Five WNBA storylines to watch this year, from Caitlin Clark to expansion

The new WNBA season tips off this week, and it’s easily the most-anticipated one in the league’s 28-year history.

Whether you’re a new fan excited by new stars or a longtime fan of Philly natives on the court, here are five key storylines:

After becoming a superstar in college, the Indiana Fever rookie starts her pro career with perhaps the biggest spotlight in WNBA history.

That might not be fair to the nearly 30 years of big-time players who came before Clark, and she’d be the first to say so. But there’s no question, even to her critics, that Clark is a big deal and has brought loads of new viewers to the WNBA.

It’s not just that teams coast-to-coast already have sold a slew of tickets for Clark’s visits. Some, such as the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics, have moved games to bigger arenas than their usual homes.

» READ MORE: Dawn Staley knows best: Caitlin Clark and Kamilla Cardoso’s greatest days will come as pros

If you’re a Philly-area fan who wants to watch Clark play in person, these are the dates to circle: May 18 and June 2 at the New York Liberty and June 7 at the Washington Mystics. Indiana also visits D.C. on Sept. 19 to close the regular season, but that game will be at the Mystics’ smaller venue where they play most of the time.

If you can’t travel to watch her in person, it’ll be easier to watch her on TV. Thirty-eight of the Fever’s 40 games will be on the WNBA’s national broadcast platforms: CBS, ABC, ESPN, NBA TV, Amazon’s Prime Video, and ION — a free-to-air TV network that also has a big deal with the NWSL. In Philadelphia, it’s Channel 61 over the air, 799 on Comcast, and 531 on Verizon.

How will Clark fare as a pro? Veteran stars won’t back off her, and you wouldn’t expect them to. But she’s already shown in the preseason that she can raise her game. Along with her scoring, her outstanding passing skills can get the ball to Aliyah Boston in the post and three-point expert Kelsey Mitchell at the arc.

If Clark really takes off out of the gate, she could get considered for the Olympic team. It will be a big call for South Jersey-born coach Cheryl Reeve to make, but it could come down to this: Will the team be better with Clark or Diana Taurasi, who turns 42 a few weeks before tipoff in Paris?

Two of the Philly area’s most famous products in the league have moved west. Natasha Cloud, of Broomall and St. Joseph’s, and Kahleah Copper, of North Philly and Rutgers, both joined the Phoenix Mercury. Cloud signed as a free agent after leaving the Mystics, and Copper was traded from the Chicago Sky.

It will be a reunion for the duo, as they played together in Washington in Copper’s rookie year in 2016. Copper went to Chicago the following season. Cloud had been in Washington since the start of her pro career in 2015. She played every year except 2020, when she took the season off to focus on social justice and the COVID-19 pandemic.

» READ MORE: North Philly’s Kahleah Copper settles in with the Phoenix Mercury — and with Natasha Cloud as a teammate

In Phoenix, Copper and Cloud will team up with Taurasi and Brittney Griner. The Mercury are three-time WNBA champions but haven’t won it all since 2014 and missed the playoffs last year.

The Mercury visit New York on May 28, and Cloud’s big D.C. homecoming is set for July 16. That’s another game the Mystics have moved to the big arena downtown, in part because it’s the team’s annual summer camp kids day.

Another area native, Wilmington’s Elena Delle Donne, is taking this year off — at least for now. She turned down a one-year supermax offer from the Mystics, where she’s been since 2017, and where she and Cloud delivered the team’s long-awaited first championship in 2019.

Is the 34-year-old considering retirement? There’s been plenty of scuttlebutt that Delle Donne would come back to the court if Washington trades her. But it’s not clear where she wants to go, and the Mystics would want a big haul back in a deal.

» READ MORE: After a season — and offseason — of firsts, former Villanova star Maddy Siegrist is ready for Year 2 in the WNBA

The fourth big-time local product is Betnijah Laney, daughter of Philly hoops legend Yolanda Laney. She’s in her fourth year with the New York Liberty, where she’s a key player and a fan favorite.

A little farther afield, Harrisburg native Alyssa Thomas is about to start her 11th year with the Connecticut Sun. She’s a four-time All-Star, including the last two seasons. She also made the all-WNBA first team and all-defensive first team last year and was the league’s rebounding leader.

Clark may be the WNBA’s biggest story to start the year, but the league’s best teams are the same ones they were last year. The Las Vegas Aces beat the Liberty in a terrific Finals series, and it will be no surprise if the teams meet again this time.

A’ja Wilson is the Aces’ biggest star, and she’s surrounded by an incredibly deep squad: Alysha Clark, Sydney Colson, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, Kiah Stokes, and Jackie Young, just to name a few.

New York has an equally star-studded starting five of Courtney Vandersloot, Sabrina Ionescu, Laney, Breanna Stewart, and Jonquel Jones. If it can get its bench right, expect another big-time summer in Brooklyn.

» READ MORE: The New York Liberty are a superteam — and the Big Apple’s best chance for a long-awaited first WNBA title (from 2023)

Though it’s been just three years since the Chicago Sky won the title, the team has been falling back to earth since. Copper’s departure was the flashpoint for a teamwide reboot, and it started at this year’s draft. The team had two first-round picks, and took LSU’s Angel Reese and South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso. That’s a great frontcourt foundation from which to start moving up again.

It’s been four years since the Los Angeles Sparks made the playoffs. That’s a shocking drought for a team whose glittering history includes Lisa Leslie, Chamique Holdsclaw, Candace Parker, Nneka Ogwumike, and three championships.

The wait might end soon. The Sparks had two of this year’s first four draft picks and took Stanford’s Cameron Brink and Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson. They’ve also traded for veteran guards Kia Nurse and Julie Allemand.

Washington will take a step back this year with Cloud and Delle Donne gone, but it got a marquee draft pick in UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards. With next year’s class likely to be headlined by another Huskies star, Paige Bueckers, fans in D.C. might not complain about too many losses.

Let’s put it this way. There’s a bid out there, and that much is public. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said so at the draft.

Who’s running the bid is still a secret, though. Engelbert knows who’s in it, and some of the people involved have reached out to The Inquirer. But they haven’t let anyone say publicly who’s involved yet.

Until that changes, it’s going to be hard to know where the bid stands in the race as the WNBA plans expansion to 16 teams by 2028. The 13th team will arrive next year in San Francisco, while a 14th reportedly is coming to Toronto.

» READ MORE: The WNBA is expanding to Toronto. What does that mean for Philly? Nothing.

The league knows lots of fans want a team here. That’s the easy part. Finding an arena also will be easy, whether it’s the Liacouras Center (which would make the most sense), the Wells Fargo Center, or a new Sixers arena down the road if there is one.

It’s not just about those factors, though. Finding a big-time practice facility matters a lot to the league because top teams have their own now. Engelbert undoubtedly wants a Philly team, even if she can’t say it aloud. She’s from Collingswood, and every time expansion to Philadelphia comes up she gives the city love.

For the moment, though, all anyone outside the C-suite can do is wait for the names in the bid group.