Continuing from Part I of our 2025 WNBA Preview, it’s time to take a look at the next four teams that are going for the WNBA title:

There are many stages of house hunting.

Team construction mirrors those stages. Eight of the 13 teams in the league will have new head coaches looking to renovate homes. The five returning coaches are upgrading their current homes by adding value to their existing structure.

The 2025 WNBA season tips off on May 16. The regular season will consist of 44 games, up from 40 games the past two seasons. It will be the longest season in WNBA history. The league hopes to continue to grow amid the recent explosion in popularity.

These teams have their foundation set and their blueprint ready. They won’t contend for a title this season, but they will compete for playoff spots. Their potential is evident, and their future is bright.

Chicago’s 2024 season was…interesting.

They scratched and clawed their way to a 13-27 record with a fiery first-year head coach despite a deeply flawed roster. They drafted non-shooting posts Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese in 2024. Their best player was the dynamic Chennedy Carter, a 5-foot-9 slasher. In a league where shooting is paramount, the Sky made a league-worst 4.8 three-pointers per game. Carter, Cardoso, and Reese played a combined 2,838 minutes and only finished 12-47 (0.203) from three.

The Sky played hard and were the best rebounding team in the league, but they could not overcome their poor shooting from the field and the free throw line.

Despite her best efforts, head coach Teresa Weatherspoon was dismissed. Tyler Marsh, a former Las Vegas Aces assistant who worked alongside new Golden State coach Natalie Nakase, takes over a young core and a much more balanced roster.

The top four guards in minutes played for the Sky last season are all gone. Chicago declined to re-sign Carter, who was not picked up by any other WNBA team. Ariel Atkins joins the Sky after another solid season for the Washington Mystics. In her seven-year career, all in Washington, she made five All-Defensive teams and was a two-time All-Star.

Atkins has averaged double figures in scoring every season and is a career 36.2% three-point shooter. Her 79 three-pointers made last season would’ve led the Sky by 23. Only four Sky players made 25 or more.

Point guard Courtney Vandersloot returns to the Sky after two years in New York. The 14-year pro took a step back last season for the WNBA champions as she struggled with issues on and off the court, but she was an All-Star in 2023. Her first 12 seasons were in Chicago. She led the 16-16 Sky through a magical 2021 playoff run that ended in the franchise’s only championship. She was named All-WNBA five times for the Sky and is second to Sue Bird in career assists with 2,850.

The floor general is back. Welcome home, Sloot! #Skytown pic.twitter.com/wWJxImVpRW

— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) February 1, 2025

Shooters Rebecca Allen and Kia Nurse were also added in the offseason. First-round selection out of TCU, Hailey Van Lith, adds depth at point guard. Factor in last year’s mid-season addition of Rachel Banham, and Marsh will have more lineup flexibility than Weatherspoon did last season.

The Sky hope for defensive anchor Elizabeth Williams to return to form. Williams, an All-Defensive performer in 2023, missed 31 games to a knee injury last season. Adding another non-shooting post, however, won’t alleviate the potential problem for the Sky’s offensive spacing.

Like last season, the Sky will contend for one of the final playoff spots this season. Marsh was an NBA player development coach with the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers. He was head of player development and an assistant coach with the Aces for three seasons prior to being named head coach for the Sky.

He will have to make the most of developing the Sky’s young stars. Roster management will ultimately determine whether the Sky can return to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus.

The Los Angeles Sparks named Lynne Roberts as their new head coach for the 2025 season after two losing seasons under Curt Miller.

Roberts has 27 years of college women’s basketball coaching experience, including a successful run at Utah. Prior to Roberts’ takeover of the team in 2015, the Utes hadn’t been to an NCAA Tournament since 2011. Roberts led Utah to three straight NCAA Tournament berths from 2022 to 2024. The Utes’ 27 wins in 2022-23 were the most in school history since the 2007-08 season.

