No Offseason Newsletter 🏀 | This is The Athletic’s women’s basketball newsletter. Sign up here to receive No Offseason directly in your inbox.Welcome back to No Offseason. It’s Commissioner’s Cup time. Today:
On the Ground: Commissioner’s Cup is hereNow that it’s June, it’s time for the Commissioner’s Cup.This annual in-season tournament started in 2021, with the Seattle Storm taking home the inaugural Commissioner’s Cup championship with a win over the Connecticut Sun. The league tweaked the rules slightly in 2024 to create a more compressed, competitive slate of Cup games. What to know:
Instead of each team playing its conference rival twice, teams play one Cup game against each opposing conference team, all over the next two weeks, with more than $200,000 going to community organizations of each franchise’s choosing.
The teams with the best record in each conference will then compete for a $500,000 prize pool in the championship game on June 30.
The 49 Commissioner’s Cup games tipped off this week with the Dallas Wings hosting the Storm, followed by the Minnesota Lynx at the Phoenix Mercury.So, how are teams looking heading into this intense slate of highly competitive games?In New York, the Liberty look to have turned a corner. After dropping three consecutive games at home, something — or should I say, someone — snapped in the third quarter of their game against the Mercury last Wednesday. First-year coach Chris DeMarco had some words for his team during a timeout that, when paraphrased, amounted to something like, “Play some f—ing defense,” according to Liberty forward Leonie Fiebich. They went on to win that game and their rematch Friday, and now carry a two-game winning streak into Commissioner’s Cup play.The Mercury, on the other hand, are on a league-worst six-game losing streak. They have struggled to make up the offensive output of the team’s 2025 leading scorer, Satou Sabally, amid injuries, absences and shooting slumps.Mercury guard Sami Whitcomb underwent arthroscopic surgery on her left knee on May 7 and is set to be reevaluated in the coming weeks. Guard Monique Akoa Makani was out due to overseas commitments followed by a reconditioning period, but she returned to play for the Mercury’s two-game series against the Liberty. Kahleah Copper, the Mercury’s current leading scorer, has been fighting through a tough shooting slump from 3. Copper is shooting 16 percent from deep through the Mercury’s first nine games, the worst 3-point output of her career.“It’s not the preparation,” Copper told me. “The preparation is there. It’s just something I have to get through. It’s tough right now. I’m overthinking and I’m second-guessing. These are shots I’ve hit many times. So I just have to come in with a clear head and just trust the work.”Other streaks to watch heading into Commissioner’s Cup play: the Lynx’s five-game winning streak (they lead the league at 7-2) and the Wings’ three-game winning streak. On the losing side, the Chicago Sky are looking to snap a four-game skid against the Washington Mystics tonight.Some other news around the W:Fast Breaks💥 Our updated power rankings saw the Lynx jump eight spots.🔗 The Liberty and Mercury’s changing trajectories are linked by Sabally’s move from Phoenix to New York.
