The 2024 Rookie of the Year Award is going to be settled between the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark and the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese. The hottest rivalry in the league is taking place on individual and team level, which has been a marketing miracle. In a couple of years, this could be the duel to follow for the MVP. Before that happens, let’s focus on the race for the Rookie of the Year award. And what a race it’s been so far…

Caitlin Clark (Indiana Fever)

Caitlin Clark leads all rookies with 16.7 points and 7.8 assists per game, while adding 5.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals. She’s been playing under enormous pressure as one of the most hyped prospects to enter the WNBA. And she’s mostly delivered on her promise. She’s not at her Iowa level—at least not yet—but she already achieved some groundbreaking milestones, like being the fastest player in WNBA history to tally 300 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists, and the first rookie to record a triple-double. The downside of her rookie year has been turnovers; she’s the league leader with 5.5 per game. If she wins ROY, some people will complain it’s because of her popularity, even though it’ll be ignoring the fact that she’s popular precisely because she’s so good.

Angel Reese (Chicago Sky)

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Angel Reese, the woman Shaquille O’Neal called the greatest LSU basketball player ever, regardless of gender, is the steal of the draft. You might be inclined to give that distinction to Kate Martin, the No. 18 overal pick, who’s fit in so nicely with the Las Vegas Aces, but Reese falling all the way to No. 7, while being seriously considered for Rookie of the Year is even crazier than Martin’s play in Las Vegas. Would things work out the same way for Reese on the Los Angeles Sparks, the Dallas Wings or the Washington Mystics? Or is she playing with a chip on her shoulder because five teams passed on her, giving her that extra edge that she used to her advantage at LSU? We’ll never know. But, what we do know is on the Chicago Sky she’s averaging 13.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. Currently, she’s the best rebounder in the league. If she continues to grab 11.82 boards in each contest for the remainder of the season, she will end up with the third-highest single-season rebounding average in league history, only behind Sylvia Fowles (11.88 in 2018) and Jonquel Jones (11.85 in 2017). On its own, that’s special. ROY worthy? Definitely.

The best of the rest

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Unless something special happens, the award will be decided between the above two players. That is a testament to the abilities of Clark and Reese, rather than a repudiation of this draft class’ status. The No. 4 overall pick, Rickea Jackson, is a starter on the Sparks and is third among rookies in points per game with 10.7. Kamilla Cardoso, Reese’s teammate and the No. 3 overall pick, is averaging 8.3 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks, coming back from an injury that kept her out of the first seven games of the season. Aaliyah Edwards (No. 6 overall) and Julia Vanloo (undrafted and WNBA’s oldest rookie at 31 years old) have been solid for the Mystics, with Edwards averaging 8.8 points and 6.0 rebounds and the Belgian point guard scoring 8.1 points and dishing out 5.0 assists per game. This draft class is good. It’s just that Clark and Reese overshadow all the other players with their impact, maturity and skills.

Fresh off a rollicking victory over the Dallas Wings, 100-84, the Phoenix Mercury (12-10) have three more games before the All-Star/Olympic break, beginning with a road test against the Indiana Fever on Friday, July 12 (7:30 p.m. ET, ION).

On the last day of June, the veteran Mercury failed to close out the upstart Fever, allowing Indiana to escape Phoenix with a 88-82 victory. The Mercury surely hope to avenge that loss before then reversing another recent result against the Connecticut Sun. Connecticut bested Phoenix 83-72 on the first day of July. The rematch is Sunday, July 14 at Mohegan Sun Arena (1 p.m. ET, ABC). The Mercury then finish off the first half(ish) of the season in DC, taking on the Washington Mystics in a matinee matchup on Tuesday, July 16 (11:30 a.m. ET, League Pass).

A three-game road trip certainly is not an ideal pre-break schedule. However, if the team can build on their three-straight wins and reel off three more victories, there will be nothing but good feelings around Phoenix. For a team that entered the seasons with questions about how much new additions could solidify and strengthen an existing infrastructure that had more than wobbled in recent seasons, a 15-10 record would present a resoundingly positive assessment.

As is, there’s plenty of reasons for optimism in Phoenix. Here are three of the biggest ones:

Worth every penny

While pennies are made of copper, Kahleah Copper provides much (much, much) more value than one cent for the Mercury. During the offseason, Phoenix swung a surprising blockbuster trade for the 2021 Finals MVP, sacrificing the draft pick that became Kamilla Cardoso, a future first-round pick and quality role players, but she has been worth it—and then some.

She notched her seventh game scoring 30 or more points on Wednesday, dropping 32 points to lead the Mercury past the Wings. Throughout the season, she has scored at a career-best pace, averaging 23.0 points per game, the second-best scoring mark in the league.

Copper can further enhance her value to the Mercury by applying her advantages more consistently on the defensive end. Last time Phoenix played Indiana, she eagerly took on the Caitlin Clark assignment, aggressively hounding and harassing the rookie. That kind of effort will be required again on Friday night, as well as throughout the second half of the season.

