When it comes to the WNBA’s playoff-caliber teams, it’s natural to gravitate towards the big names. Teams like the Indiana Fever, Golden State Valkyries and New York Liberty are not short on star players, and it’s easy to give them most of the attention as they keep winning games.
Even on these veteran-laden squads, though, there are a handful of younger players who have made valuable contributions. Let’s give these first- and second-year players their flowers as their teams continue to jockey for
playoff position.
Makayla Timpson (Indiana Fever)
For some young players, it’s not a question of if they’ll get an opportunity, but when.
For Timpson, that moment came in a mid-July Fever win over Seattle, in which she eclipsed 30 minutes on the court for the first time in her career. Since then, she’s averaging 7.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.8 defensive stats in 26.3 minutes per game. She’s also drawn starts in each of her last four games, and if she keeps up her current level of play, that doesn’t seem like a role she’ll surrender any time soon.
Timpson’s numbers may not be eye-popping, but taken within the context of the Fever’s roster, it’s easier to understand how she’s gotten to this point. The offseason acquisitions of veterans Monique Billings and Myisha Hines-Allen ensured that the Fever would not be lacking for frontcourt partners for perennial All-Star Aliyah Boston, and they also suggested that Timpson would have to raise her game if she was going to become a mainstay in the team’s rotation.
Fortunately, Timpson’s skillset and athleticism make her an ideal pairing with Boston, as well as with the Fever’s high-octane backcourt of Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin Clark. That trio of players is going to handle most of Indiana’s offensive burden, and all their teammates need to do is find ways to play off of them. For Timpson, that means running the floor and simply making herself available around the paint; she did plenty of this in the Fever’s most recent win over Atlanta, a game in which Timpson scored a career-high 20 points.
One gets the feeling that this is only the beginning for the energetic forward.
Kaitlyn Chen (Golden State Valkyries)
We’ve written plenty about the Valkyries’ success this season, namely how their fearsome defense and opportunistic offense has them near the top of the WNBA standings. And while Golden State isn’t lacking for big names, the Valkyries are perhaps a little more reliant on their depth than some of the league’s other top teams, so their bench players deserve some shine for the run the team has been on.
Chen has an unenviable task—backing up the league’s reigning Most Improved Player, Veronica Burton—but she handles it well.
Picked near the end of the 2025 WNBA Draft, Chen has solidified her role as Golden State’s backup point guard, and she’s made significant strides since her rookie season. While much of the Valkyries’ offensive approach is to simply make fewer mistakes than the other team, Chen has looked much more confident in her second year, more than doubling the number of shots she attempts per game (5.2, up from 2.1 in 2025). It helps that those shots are going in, too. Chen is shooting a highly efficient 54.7 percent from the field, up from just 38 percent in her rookie season.
“She has no fear,” Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase said of Chen, pointing to the guard’s ability to attack the basket and finish with either hand. Chen is shooting a remarkable 75.5 percent in the restricted area this season and 45.8 percent on non-restricted area paint attempts—both excellent numbers, especially for a guard.
Is Chen going to win a playoff series by herself? That seems unlikely.
Her scoring efficiency and care with the basketball (1.2 turnovers in 14.6 minutes per game) are key cogs in Golden State’s offense, however, and the fact that Nakase has been able to turn to Chen for extended periods will pay dividends when it’s time for Burton to play heavier minutes.
Pauline Astier (New York Liberty)
When the Liberty signed Astier to her first-ever WNBA contract this past offseason, the idea was to have her come off the bench and spell starting guards Sabrina Ionescu and Leonie Fiebich. They probably didn’t envision having such major injury issues: Ionescu has played in 22 of New York’s 36 games, while Fiebich has played in just 14.
That may not be what Astier signed up for, but she’s taken full advantage of the opportunity nonetheless.
An undrafted rookie from France, Astier has been a steadying hand of sorts for the injury-plagued Liberty. She’s played in all 36 games and started 31 of them, and began her career playing 26.2 minutes per game in May—a crucial number for a team that was without one of the biggest stars, Ionescu, for nearly the entire month.
Astier’s minutes have dipped a bit since then as the Liberty have gotten (somewhat) healthier, but she’s remained a solidly productive player. On the season, she’s averaging 9.4 points and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 55.4 percent from the field with Liberty head coach Chris DeMarco noting that she’s “special” in her feel for the game. Perhaps most impressively, the Liberty have actually been better with Astier on the court (6.8 net rating) than with her on the bench (1.2 net rating), further underscoring just how important she’s been to a team with championship aspirations.
Because of this, Astier will likely continue to be a key contributor for New York when the playoffs begin. DeMarco has been judicious thus far in how much he’s played several of his team’s veterans, such as Rebekah Gardner and Rebecca Allen, but with such a capable rookie having already proven herself in Astier, he may choose to continue to ride the hot hand.
