🎰 Layup Lines: Game 1

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

• Many of you noticed that I completely botched the subject line of Wednesday’s newsletter. By writing LV vs. ATL, I of course meant LV vs. PHX. This is why we used to have editors instead of just typing into the abyss.

This 486 word newsletter should take about 2 minutes to read.

🏆 Star-heavy Finals

• Game 1 of the 2025 WNBA Finals starts tonight at 8pm on ESPN with a major storyline: Can Las Vegas win a third title in four years and cement itself as the league’s greatest modern dynasty?

  • The Houston Comets won the WNBA’s first four titles, and the closest anyone has gotten to topping that is the Lynx winning four from 2011 - 2017. If the Aces can pull this off, they enter the pantheon.

• On the other side of this star-studded matchup is the Mercury, who moved on from HOF franchise cornerstones to replace them with a big 3 of Alyssa Thomas, Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper that can hang with anyone when healthy.

  • Triple-double machine Thomas is averaging 18.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 9.1 assists and 2 steals per game in the playoffs and has led the Mercury past both of last season’s Finals teams (New York and Minnesota).

• Phoenix’s stars can go toe-to-toe with Las Vegas’ trio of A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray, making the role players on both sides crucial. My X-factors for the second unit:

  • PHX: If 38-year-old DeWanna Bonner can find a two week fountain of youth.

  • LV: If Jewell Loyd can remember how to shoot.

• Two other things to watch:

  • The Finals are best-of-seven for the first time ever, and that’s coming off the league’s longest-ever regular season. Fatigue could be a huge factor.

  • Becky Hammon and Nate Tibbetts are the WNBA’s two highest paid head coaches. Hammon has been here before, but does Tibbetts have some unknown tricks up his sleeve?

📈 The betting angles

• Las Vegas is -135 to win the series and -3.5 tonight despite needing all three games to get past Seattle in round 1 and all five to barely beat Indiana in the semifinals. That seems like too much to start against a physical Mercury team that’s been off since Sunday.

• We’re 9-12 in the playoffs and taking:

  • Phoenix +3.5

  • Over 160 total points scored

🎤 What else we’re watching

• Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is scheduled to speak with the media at 7pm ET tonight, per the league. Does she deny any of the allegations leveled by Napheesa Collier, or does she try to avoid an explosive press conference to keep attention on the game?

🐐 Power couple to go

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