The 2026 WNBA season officially-but-unofficially is here, with five preseason games scheduled for Saturday, April 25.
The action tips off with the Indiana Fever taking on the New York Liberty in Barclays Center at 3 p.m. ET on ION.
The other four games will be available to stream for free through the WNBA App. Also at 3 p.m. ET, the Los Angeles Sparks will face the Nigerian National Team in San Diego. Then, in Sioux Falls, SD, head coach Nate Tibbetts, from nearby Jefferson, SD, will lead his Phoenix
Mercury against the Chicago Sky at 4 p.m. ET. At 7:30 p.m. ET, the Washington Mystics will host the Minnesota Lynx in DC. And finally, the Seattle Storm will visit the Golden State Valkyries at 8:30 p.m. ET in San Francisco.
Certainly, there is tons worth watching, even if only so much (or not much of anything) can be learned in preseason.
Edwin Garcia posited that the Fever are the team to watch this preseason. Josh Felton highlighted the opportunity to see Oluchi Okananwa, the rising Maryland senior, perform against WNBA competition as a member of the Nigerian National Team. Maybe the Mystics can begin to alleviate some of the concerns about their draft strategy and lack of shooting, something Beckett Harrison puzzled over in detail. Undrafted players, especially those filling out the Mercury’s training camp roster, can use preseason competition to show they deserve to stick around.
However, it’s the highly-drafted rookies who understandably will attract the most attention. How will hyped prospects fare in the first WNBA action? Will they substantiate the confidence their teams’ had in them on draft night, or will concerns about their ability to translate their collegiate skills to the professional level emerge? (And yes, Josh specifically advised that rookies’ preseason performances can be particularly unreliable indicators.)
Although they’re far from the only rooks who will aim to make a positive impact during Saturday’s preseason slate, here is a closer look at three first years who likely will be in the spotlight as they take to the WNBA court for the first time, with one key question for each. In the comments, let us know what questions you have about these four rookies, as well as any other rookies that you’ll be watching closely on Saturday.
Raven Johnson (Indiana Fever): Is her improved 3-point shot real?
As Edwin covered, the buzz out of Fever training camp is off-ball Caitlin, with Caitlin Clark and head coach Stephanie White indicating that preserving Clark’s energy by having her operate without the ball more frequently will be a priority. Raven Johnson, whom the Fever drafted No. 11 overall, stands as one of the Indiana players who can alleviate Clark of on-ball responsibilities.
However, talk of a ball-dominant player being weaponized without the ball in their hands is standard fare from WNBA (and NBA) training camps. Such egalitarian ideas often fade during the regular-season grind.
So while Johnson likely will have the opportunity to serve as Indiana’s primary ball handler, she will also have to function without the ball. That means she has to be a real threat from 3.
Johnson’s development of her 3-ball elevated her into the first round of the 2026 WNBA Draft. After shooting below 30 percent from 3 as a junior, Johnson drained almost 40 percent of her 2.6 3s per game as a senior at South Carolina. Just as important as her improved percentage was her increased confidence, as Johnson no longer hesitated to take open triples.
Still, Raven’s improved sample size is small, as she attempted 103 total 3s as a senior.
Was the improvement an outlier hot streak, or was it real? And if was real, was it real enough?
Until she consistently punishes them, WNBA opponents are unlikely to closely guard Johnson when she’s behind the arc. And if she does drain the 3s she’s conceded, proving she needs to be guarded, Johnson then invites another challenge: When guarded more attentively, can she still get her shot off? Johnson, who doesn’t have the fastest release, primarily saw open opportunities in college. To be a threatening shooter in the W, she likely needs to quicken her release and become more comfortable shooting over late contests.
The emphasis on Johnson’s shooting is so pertinent because, on the other end of the floor, there’s no question that she can be a value add for the Fever. A lockdown perimeter defender who is strong enough to hold up in the post, Raven’s a defensive dream in the modern WNBA.
More likely than not, she’s going to have to be a legit threat from 3 in order to have extended opportunities to demonstrate her All-Defense-caliber potential.
Olivia Miles (Minnesota Lynx): How will the backcourt dynamic work with Courtney Williams?
When the Lynx drafted Olivia Miles No. 2 overall, it was easy to assume that Minnesota was willing to empower Miles as the team’s primary point guard, shifting Courtney Williams back into the secondary ball-handler role she occupied in her prior WNBA stops.
The Lynx, however, have instead insisted that Williams remains PG 1, with head coach Cheryl Reeve emphasizing that the team wants to keep Williams “in her playmaking phase.”
Reeve, of course, likewise recognizes Miles’ elite on-ball potential, referencing her “generational skill” as a passer, playmaker, point guard and leader on draft night. Reeve also called Miles Minnesota’s first real point guard since now-assistant coach Lindsey Whalen was running the show.
The head coach’s comments are a bit contradictory, although not totally oppositional.
Having Miles play alongside a veteran ball handler in Williams should ease her transition to WNBA, and the two have expressed nothing but enthusiasm about the opportunity to play together.
There shouldn’t be any real worry about conflict or incompatibility. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the dynamic between the duo develops.
A quick juxtaposition between of Miles’ final season at Notre Dame, when she shared ballhandling duties with Hannah Hidalgo, and her lone season at TCU, where she almost exclusively was at the controls, suggests Miles is more comfortable in the latter situation.
And as discussed with Johnson above, Miles’ viability as an off-the-ball 3-point threat is uncertain, as she likewise vastly improved from deep over the course of her college career, although Miles’ greater volume inspires more confidence in the sustainability of her numbers. Although she has had to be urged to embrace her 3-ball, Williams has enjoyed her best 3-point shooting seasons when she more frequently fires away; last year, she took at career-high 3.4 3s per game and made almost 39 percent of them.
The bigger concern for Miles, in contrast to Johnson, comes on the other end of the floor, as her defensive engagement was the only glaring red flag on her scouting report. Reeve has track record of demanding, but also developing, strong defensive play. Unfortunately for Miles, she will not begin her WNBA career with two of the last three Defensive Players of the Year—the injured Napheesa Collier and the departed Alanna Smith—behind her to make up for any miscues.
Flau’jae Johnson (Seattle Storm): Can she cause the Valkyries instant regret?
Is a Category 4 Storm incoming, one that could make the draft night deal between the Storm and Valkyries, when Golden State exchanged the No. 8 pick for two second-round picks, become even more inexplicable?
In a fun twist of fate, Flau’jae Johnson will make her WNBA preseason debut against the team that traded her away.
Johnson, certainly, should not be defined by the trade.
It also seems unlikely she’ll enter the game intending to prove a point.
As she has excitedly embraced her opportunity in Seattle, Flau’jae surely will be hoping to thrill Storm fans, not inspire regret among Valkyrie supporters. Yet, if Storm fans are cheering, Valkyrie fans are likely to be sneering, directing ire at a front office that passed on the player with, arguably, the most superstar upside in the draft.
It will be interesting to see how new head coach Sonia Raman puts Johnson in a position to succeed.
As Johnson’s college head coach, LSU’s Kim Mulkey, is not known for the most inventive or modern offensive strategies, seeing Johnson inserted into an offensive environment where her talents are better maximized could help her ascend to a new level of play that the Valkyries, presumably, did not think she possessed.
All that is not going to come together in the first preseason game, but Johnson can provide glimpses of what’s to come. Acrobatic drives to the basket? A pull-up 3? A couple of steals? A lob to Dominque Malonga for a dunk?
Johnson, in fact, might have Chase Center cheering for her anyways.
