for it.”

Alyssa Thomas was ejected after a hard foul on Angel Reese. pic.twitter.com/CxJNDkfePd

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 26, 2024

A rookie getting abused by a veteran they once idolized? A tale as old as basketball. But Reese, who had 13 points…