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 most anticipated WNBA Draft in recent memory has come and gone. Once again, it was a franchise-changing day for the Indiana Fever, who drafted Caitlin Clark. Meanwhile, several teams made meaningful investments in their futures while others fine-tuned in their pursuit of a championship in the near term.

Let’s take a look at how well each team accomplished its goals in the 2024 WNBA Draft. The grades are a little bit higher across the board than last year, but this was a better pool of players. I’m allowing for some optimism.

Nyadiew Puoch (12), Isabel Borlase (20), Matilde Villa (32)

The Dream made three international selections, all of whom are 19 years old, and none of whom project to play in the WNBA during the 2024 season. As such, it’s hard to say if Atlanta addressed any of its needs because by the time these players come over, the roster could look dramatically different. Big picture, Puoch and Borlase were rated as first-round talents by the general managers The Athletic surveyed, so to pick up both with only one first-round pick is good value. But the Dream have a chance to get better right now with Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray rating among the better perimeter duos in the league, and they punted on a chance for immediate improvement, even if this trio of…

NEW YORK — Caitlin Clark was anxious moments before WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert voiced the most predictable news of Monday night’s 2024 WNBA Draft. With the first pick, the Indiana Fever selected Clark, the Iowa superstar who amassed one of the greatest careers in women’s college basketball history. Fever general manager Lin Dunn said it took “20 seconds, maybe 15” to make Clark the choice. The celebration for Clark lasted far longer than that inside the Brooklyn Academy of Music. As she embraced her family, throngs of fans wearing No. 22 Iowa T-shirts rose to their feet in delight.

Eventually, everyone sat down, but not before a franchise had been changed.

“I can’t imagine a more perfect fit, a better place for me to start my professional career, an organization that really just believes in women’s basketball and wants to do everything the right way,” Clark said.

SEE YOU SOON CAITLIN!! pic.twitter.com/ImbApa6wuC

— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) April 16, 2024

It’s been a whirlwind week for Clark, the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer. In the span of eight days, she walked off the court at the national championship game, appeared on “Saturday Night Live” and shuffled in and out of meetings with league and player association officials in New…

NEW YORK — The WNBA is looking to continue growing in the next few years. The league intends to reach 16 teams by 2028, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said before the draft, confirming The Athletic report from earlier Monday.

The league announced earlier this year that the Bay Area would receive an expansion team for a 13th league franchise, which is expected to start playing the 2025 season. The WNBA is looking at the 2026 season for its 14th team, Engelbert said. She named Philadelphia; Toronto; Portland, Ore.; Denver; Nashville, Tenn.; and South Florida as places the league is exploring as options. Charlotte, N.C., is also in consideration for the next team, sources with knowledge of the league’s plans told The Athletic.

“We’re talking to a lot of different cities,” Engelbert said. “I think I’ve thrown out names before. It’s complex because you need an arena and a practice facility and player housing and all the things, you need committed long-term ownership groups. The nice thing is we’re getting a lot of calls.”

The WNBA was close to bringing a team to Portland. The city was in strong consideration this fall, but those plans fell through during talks with the prospective ownership group.

Engelbert didn’t put a timeline on when the league would decide on…

So what now?

That’s the big, media-centric question for women’s college basketball. Where does the sport go after the head-spinning viewership figures for the national championship game? South Carolina’s 87-75 win over Iowa on April 7 averaged 18.9 million viewers, the most-viewed women’s college basketball game ever and the most-viewed college basketball game (men’s or women’s) on record for an ESPN platform. The audience was up 90 percent over the 2023 national championship (9.9 million for LSU’s win over Iowa) and 289 percent from 2022 (4.9 million viewers for South Carolina’s win over UConn). The game peaked at 24 million viewers on ABC and ESPN during the final 15 minutes.

The 2024 NCAA Women’s Final Four was the most-viewed on record, averaging 13.8 million viewers. Those numbers included 14.4 million viewers for Iowa-UConn (the second-most-watched women’s college game on record) and 7.2 million viewers for N.C. State and South Carolina. The tournament overall (57 games) across ESPN platforms averaged 2.2 million viewers, up 121 percent from 2023. It’s the most-watched women’s NCAA Tournament since ESPN acquired exclusive rights in 1996.

To put the South Carolina-Iowa viewership in perspective, the game topped:

• Every World Series game since Game…