Cloud control

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For a team that experienced its fair share of turbulence in recent seasons, Natasha Cloud, the Mercury’s other key offseason addition, has ensured that the skies have remained rather clear in the Valley. While Copper and her explosive scoring performances may steal the headlines, Cloud has provided more thankless, yet no less essential, play for the Mercury.

She ably controls the offense, averaging a career-high 7.2 assists per game as she sets up the likes of Copper, Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner in favorable scoring situations. She’s also posting career best numbers in rebounds (4.4), steals (1.7) and blocks (0.6) per game, exerting the extra effort even as she often is tasked with guarding opponents’ power forwards.

Cloud also is offering some of the most efficient scoring of her career. Although her 3-point shot has been shaky, she consistently has cashed in inside the arc, finishing particularly effectively at the basket and from the deep midrange. She had it all working in Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Sparks, when she finished with a career-high 31 points, along with nine boards, five assists and pair of steals and blocks.

BG is the best

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A huge reason why both Copper and Cloud are compiling career seasons: They’re playing alongside Brittney Griner.

As she is in her age 33 season, it was fair to wonder if Griner would begin to show signs of decline. Griner missing the first 10 games with a foot injury only raised further concern about her ability to consistently be at her best. Well, Griner has assuaged any anxieties; she remains one of the greatest forces in the game.

In the 12 games she has played, Phoenix is 8-4. When she’s on the court, the Mercury outscore their opponents by a team-best seven points per game. Overall, the team is a plus-84 in her 374 minutes of court time. Unsurprisingly, Griner’s presence substantially improves the team’s offense and defense. The Phoenix attack hums to a tune of a 110.6 offensive rating with BG, while the defensive rating is a solid 99.7 with her on the court.

In terms of tradition stats, she’s averaging 19.7 points and 6.7 boards per game, along with 1.4 blocks. And, she’s already tied her career high with nine 3-points attempts, making four of them. Two of those came in Wednesday’s win over Dallas. While she’s certainly not yet one of the Mercury’s 3-point slinging sharpshooters, her proficiency from behind the arc is not not interesting.

When Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier came up limping last week with an apparent non-contact leg injury, the team’s fans and coaches alike held their breath. The 2024 All-Star, Olympian and MVP candidate had at that point led Minnesota to a 14-5 record, and while the Lynx have considerable depth and are built to withstand the grind of a 40-game regular season, a long-term injury to Collier would severely hamper their championship aspirations, if not ruin them entirely.

Fortunately, Collier’s injury was not as bad as initially feared, and the Lynx have been able to mostly sustain their success without her. Collier was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis—something she’s used to dealing with, according to Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve—and though the Lynx didn’t give a specific timetable for her return, she’s been listed as “doubtful” on their pregame injury reports before eventually being ruled out, which suggests that the team is taking things on a day-to-day basis.

In Collier’s absence, the Lynx have earned wins over the Washington Mystics (74-67) and the Los Angeles Sparks (82-67), continuing to showcase the depth and selflessness that has made them one of the WNBA’s best teams. In those two games, Minnesota totaled 43 assists on 59 made shots (an assist rate of 72.9 percent) and knocked down 19 3-pointers.

“It bodes well for us to continue to have this mindset of not caring who gets the credit. When your number’s called, be ready,” Reeve commented after her team’s win against Los Angeles. “That’s what we’ve got to keep hanging our hat on.”

In a way, Minnesota’s most recent performances reflect that mindset even better than any of its previous games did. Down their star player, the Lynx didn’t get away from their identity, leaning into team basketball on both ends of the court to compensate for Collier’s absence. Their margin for error may have been slimmer, but everyone in Reeve’s rotation stayed in their respective roles, and that was more than enough to get back in the win column.

No Lynx exemplified starring in their role more than Bridget Carleton. Traditionally a lower-usage player, Carleton has shot the ball more frequently this season with fellow wing Diamond Miller recovering from a knee procedure, and she showed just how deadly of a shooter she can be in Minnesota’s recent wins. Carleton hit three 3-pointers en route to 13 points against Washington and followed that up with a near-flawless effort against Los Angeles, when she scored 16 points while shooting 6-for-7 from the field (4-for-4 from distance).

Reeve was also quick to praise the play of second-year center Dorka Juhász, who has shown the multiple ways she can affect a game. Juhász shot the ball just three times against Washington but led the Lynx in rebounding with 11 boards in 23 minutes; against Los Angeles, she took on more of a scoring role, netting 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting while defending both on the interior and on the perimeter.

It’s performances like these that highlight the Lynx’ true strengths: depth and versatility at multiple positions. With luck, Collier will be healthy again soon; Minnesota has three games remaining before the Olympic break, and Reeve—who also coaches the US National Team—may elect to rest Collier until WNBA play resumes in August. Until then, the Lynx must continue to stay afloat, and it may end up making them a more cohesive team in the long run.