Roberts is known for her offenses, especially her teams’ ability to shoot from the perimeter. In 2023-24, Utah finished seventh in the nation in three-point attempt rate at 46.9% and fourth in total three-pointers made with 348 in 34 games.

This must be music to Kelsey Plum’s ears.

Plum was traded to Los Angeles from Las Vegas in a three-team deal earlier this year.

Adding a star to our roster!

Welcome to LA, @Kelseyplum10!

https://t.co/oZwPSb0SAJ pic.twitter.com/I2nOeIMaob

— Los Angeles Sparks (@LASparks) February 1, 2025

She shot a sizzling 36.8% from three last season on 299 attempts, the fourth most in the WNBA. Her 113 made threes in 2022 led the league. Plum was an All-Star for the Aces the past three years and helped them win back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023.

Rickea Jackson returns after a solid First-Team All-Rookie season last year. Cameron Brink had a promising start to her career before a torn ACL sidelined her for the last 25 games.

The biggest surprise was the play of 6-foot-3 forward Dearica Hamby. She averaged career highs in points, rebounds, assists, free throws, field goals, and three-pointers. She was voted to her third All-Star Game and finished second in Most Improved Player voting.

Role players Li Yueru, Stephanie Talbot, and Kia Nurse all joined different teams in the offseason, but the additions of Plum and 6-foot-6 center Mercedes Russell are upgrades. Russell is an eight-year veteran who won two WNBA championships in Seattle.

The Sparks will bring a youthful, competitive spirit into the 2025 season. How quickly they adapt to the new coaching staff’s style of play, and how much Jackson and Brink improve from their rookie seasons, will determine how far they can go.

Another team that struggled to compete consistently last season is rebuilding with a young, athletic group and a fresh new head coach.

Chris Koclanes takes over in Dallas, following Latricia Trammell, fired after only two seasons. The Wings finished a disappointing 9-31 in 2024 after a solid 22-18 record the previous year. They had the worst defense in the league and lacked the offensive weapons to win games.

Injuries also played a big part in their season. Star forward Satou Sabally’s shoulder injury kept her out of 25 games. Sabally was a First Team All-WNBA player in 2023 and was voted Most Improved Player.

Koclanes was hired by the Wings’ new general manager, Curt Miller. Miller coached the Los Angeles Sparks for the past two seasons. Before that, he was the head coach and general manager of the Connecticut Sun. Miller’s defensive coordinator at Connecticut and Los Angeles was Koclanes. If Koclanes can instill a defensive mindset, it will certainly help bring Dallas’s defense out of the cellar.

Only three Wings players return from last season. Tierra McCowan, a 6-foot-7 center, returns for her fourth season in Dallas. She has been a consistent force in the league since her rookie year in 2019. She has averaged 11.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks in six seasons. Maddy Siegrist started 13 games and played in a total of 27. She averaged 9.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.

The Wings are building their franchise around Arike Ogunbowale, one of the league’s most dynamic guards.

Ogunbowale is a three-time All-WNBA player who has garnered MVP votes in every one of her six seasons in the WNBA. She finished second in the league in scoring at 22.2 points per game and was first in steals with 2.1 per game. She also averaged 5.5 assists and 4.6 rebounds last season.

Ogunbowale will pair nicely with UConn guard Paige Bueckers, the number one overall pick in the 2025 Draft. Bueckers was a three-time First Team All-American at UConn. In 2020-21, she became the first freshman to win the Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year Award. She won the award a year after Sabrina Ionescu, a year before Aliyah Boston, and two years before Caitlin Clark. She is coming off an extraordinary year where she led the Huskies to their first NCAA Championship since 2016.

WELCOME TO THE DALLAS WINGS, PAIGE BUECKERS pic.twitter.com/pREGdvalky

— Dallas Wings (@DallasWings) April 14, 2025

The Wings acquired DiJonai Carrington and Tyasha Harris from Connecticut as part of a four-team trade. They also received NaLyssa Smith from Indiana and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan from Phoenix in that trade. The Wings traded Sabally, Kalani Brown, and Sevgi Uzun to Phoenix. They also traded Jaelyn Brown to Indiana and Jacy Sheldon to Connecticut.

