The Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty losing their first games of the season didn’t change the top of ESPN’s WNBA Power Rankings, but it did shake up the Commissioner’s Cup picture.
A week ago, it seemed likely that the Lynx and Liberty would meet in the championship game on July 1, as they did last year. Now, the Atlanta Dream and Indiana Fever — with Caitlin Clark back in the latter lineup after missing five games (quad injury) — have a chance to beat the Liberty to represent the Eastern Conference, while the Seattle Storm face the Lynx for those rights in the Western Conference. And it all comes down to Tuesday’s concluding Cup games.
Let’s start in the East.
If the Dream beat the Liberty on the road, Atlanta will represent the East regardless of whether the Fever beat the Connecticut Sun thanks to Atlanta’s win over Indiana on June 10. If the Dream lose and the Fever win, Indiana and New York would be 4-1 — the Fever would have the tiebreaker as a result of their Cup game victory over the Liberty on Saturday, when Clark returned to…
