Layup Lines: Now this is living

Six WNBA games tonight for the last round of the Commissioner’s Cup!

Author

Everett Cook
June 17, 2025

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Layup Lines, your quick recap of what’s going on in the WNBA. We missed you yesterday without any games, but the league is making up for it with six tonight.

This 496 word newsletter should take about 2 minutes to read.

Today’s games

  • We’re 34-27 this season with a $287 profit off an initial $1,000 budget.

  • Surely five of tonight’s six games don’t start within an hour of each other, right? Nope! We’ve got Connecticut @ Indiana (7:00pm, NBATV), Atlanta @ New York (7:00pm), Washington @ Chicago (8:00pm), Golden State @ Dallas (8:00pm), Las Vegas @ Minnesota (8:00pm) and Seattle @ Los Angeles (10:00pm, NBA TV).

  • It’s the last round of the Commissioner’s Cup before the July 1 championship and we’re going to hit four of these games:

    • This is a stupid amount of points, but the Sun have lost four of their last seven by more than 20.

      • Bet: Fever -17.5, $50 to win $46.

    • I get that the motivated Liberty are coming off their first loss of the season, but the Dream need this win to make the Cup final.

      • Bet: Atlanta +8.5, $50 to win $46.

    • The Wings should not be favored against anyone.

      • Bet: Golden State +4, $50 to win $44.

    • The Sparks are down to two healthy guards.

      • Bet: Seattle -9.5, $50 to win $45.

Quote of the day

“We’re a team of sixth women. We’ve come from different teams around the league and we know what it takes to be great teammates, and we know what it takes to step up and do what we need to do for the team to succeed. So whoever leaves, it’s gonna be fine. Someone’s gonna step up.”

Golden State center Temitope Fagbenle

  • The expansion Valks just lost Fagbenle to EuroBasket, their fourth contributor to leave for the tournament. So tonight should be Golden State’s biggest test of the season, but with the way this team is constructed under early coach of the year candidate Natalie Nakase, it might not matter.

Nakase and Kayla Thornton via @trendyhoopstars

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Navel gaze of the day

  • Multiple readers recently told me it’s good for “brand awareness” to advertise when I’m hot. To me, it feels wrong to point out that I’m 8-2 over my last 10 picks. Or 15-5 over the last 20. Or that we’re up $287 after being down for all of May. Who needs the jinx?

  • But this is also my first time making picks publicly. We’re a team now. Let’s just recognize that I’m not hitting at this rate all season.

Thanks for reading Layup Lines. You don’t need to bet for odds to be interesting, but if you do, please do so responsibly. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor