The WNBA Season 2024 is gearing up for a banner year. The league’s inaugural game follows a record-breaking women’s collegiate basketball season, in which more people watched the women’s championship game than the men’s.

Now, when some of those collegiate stars, including Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese, make their formal WNBA debuts as rookies, the WNBA will begin play on Tuesday, seeking to capitalize on that excitement.

The WNBA hopes to expand on the success of its 2023 season, which was the most viewed in more than two decades, with viewing up 21% and attendance up 16% from 2022. And now, the league is considering expansion in 2025 and 2026.

The regular season will last until mid-September, with a break for the Paris Olympics in July and August, where dozens of players will compete. The playoffs will run from late September to October.

Here’s something to watch for as the The WNBA Season 2024 begins this week:

Most Valuable Player

Negley: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Wilson mentioned her fourth-place MVP vote again during a preseason Zoom call with reporters. That fueled her through a career-best playoff performance (23.8 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 1.4 spg, 2.3 bpg) and she wore the MVP votes total on her second championship parade T-shirt. The Aces collectively run best on negative outside noise — perceived or real — and Wilson appears hungry for the trophy after losing it last year. It should be a great battle between Wilson, Breanna Stewart and possibly Alyssa Thomas again.

Laase: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
It’s hard to believe Wilson didn’t collect her third MVP trophy last season after putting up career numbers and leading the Aces to their second WNBA Championship. Her stats should be similar this season, and the Aces are the favorites to win a third title in a row. If that happens, it will be because of Wilson leading the charge on offense and defense, and voters should take note.

Rookie of the Year

Negley: Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
Clark is a generational talent whose game is already translating well to the WNBA. More importantly, she’s stepping into a fantastic situation. Indiana began its rebuild a few years ago and has the foundation already set under second-year head coach Christie Sides. I expect Clark to rank top five in assists as the Fever settle in around her.

Laase: Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
I can see Rickea Jackson or Angel Reese making a run for the Rookie of the Year award, but Caitlin Clark is in the perfect position to win it. All eyes will be on the Fever, a team that should make a significant jump this season, and Clark will play an important role in that rise. Aliyah Boston won last year, and I expect her new Fever teammate to do the same this season.

Coach of the Year

Negley: Christie Sides, Indiana Fever
This only has a little to do with Clark. Indiana flirted with a playoff spot last year in Sides’ first season and played close contests against Las Vegas and New York. It’s hard to emphasize how important those minor improvements are to a franchise accustomed to struggling. Clark immediately improves the team, but it takes a good coach to put it all together and keep it going.

Laase: Noelle Quinn, Seattle Storm
The Storm went to work this offseason, picking up Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike. They join Jewell Loyd to make up a powerful Big Three that should help the Storm to a playoff run. Quinn’s squad has the personnel and potential to go from 11-29 last season to a playoff team. If she can get this team to jell, while developing players like Jordan Horston, Ezi Magbegor and Nika Muhl, I like her chances to win Coach of the Year.

Defensive Player of the Year

Negley: Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut Sun
Thomas is one of the league’s toughest defenders who can guard every position and often does. (Ahem, she faces off against the ROY favorite to start the season on Tuesday.) The 11-year veteran stepped up last year, averaging career highs in most categories, including steals (1.8, ranking fourth). Having center Brionna Jones back from an Achilles injury that kept her out last season will help the Sun improve on both sides of the ball, and Connecticut was already the league’s best defense last year.

Laase: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
Part of the reason Wilson is my prediction for MVP is because of her defensive prowess. She’s equally important on both sides of the ball, which is why she’s my pick for DPOY as well.

Sixth Player of the Year

Negley: Kayla Thornton, New York Liberty
It’s not always clear during preseason what a team’s standard starting five will look like, and this honor could easily go to Alysha Clark again. That would make six Aces players winning it in a seven-year stretch. Thornton was in line a few times in Dallas for the Sixth Player award and will be a key contributor off the bench for the Liberty again this year. She’s one of their best defenders, averaging the second-most steals per 40 minutes on the roster.

Laase: Rebecca Allen, Phoenix Mercury
Over the last three seasons, Allen has been both a starter and a bench player for the New York Liberty and the Connecticut Sun. She started the most games of her career last season for the Sun (27) and provided a lift as a 3-point shooter and defender, using her length to get off contested shots on offense and to alter them on defense. Now with the Mercury, Allen will likely come off the bench behind Sophie Cunningham, but her skill and experience will remain the same, allowing her to thrive.

Most Improved Player

Negley: Karlie Samuelson, Washington Mystics
Overseas success can be a good predictor of WNBA improvement, and Samuelson is coming off a EuroCup Finals MVP playing with the London Lions. It’s the veteran guard’s first season on a guaranteed contract and I see her taking off in a starting role, even though the Mystics aren’t expected to make much noise. She is one of the game’s best 3-point shooters (42.6%) and should improve on the 7.7 ppg, 3 rpg and 2 apg of her breakout season with Los Angeles.

Laase: Dana Evans, Chicago Sky
Evans has seen her minutes increase every year she’s been in the league. She played 21.5 off the bench for the Sky last season, but Chicago coach Teresa Weatherspoon has made it clear that Evans will be her team’s starting point guard. In her first season as a starter, Evans should improve upon her 9 points and 3 assists per game, putting her in position to win the award.

Postseason outlook

Negley: The battle for the No. 1 seed came down to the final weeks last year, and I see that happening again. The Aces have to play Phoenix and Seattle more than New York will, which puts the Liberty in the No. 1 spot. A full training camp and second year together to build chemistry helps New York’s case.

I’m high on Indiana’s offense with Clark at the helm and her pick-and-roll game with Boston. If NaLyssa Smith weren’t out for a few games with a stress fracture in her foot, Indiana would have been a playoff team last year. So jumping a few spots doesn’t seem that drastic. Seattle and Phoenix bulking up their rosters with All-Stars puts them each over Dallas, a top-four team in 2023 that will have to go without injured forward Satou Sabally for most of the season.

Laase: The Aces are my favorite for the No. 1 seed and the WNBA title until someone else proves otherwise. With the way Las Vegas has dominated over the last two seasons, I can’t with good conscience put any team over them at this point. After that, I like the Storm to make a big jump and can’t wait to see the Notre Dame guard duo of Loyd and Diggins-Smith playing alongside Ogwumike.

Source: Yahoo News

Indianapolis — Tyrese Haliburton scored 20 points, T.J. McConnell added 15 points and 10 assists, and the Indiana Pacers won their third-largest playoff game ever, defeating the New York Knicks 121-89 on Sunday to tie the Eastern Conference semifinal series at 2-2.

Haliburton also had six rebounds, five assists, and four three-pointers as the Pacers cruised to a 43-point victory. They fell barely shy of their greatest lopsided playoff victory, a 34-point win over Cleveland in April 2018.

Pacers Even The Series With 121-89 Game 4 Win Over The Knicks

The series’ fifth game will be played on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks had only three players in double figures. Alec Burks finished with 20, Jalen Brunson with 18 — his lowest total in this tournament — and Deuce McBride with 16 on a day when they shot 33.7% from the field, 18.9% from three, and faced the greatest deficit of any team in this postseason.

Nuggets 115, Timber Wolves 107.

Minneapolis (AP) — Nikola Jokic scored 16 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, and Aaron Gordon added 27 points on 11-for-12 shooting to lead Denver to a series-tying victory over Minnesota in Game 4 of the Western Conference playoffs.

The Nuggets’ Jamal Murray scored 12 of his 19 points in the third quarter, capitalizing on his buzzer-beating swish from behind half-court, and the Wolves only pulled the margin below double digits for brief intervals of the second half.

Pacers Even The Series With 121-89 Game 4 Win Over The Knicks

Anthony Edwards scored 44 points in another outstanding outing for Minnesota, hitting 16 of 25 from the field. Despite a 42-31 rebounding advantage, the Wolves were defeated at home for the second straight game by the defending NBA champions, who were fired up after losing the first two games of the series on their home court.

The series returns to Denver for Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Mike Conley scored 15 points, Karl-Anthony Towns went 5 for 18 from the field for 13 points and 12 rebounds, and Rudy Gobert came on late to score 11 and 14 rebounds. Nonetheless, the Wolves trailed at home for the second consecutive game.

Pacers Even The Series With 121-89 Game 4 Win Over The Knicks

Gordon didn’t miss until there was 3:39 remaining. The Nuggets closed the first half with eight points in 20 seconds, highlighted by Murray’s unbelievable heave.

SOURCE – (AP)

Darlington, South Carolina – Kyle Larson made it clear that he is no Swiftie, despite the fact that he surprised his daughter with a birthday vacation to Paris this week to see Taylor Swift in concert.

Larson wore a Taylor Swift-themed T-shirt and friendship bracelets that his wife, Katelyn, and 6-year-old Audrey had given him.

“I don’t feel like I’m a Swiftie at all,” Larson said Saturday at Darlington Raceway. “I do appreciate her music and how hard she works, but I’m not a Swiftie.”

Larson, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion, has grown accustomed to being one of the circuit’s hottest and busiest drivers. He is coming off a historic victory last week at Kansas, where he beat Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds, the tightest finish in Cup Series history.

In Sunday’s Goodyear 400, he’ll try to win for the second week in a row – and the second time at the circuit nicknamed “Too Tough To Tame”.

Kyle Larson Is Not A Hardcore Fan Of Taylor Swift Despite A Trip To Paris For A Concert

The picture finish with Buescher exceeded a landmark Darlington moment from 2003 when Ricky Craven edged Kurt Busch by 0.002 in the sport’s all-time closest finish.

Larson expected to hit a wall rather than win in the final moments.

“I just thought I was going to run out of space,” he explained. “But he allowed me ample space. Yeah, we went off the corner, and it was all about how the run would go.

Larson emerged victorious, with a frustrated Buescher finishing second.

Buescher claimed he repeatedly viewed the finale and replayed it in his thoughts. He learned far more than he thought about NASCAR’s scoring system and transponder placement, and he identified numerous things he would have done differently to win.

In the end, the Roush Fenway Racing driver accepted second place. “It was bothersome for two days,” he claimed. “There’s really no way around that.”

Buescher believes the best way to overcome it is with a more comfortable and successful performance at Darlington, where he has four top-10 results in his last six races, including a career-best third behind Victor Larson at the Southern 500 last September.

Larson, whose two wins this season trail those of Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, said the trip to France provided a reprieve from what will be a demanding rest of the month.

Larson will compete in the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro and qualify for the Indianapolis 500. The following week, he’ll try to complete all 1,100 miles of racing, starting at Indianapolis and finishing at Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600.

Kyle Larson Is Not A Hardcore Fan Of Taylor Swift Despite A Trip To Paris For A Concert

Erik Jones returns to racing after missing the past two weeks due to a compression fracture of a lower vertebra sustained in a collision at Talladega last month. Jones, a two-time Darlington winner, said he feels 100 percent, but it’s more probable that he’ll need some time to heal over the next few weeks.

Jones said he is unable to lift large weights, but he hopes to return to the gym next week. He intends to be fully recovered for the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte in two weeks.

NASCAR allowed Jones to race at Kansas, but after consulting with his crew, he decided he needed more time to recover.

“If I really pushed it, I could’ve been in the car if I pushed it, I could’ve been in the car if I really, really wanted to be,” Jones stated. “At the same time, if I make that call on my own and overrule, and I go out and re-injure myself, I look like an idiot.”

Tyler Reddick dominated qualifying for Sunday’s race, extending his impressive record at Darlington. Reddick, 28, has three top-three results at NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway, including second place in this race two years ago and runner-up to Larson in the Southern 500 last September.

Reddick will start ahead of two Roush Fenway Racing drivers, Brad Keselowski and Buescher. Byron is fifth, then Ty Gibbs. Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace, Hamlin, and Larson are in order of ranking.

Kyle Larson Is Not A Hardcore Fan Of Taylor Swift Despite A Trip To Paris For A Concert

Larson’s performance at Kansas puts him the betting favorite to win his second consecutive race at Darlington. BetMGM.com lists him at 4-1 odds for the Goodyear 400 on Sunday.

JGR teammates Hamlin (4.75-1) and Truex (5.5-1) come next. Byron, who won Darlington’s spring race in 2023, is 7.25-1, while pole-sitter Reddick is 8.5-1.

SOURCE – (AP)