2025 WNBA Season Preview Part III: Storm, Fever, Mercury

Magbegor has been on the All-Defensive team the past three seasons— she’s finished in the top ten in field goal percentage in each of those. Ogwumike is in her fourteenth season in the WNBA and is showing no signs of slowing down. She’s received votes for MVP the past three seasons while being named to the All-WNBA Team in all three. She averaged 16.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.9 steals last year while shooting 51.1% from the field. The 2016 MVP has made the All-Defensive team seven times in her career.

The biggest question mark heading into the 2025 season will be replacing the scoring prowess of Jewell Loyd. Seattle sent Loyd to Las Vegas in a three-team trade. The Storm received center Li Yueru from Los Angeles, Las Vegas’s 2026 first-round pick, and Los Angeles’s second overall pick (Malonga).

Loyd spent ten seasons in Seattle, winning two championships and playing in six All-Star Games. She led the league in scoring in 2023 with 24.7 points per game. She’s been in the top ten in scoring five times throughout her career.

The trade created opportunities for young players Jordan Horston and Nika Mühl to carve out bigger roles. Unfortunately, both will be out for the 2025 season due to knee injuries sustained in the offseason.

The Storm will look upon returners Gabby Williams and Skylar Diggins-Smith to increase their offensive workload. Newcomers Lexie Brown from Los Angeles, Alysha Clark from Las Vegas, and Katie Lou Samuelson and Erica Wheeler from Indiana will have to provide scoring by committee to help cover Loyd’s 19.7 points per game from last season.

The Storm have the benefit of a strong core of returning veterans and are one of only five teams in the league with a returning head coach. Noelle Quinn has four full seasons of head coaching experience in Seattle and an overall record of 74-68. The Storm need Malonga to make an immediate impact for them to reach their full potential.

5. Indiana Fever

Christie Sides, in her second year as Indiana’s head coach, had the unenviable task in 2024 of taking a talented, young team to the playoffs for the first time since Stephanie White in 2016. The league didn’t do her any favors. Indiana played 11 games in the first three weeks. They played New York three times, Connecticut twice, Seattle twice, and Las Vegas once. Unsurprisingly, they went 2-9 with the only wins coming against Los Angeles and Chicago.

The most popular team in WNBA history, thanks to standout rookie Caitlin Clark and reigning Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston, recovered and ended the season with a record of 20-20, good for the No. 6 seed and a playoff berth.

Sides was shockingly fired after the wildly successful season. Stephanie White replaces Sides as head coach. The same Stephanie White who eliminated the Fever in the first round of the playoffs as head coach of Connecticut. The same Stephanie White who last guided Indiana to the playoffs in 2015 and 2016.

White takes over a team that has surrounded Boston, Clark, and two-time All-Star Kelsey Mitchell with a new group of role players.

DeWanna Bonner followed White to Indiana after playing the last five seasons in Connecticut. Bonner, a 15-year veteran, is a six-time All-Star and was ninth in the WNBA in minutes played last season at the age of 36. She averaged 15.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in 2024.

Sophie Cunningham, in her sixth season in Phoenix in 2024, was seventh in the WNBA in effective field goal percentage at 57.1% for players who logged 20 minutes or more per night. Natasha Howard started 26 of 27 games last season in Dallas. Sydney Colson signed with Indiana and was a two-time WNBA champion with Las Vegas. Defensive forward Brianna Turner brings length, energy, and effort to Indiana after five seasons in Phoenix and the most recent in Chicago.

Like last season, the team will revolve around the three-headed monster of Clark, Boston, and Mitchell.

Clark took the league by storm. She became the first rookie to be named to First Team All-WNBA since Candace Parker in 2008. She led the league in total three-pointers and assists while playing the second-most minutes.

Boston followed up a strong rookie campaign with an equally strong season in year two. She was top five in the league in rebounds, blocks, and field goal percentage.

Mitchell was an All-Star for the second straight season and was eighth in points per game with 19.2.

White has proven that she is capable of taking what she has and putting her players in the best position to be successful. In her first season in Connecticut in 2023, she adjusted mid-season after starting post Brionna Jones suffered a season-ending injury. She unlocked Alyssa Thomas’s super-powers and led the Sun to the No. 3 seed and the semifinals. White was named WNBA Coach of the Year that season.

She won’t need to unlock the Fever’s top three players, but do they have enough depth from the rest of the roster to crack the top three?

4. Phoenix Mercury

The Mercury made the playoffs every year from 2013 to 2022.

2023 was a year to forget. The Mercury fired head coach Vanessa Nygaard after a 2-10 start. They finished in last place with a record of 9-31.

An extreme makeover was needed, and that’s exactly what they did in 2024. They hired NBA assistant coach Nate Tibbetts, and they made a coach with no women’s basketball experience the highest-paid coach in the WNBA.

Sophie Cunningham returned with Mercury legends Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi. They signed veteran guard Natasha Cloud, traded for Rebecca Allen, and made a blockbuster trade for perennial All-Star Kahleah Copper.

Depth became an issue, especially with Griner missing ten games and Allen missing 22 due to injuries. Natasha Mack, who played a total of 18 minutes in 2021 and had been out of the league since then, played in all 40 games and logged 619 minutes. Incredibly, she was third on the team in win shares behind Griner and Cunningham.

The Mercury have undergone another extreme makeover. Mack is one of only three returners from last season. The other two are Copper and guard Celeste Taylor, who signed three different seven-day contracts with Phoenix last season. Copper was named to her first All-WNBA team last season. She averaged 21.1 points, good for third in the league. Taylor is currently competing for a roster spot in training camp.

Taurasi, the greatest player in league history, retired after an illustrious 20-year career, all in Phoenix. Griner is also gone. She signed a contract with the Atlanta Dream after playing 11 seasons for the Mercury.

A four-team trade on Feb. 2 sent Cunningham to Indiana and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan to the Wings. Phoenix traded Allen and Cloud to Connecticut. In return, the Mercury acquired Alyssa Thomas from Connecticut and Kalani Brown, Satou Sabally, and Sevgi Uzun from Dallas.

Thomas, a walking triple-double, has been top five in MVP voting in each of the past three seasons and is a six-time All-Defensive team member. Thomas, nicknamed “The Engine,” is one of the most unique players in the world. She is a 6-foot-2 point forward who does everything but shoot threes.

Sabally spent her first five years in Dallas. She won the Most Improved Player Award in 2023 and was named First Team All-WNBA. However, due to a shoulder injury, she only played in 15 games last season. Pairing her with Thomas gives the Mercury the size needed to defend adequately and the shooting to surround Thomas.

Mack and 6-foot-7 Brown add to the frontcourt depth. Eight-year veteran sniper Sami Whitcomb signed with the Mercury to replace the spacing that Cunningham provided.

The Mercury did not have any draft picks in 2025. They’re making a run at a championship this season. With Thomas, Sabally, and Copper, the foundation is set, and the blueprint is clear. They have the collection of talent. The question is how quickly can they jell to form a team?

View our other 2025 WNBA season previews here: Part I | Part II | Part IV