🤠 Layup Lines: Pa-rike!

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

• How are you celebrating Cameron Brink making her season debut tonight?

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

Wings finally look the part

• Now this is the dominant version of the Dallas backcourt that people were expecting when the Wings took Paige Bueckers No. 1 overall in the 2025 Draft.

  • Arike Ogunbowale and Bueckers were largely unguardable in a dominant win over the Liberty by combining for 40 points, 18 assists and four steals. More games like that and the Wings feel much better about their future heading into another top 3 pick in 2026.

• It was also nice to see Skylar Diggins put up a triple double to help the Storm bounce back for a dominant win over the Sun.

• In terms of our picks, we missed the under in the first game by a half a point but also hit the over in the second via four free throws in the last minute. On days like that, going 1-1 feels just fine.

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Today’s games

• We’re 67-69 this season with $545 of our initial $1,000 budget remaining to wager.

• There are three games today — Golden State @ Atlanta (7:30pm ET, League Pass), Chicago @ Washington (7:30pm, League Pass) and Las Vegas @ Los Angeles (10pm, NBA TV). We’re going to take two of them:

  • The Valkyries on the road and without Kayla Thornton are an easy fade right now.

    • Bet: Atlanta -8, $50 to win $47.

  • The Sparks are the hottest offensive team in the league and while Cam Brink will raise their defensive ceiling, she’s going to be rusty in her first game in 13 months. Plus, the Aces are playing their fourth road game in six days and when they lose, they tend to lose big — so we’re adjusting the line.

    • Bet: Las Vegas / Los Angeles over 175 total points scored, $50 to win $45.

    • Bet: Sparks -7.5, $50 to win $150.

Take to go

• Even before Layup Lines, I’ve been wondering if the on-court talent in women's basketball is getting better every year and how much that will help the WNBA continue to grow.

• To get this kind of Bueckers season right after Caitlin Clark in 2024 shows that we’re already here.

  • The rookie is less than four months removed from her last college game and is still the only player this season to rank in the Top 10 in points, assists and steals per game.

• With a good 2026 rookie class and a completely loaded one in 2027, the talent level is just going to keep rising.

Layup Lines is written 100% by a human being with visual assistance from AI tools. I very much appreciate you reading and will see you back here tomorrow.

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor