🌵 Layup Lines: Magic Mercury

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

• There aren’t any games today, but I needed a newsletter to commemorate a huge Sunday.

This 499 word newsletter should take about 2 minutes to read.

💪 AT continues storybook season

• Alyssa Thomas played the first 11 seasons of her career being right on the doorstep of a title in Connecticut. Now, she’s four wins away from her first title in her first season in Phoenix after knocking off the Lynx last night, 86-81.

  • Thomas is easily the most underrated star in the league and the Mercury, who weren’t fully healthy until the end of the season, really flew under the radar after saying goodbye to franchise cornerstones Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner in the offseason.

    • Remember, the Mercury were underdogs in both series and entered the playoffs as +1600 to win the title. After beating both of last year’s Finals team (New York and Minnesota), Phoenix is close to one of the WNBA’s more improbable titles.

• In the early game, the Fever took advantage of a wild 34-11 advantage in free throws to beat the Aces 90-83.

  • Aliyah Boston has led the WNBA in fouls for two straight years and somehow shot more free throws (13) while being guarded by multi-DPOY winner A’ja Wilson than the entire Aces lineup combined yesterday.

  • If you want to put on a tinfoil hat, the league perhaps wanted a Game 5 back in Vegas and got it (tomorrow @ 9:30pm ET on ESPN2).

• As for our bets, the Lynx covered by a half a point to help us go 1-1 (now 8-11 in the playoffs).

⌛️ What comes next for the Lynx

• Minnesota doesn’t have a single player under contract for next season and will be one of the biggest players in what’s going to be the craziest offseason in league history.

  • All of the Lynx’s main contributors are between 27 - 33 years old, so they can talk themselves into running back as much of the roster as possible to bank on a healthier season. They could also blow it up to build a young core around Napheesa Collier.

💰 Coaching take to go

• As we wrote about when Sandy Brondello was fired, two coaches in the WNBA reportedly make more than $1M per year. Nate Tibbetts now has the Mercury in the Finals in just his second season ever coaching women’s basketball while Becky Hammon has the Aces gunning for their third championship in four years.

  • In a league with a $1.5M salary cap for players and none for coaches, expect the Liberty to pay their next coach extremely well and don’t be surprised if Seattle, Toronto or Portland try and poach a big name from the NBA.

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