🤯 Layup Lines: Four more days

Plus, some MVP drama.

Author

Everett Cook
September 08, 2025

In partnership with

Happy Monday and welcome back to Layup Lines, your quick recap of what’s going on in the WNBA.

  • The sun is shining and the regular season somehow ends on Thursday. What a summer!

This 441 word newsletter should take less than 2 minutes to read.

👀 Remaining playoff drama

  • I no longer find the race for 8th between the underachieving Storm or Sparks interesting. Both teams are vet heavy and should be embarrassed about how this season has gone. But, in theory, one of them will be playing the Lynx in the first round.

  • After Phoenix unexpectedly lost to Connecticut on Saturday, there is still a ton of drama at the top of the standings. Vegas and Atlanta are a game up on the Mercury, which means playing Golden State or Indiana instead of the defending champion Liberty.

    • In a best-of-three first round where two bad games get you bounced, that’s a big deal.

Thanks to 1440 Media for sponsoring this newsletter.

Looking for unbiased, fact-based news? Join 1440 today.

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.

📺 Today’s games

  • After tossing our good vibes into the garbage disposal to go 0-2 on Saturday, we’re now 86-101 this season and have $53 remaining to wager.

  • There’s one measly game today — Connecticut @ Atlanta (7:30pm ET, League Pass).

    • The Sun are much better than their 11 wins and are still playing hard, but the Dream need a win and tend to score in bunches in these spots.

      • Bet: Atlanta / Connecticut over 159 total points scored, $50 to win $44.

🗞 Good reads from around the league

🥇 MVP update to go

  • Two weeks ago, I gave a definitive take that Napheesa Collier was 100% going to be the 2025 MVP. Well…

    • A’ja Wilson, who was a whopping +10,000 to win the award as recently as the end of July, is now the odds-on favorite to take home her fourth MVP trophy. The odds shifted dramatically after the Aces beat the Lynx last week, but they’ve been moving steadily during Las Vega’s 14-game win streak.

    • I personally still think Collier deserves it for the entire season of work — the Aces were really bad for the first half of the season — but these stats are wild.

👑 If she does win, Wilson would set a record for the most WNBA MVPs in a career. She just turned 29. Sheeeeeeeeesh.

Courtesy @LVAces

Layup Lines is written 100% by a human being. I very much appreciate you reading and will see you back here tomorrow.

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor