WNBA Preview | August 3, 2026
With roughly 14 games left for most teams, Monday's three-game slate has real stakes attached to it. Las Vegas and Atlanta meet in a marquee flex matchup on Peacock and NBCSN between two of the league's five best individual scorers. Seattle visits a Liberty team clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot, and Phoenix closes the night in Chicago in a game between two teams both jockeying just outside the current cut line. Here's what to watch.
Wilson and Reese Headline a Flexed National Broadcast
Las Vegas Aces @ Atlanta Dream | 7:00 PM ET | Peacock, NBCSN
This game got moved to a national platform for a reason. A'ja Wilson currently leads the league in scoring at 25.5 points per game, and Angel Reese leads the league in rebounding at 11.8 per game, two of the sport's most dominant individual forces sharing a floor. Las Vegas sits second overall at 20-9, while Atlanta is part of a crowded five-way tie for fifth at 18-10, still comfortably in playoff position but with real company behind them in the standings.
Wilson's two-way dominance remains the best individual argument in the league, and Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray give Las Vegas the backcourt continuity that has made them one of the most consistent rosters all season. Reese's rebounding advantage is real and repeatable in a way that tends to show up over 40 minutes, and Rhyne Howard's perimeter scoring gives Atlanta a second dimension that makes them more than a one-player team.
DraftKings has Las Vegas as a modest road favorite around 1.5 points, with the total near 183.5. This is close to a coin-flip game between two teams playing meaningful basketball, and the market's confidence in Las Vegas is thin enough that the home team deserves real consideration. Lean Atlanta +1.5.
Atlanta wins if Reese's rebounding advantage generates the extra possessions that decide close games, Howard's perimeter scoring complements Reese's interior dominance, and Atlanta's home crowd provides the edge in what projects as a tightly contested national broadcast.
Las Vegas wins if Wilson's individual two-way dominance simply outweighs whatever rebounding edge Atlanta generates, Young and Gray control tempo in the way that has defined the Aces' consistency all season, and Las Vegas's championship pedigree shows up in the execution details of a close game.
PICK
ATL +1.5
O/U 183.5
Over ↑
Two elite individual talents should push this total.
Storm Visit a Liberty Team Clinging to the Final Playoff Spot
Seattle Storm @ New York Liberty | 7:00 PM ET | Local Broadcast
New York sits eighth at 17-13, the last team in the league-wide playoff picture, with a one-game cushion over ninth-place Chicago and Los Angeles. Every game from here carries real weight for a Liberty roster that has dealt with real depth issues for stretches this season. Seattle, at 6-25, is the worst team in the league, but a talented Storm team playing spoiler is exactly the kind of matchup that can trip up a club fighting to hold playoff position.
New York's talent at the top, Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones, remains real regardless of who's available around them, and this is the kind of game a playoff-positioned team needs to handle without drama. Seattle's Dominique Malonga has given the Storm a legitimate individual weapon capable of keeping games respectable even against far superior competition, and Seattle has shown flashes of real fight against playoff-caliber opponents in recent weeks.
DraftKings has New York as a significant home favorite, around 8.5 points, with the total near 181.5. The talent gap here is real, and a team fighting to hold the final playoff spot should be motivated to take care of business against the league's worst roster. Lean New York -8.5.
Seattle wins if Malonga has one of her outlier scoring nights and New York shows any signs of the depth-related inconsistency that has defined stretches of their season, Seattle's role players contribute more than their record suggests, and the Liberty take a struggling opponent too lightly.
New York wins if Stewart and Jones combine for the interior dominance that has been New York's offensive floor all season, the Liberty treat Monday as the business-like win a team fighting for playoff position needs to deliver, and New York's talent gap at the top of the roster overwhelms Seattle's individual pieces.
PICK
NYL -8.5
O/U 181.5
Under ↓
Liberty win and cover; playoff positioning is the motivation.
Mercury Visit Chicago in a Battle Just Outside the Playoff Cut Line
Phoenix Mercury @ Chicago Sky | 9:00 PM ET | WNBA League Pass
Both of these teams sit just outside the current playoff picture, Chicago tied for ninth at 11-18 and Phoenix tied for twelfth at 11-19, meaning every game the rest of the way is essentially playoff positioning for next season's draft odds if not this year's postseason. Neither roster is mathematically dead, but both need real winning streaks to climb back into the top eight with roughly 14 games left.
Chicago's defense has been genuinely disruptive in recent weeks, and their home crowd has provided a real edge against teams playing must-win basketball. Phoenix's Kahleah Copper remains a reliable scoring floor regardless of matchup, and the Mercury have shown they can hang with quality opponents when Copper is aggressive early.
DraftKings has this as one of the closest lines of the night, Chicago favored by a point and a half at home. Given how evenly matched these two rosters have played all season, that number looks about right rather than generous in either direction. Lean the total more than the side here — both offenses have had their struggles, and this projects as a tightly contested, lower-scoring affair.
Phoenix wins if Copper's scoring efficiency travels well on the road, Phoenix's defense makes Chicago work hard for every possession, and the Mercury's recent form against comparable opponents carries into Monday.
Chicago wins if the Sky's defensive rhythm continues at home, their own offense finds enough efficiency to complement a strong defensive week, and Chicago's crowd provides the edge in a game both teams badly need.
PICK
CHI -1.5
O/U 178.5
Under ↓
Sky win a tight one at home; both offenses have had their struggles.
What to Watch For Tonight.
Wilson and Reese sharing a national broadcast is the marquee event of the night, two of the league's most dominant individual forces in a game that projects as genuinely close despite the standings gap between second and a crowded fifth-place tie. New York's game against Seattle carries real playoff-positioning weight, a one-game cushion over the field that the Liberty need to protect against a struggling but occasionally dangerous Storm team. And Phoenix at Chicago is essentially playoff-elimination basketball for two teams that both need to string together wins to climb back into the top eight with roughly 14 games remaining. Golden State and Toronto are still playing as of this writing but won't affect Monday's slate.
