WNBA Power Rankings Week 8: Defending champion Chicago Sky have breathing room at the top

Previous Week: 1

Record Since Last Ranking: 2-0

Championship Odds: +380

Game-winners and historic comebacks — what more do you want from the defending champions?  They’re functioning well and sit alone atop these power rankings headed into July.

Previous Week: 2

Record Since Last Ranking: 1-1

Championship Odds: +110

Welcome to the season, Aces. Not that they weren’t already here, but they had gotten through the year mostly without any adversity. Two straight losses brought them back down to Earth and now they are only a game above Chicago in the WNBA standings. Vegas is getting ready to face Seattle on the road and then Minnesota on the road twice to close the week. Big set of games.

Previous Week: 4

Record Since Last Ranking: 1-0

Championship Odds: +400

The Sun’s play has tailed off a bit as the season has gone on. But tailing off from “outstanding” to “really good” is still great. They remain one of the better teams in the league.

Previous Week: 3

Record Since Last Ranking: 1-1

Championship Odds: +500

Losing at home to the Sparks is…not great. L.A. might just be a tough matchup for the Storm. Anyways, the big thing here is that Seattle has signed Tina Charles after she was released by Phoenix. It will be interesting to see how they integrate her into the rotation, given how fantastically Ezi Magbegor has been this year.

Previous Week: 5

Record Since Last Ranking: 1-1

Championship Odds: +1300

The Mystics continue to go up and down, but their ups are more noteworthy than their downs. They had a great overtime win in Vegas over the weekend and showed they can beat anyone. They can close their week strong with wins against Atlanta and Connecticut.

Previous Week: 6

Record Since Last Ranking: 1-0

Championship Odds: +3000

All is good in the Big Apple. Not too much to say about the Liberty other than that they have been quite impressive over the last couple of weeks. Let’s see if it continues.

Previous Week: 7

Record Since Last Ranking: 1-1

Championship Odds: +4000

At this point, the Wings are who they are. Is that a bad thing? No. Is it a good thing? Not necessarily. Dallas has a light schedule this week, so let’s see if they can take advantage of it.

Previous Week: 10

Record Since Last Ranking: 2-1

Championship Odds: +7000

Was Tina Charles holding the Mercury back? I wouldn’t say that, but if her reported bad vibes and displeasure with her role were accurate, I can see them being better off without it. Phoenix also just beat Indiana and Dallas, so let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. The Mercury still have work to do.

Previous Week: 8

Record Since Last Ranking: 0-2

Championship Odds: +8000

It looks like the highs of Atlanta’s season are in the past. The Dream are still fun and should be encouraged by what pieces they have in place going forward. Until they can beat some good WNBA teams, though, that’s about as far ask the optimism goes.

Previous Week: 9

Record Since Last Ranking: 1-2

Championship Odds: +5000

In theory, the Sparks are getting a ton of production — Nneka Ogwumike, Brittney Sykes, Lexie Brown and Katie Lou Samuelson are all playing extremely well. But it’s the other players who are underperforming that might explain the Sparks’ situation.

Previous Week: 12

Record Since Last Ranking: 1-1

Championship Odds: +20000

Minnesota almost went 3-0 a week ago but a Courtney Vandersloot buzzer-beater prevented that from happening. Two wins in one week is good for the Lynx, being that they only have five total on the season. Can they work their way back into a playoff position?

Previous Week: 11

Record Since Last Ranking: 0-2

Championship Odds: +2000

I don’t have much to say about Indiana other than this team is a work in progress. The Fever are playing fine, all things considered, but it’ll take time. That time isn’t coming soon.