Sabally will be the biggest loss for Dallas. The 6-foot-4 forward averaged 15.7 points and 7.0 rebounds over her five-year career in Dallas from 2020 to 2024. She was a perfect example of the prototype that’s dominating the league (e.g., Napheesa Collier, Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson). She has length and agility to defend and can score inside and out. In 2023, she made 66 threes and shot 36.1%. She battled a shoulder injury but was still able to shoot 38-84 (45.2%) from three in only 15 games.

Harris spent the first three seasons of her career in Dallas before her two years in Connecticut. Last season was her first as a full-time starter. Carrington spent her four-year career in Connecticut. She placed second in Sixth Player of the Year in 2023, then became a full-time starter in 2024 and won the league’s Most Improved Player Award. She was ninth in the WNBA in steals and was named First Team All-Defense.

Myisha Hines-Allen signed with Dallas in the offseason after a successful 2024 season playing for the Washington Mystics and Minnesota Lynx. Her strength and toughness give Koclanes another defensive weapon to work with. She has been in the league for seven years, making her the most experienced player on the Wings’ youthful training camp roster.

The foundational pieces are set. Miller and Koclanes can build off a young roster with talented guards and solid posts. The roster is more balanced, flexible, and defensive-minded than the previous two seasons. They should be in the hunt to return to the playoffs after a one-year absence.

The Atlanta Dream made the playoffs only twice from 2015 to 2021. Tanisha Wright helped them make the playoffs in two of her three seasons as head coach from 2022-2024.

It wasn’t enough.

Atlanta was riddled with injuries last season. Star guard Rhyne Howard missed ten games. Jordin Canada, the biggest offseason signing for the Dream, missed 20 games. Forward Cheyenne Parker-Tyus missed 15 games. In all, 11 different players started for Atlanta in 2024.

The Dream made the difficult decision to fire Wright. Tina Charles left for Connecticut in the offseason and Parker-Tyus joined Las Vegas.

The Dream will move forward with three important changes.

First was the hiring of long-time Florida Gulf Coast women’s basketball coach Karl Smesko. He started the program in 2002 and saw it go from Division II to Division I with incredible success. His overall record at FGCU was 672-139 (0.829). In his first season as a head coach, a lone year at Walsh University in 1997-98, he took a struggling program to an NAIA National Championship title.

While Wright focused more on the defensive end, Smesko brings an extreme offensive flair to the Dream. His FGCU teams were consistently ranked among the nation’s best in three-point attempt rate. He’ll have two prolific shooters to work with in Howard and Allisha Gray.

Howard, the 2022 Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Star, has finished in the top ten in three-pointers made in each of her three seasons in the WNBA. Gray, the 2017 Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Star, nestled in the top ten in 2022 by hitting 40.8% of her threes. She and Howard are two of only 16 WNBA players to attempt more than 200 threes last season. Expect more of the same in 2025.

The second major change this season is the addition of future Hall-of-Famer Brittney Griner after 11 years in Phoenix. The 6-foot-9 center is a six-time All-WNBA member and has finished in the top five in MVP voting four times. She is on the tail-end of her illustrious career, but still led the league in field goal percentage last year. She also finished fourth with 1.5 blocks per game, a statistic in which she has led the league eight times in her career.

The third change is the acquisition of Brionna Jones, a three-time All-Star who spent eight seasons in Connecticut. Jones’s game is all about defense, rebounding, and efficiency.

Y’all might wanna tap in… Big things going down. Press conference loading.

: https://t.co/Gw8Juxc05w#DoItForTheDream pic.twitter.com/tfmCjhOatI

— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) February 4, 2025

How will Smesko adapt his proven philosophy to the WNBA, specifically, this current Dream roster? They now have four non-shooters on their roster (Griner, Naz Hilmon, Brionna Jones, and Haley Jones) who each played over 700 minutes last season.

If there is anyone who can figure it out, it’s Smesko.