🕙 Layup Lines: One win away

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

• Kind of hard to believe that this could be the last day of the 2025 season — seems like just a couple weeks ago that the Aces were floundering around .500.

This 474 word newsletter should take about 2 minutes to read.

🎰 One win away

• Las Vegas is going to win its third Finals in four years and cement its modern dynasty — it’s just a matter of whether Phoenix can win tonight to stave off the inevitable.

• Game 4 starts at 8pm ET on ESPN. If the Aces need a Game 5, it’s Sunday at 3pm on ABC.

• The Mercury will be without star forward and leading scorer Satou Sabally, who was diagnosed with a concussion after taking a brutal hit to the head on Wednesday (more on that below).

  • The absence could be crushing for a team that has gotten almost nothing in the Finals out of anyone not named Thomas, Sabally, Copper or Bonner.

  • Nate Tibbetts has been out-coached in this Finals — ESPN writes that “So far, every button (Becky) Hammon has pushed has worked” — and will have to figure out how to make up for Sabally’s absence for this game to be competitive.

  • We could see a lot more of defensive-minded forward Natasha Mack, or Tibbetts might just have to pray Kathryn Westbeld and Sami Whitcomb (combined 2-19 on 3-pointers in the Finals) remember how to shoot.

• For the degens, we’re 13-14 in the playoffs and taking:

  • Las Vegas -3

  • Over 163 total points scored

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🤕 Take of the day

• Watching Satou Sabally essentially get dragged off the court instead of put into a wheelchair or stretcher after being thrown headfirst into an opponent’s knee was brutal to watch in the moment, and looks even worse now after her concussion diagnosis.

  • You don’t need to be a doctor or even someone who watches medical dramas to know that a person who can’t stand up 10 minutes after hitting their head needs to have their neck stabilized and shouldn’t be walking.

  • It’s another terrible look for the league that brings up more conversations about player safety and priorities during a week where we should all just be talking about basketball. This is basic stuff and Phoenix needs to reevaluate its training staff.

👜 Graphic to go

• Hammon’s contract runs through the end of 2026, but expect her to get a big extension this off-season…and if she doesn’t, the rumors about her becoming the first woman to coach an NBA team will start swirling.

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