😮‍💨 Layup Lines: On the road

Happy Friday and welcome back to Layup Lines, your quick recap of what’s going on in the WNBA. It’s going to be a rainy mess this weekend on the East Coast and I’m grateful for the perfect excuse to watch hoops on the couch.

•  I’ll be back in your inbox on Monday!

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🌁 It’s a good day to be a Valks fan

• The Valkyries stormed into Brooklyn last night and spoiled the Liberty debut of Satou Sabally with an emphatic 87-70 win.

  • Golden State’s defense might end up being the strongest side of any contender this season. After holding maybe the best offense in the league to 42% shooting and just six made 3-pointers on Thursday, the Valkyries’ opponents are now averaging just 74.5 points per game.

    • For context, no other team is holding opponents to under 80 right now.

  • Golden State also leads the league in point differential (+9.5). The Gabby Williams signing has so far been just as perfect a fit as expected and we haven’t even seen 2025 No. 5 overall pick Justė Jocytė yet (she’s expected to make her debut soon after playing in Europe).

• It’s still so early, but Golden State is making an argument for joining New York, Vegas and Atlanta in the league’s top tier.

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📺 What’s on this weekend

• Can’t say I love Golden State having to play back-to-back nights, but the Valkyries have another big test tonight vs. the Fever. Caitlin Clark should play after missing Indiana’s last game with a back injury and I’m expecting lots of points against a tired defense (7:30pm ET, ION).

  • Because it makes sense to start both games at the same time, ION is also carrying Atlanta - Dallas at 7:30pm.

• There are some fun games on Saturday — Minnesota @ Chicago at 1pm on CBS, plus the expansion teams, Portland and Toronto, play at 6pm on League Pass.

• Sunday has the best game of the weekend, though, with Paige Bueckers and Dallas coming in to play the Liberty (3:30pm, NBC / Peacock). I’m guessing Sabrina Ionescu makes her season debut and New York plays with its full lineup for the first time this season.

  • *Two bets I like: Golden State / Indiana OVER 168.5 points scored and Minnesota -1.5 vs. Chicago.

  • I am 2-1 in bets I like this season.

🗞️ Good reads from around the league

• Indiana needs to do better by Caitlin Clark (USA Today)

• WNBA faces an odd statistic. Home teams have only won 29% of games (AP)

• Portland Fire waive Haley Jones, Sug Sutton, Kamiah Smalls (KGW8)

• WNBA newcomer impact rankings: Chennedy Carter leads top 10 (ESPN)

• Chicago Sky forward Rickea Jackson out for the season with torn ACL (The Athletic)

🚀 Graphic to go

• This is now a week old, but a soft reminder that the first round of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs saw a nearly 70% increase in TV ratings vs. last year’s audience…and averaged 1.2 million viewers per game.

  • The WNBA is now hitting those numbers for regular season games (that don’t feature Clark) in May.

Layup Lines is written 100% by a human being. I very much appreciate you reading!

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor