WNBA: The league’s first 44-game season is starting to get real

Just one week ago, WNBA All-Star festivities were in full swing. Now, on Friday night, the Las Vegas Aces are preparing to play their third game since regular-season action resumed on Tuesday, while the New York Liberty are getting ready for a Friday-Saturday back-to-back.

The Liberty, at least, have launched their second half with a three-game homestand in Brooklyn. After a win over the Indiana Fever on Tuesday, they host the Phoenix Mercury on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, ION) before welcoming the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, NBA TV). The Aces’ reward for their first three-game winning streak of the season, secured with a home win over the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday, was a four-game road trip that crisscrosses the country. It began in Indiana on Thursday, where their win streak was snapped by the Fever, before continuing with a date with the Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET, ION). After that, they head down to Dallas to meet the Wings on Sunday and then out to LA on Tuesday to finish things off with a game against the Sparks.

No wonder Breanna Stewart defended the uncompetitive nature of last weekend’s All-Star Game, emphasizing before Tuesday’s game, “If we want the product in the All-Star Game to be better, then we have to have more time in between the games. There’s no way that you’re going to have a super competitive All Star game with a [Liberty] game on Tuesday.”

Breanna Stewart: “If we want the product in the All-Star Game to be better, then we have to have more time in between the games. There’s no way that you’re going to have a super competitive All Star game with a [Liberty] game on Tuesday.” #WNBA #LightItUpNYL

— Geoff Magliocchetti (@GeoffJMags) July 22, 2025

The compacted schedule that is a product of the league’s first 44-game season also makes it understandable why the Liberty saw the addition of Emma Meesseman not as excessive but as essential. To be in position to repeat, New York needs to be able to give their best players some relief before the postseason begins.

That’s particularly true for Stewart, who has played in every game this season, logging nearly 33 minutes a night. The arrival of Meesseman, in concert with Jonquel Jones’ return to health, will give head coach Sandy Brondello opportunities to rest Stewart without sacrificing on-court results, as New York projects to be in a down-to-the-wire seeding race with Minnesota and Phoenix.

The Liberty and Mercury will directly engage in that fight for a high seed on Friday night. That Phoenix has handed New York two losses this season likely will encourage the Liberty to approach this game with playoff-like intensity, resulting in Stewart, once again, taking on a starring load regardless of the unfavorable scheduling spot.

On Saturday, the visiting Sparks could pose a tougher challenge for New York than their overall 10-14 record projects. The Sparks are riding a four-game win streak, establishing momentum as they anticipate the sophomore season debut of Cameron Brink, who is expected to return from her more than season-long ACL injury by the end of the month. However, like the Liberty, the Sparks will be playing in their third game since the resumption of post-All-Star action, finishing out their three-game East Coast swing. Fortunately, their win over the Connecticut Sun on Thursday required only 29 minutes from Kelsey Plum, although the player who has played the third-most minutes in the league still dropped 30 points.

On Saturday, the Seattle Storm also will be suiting for their third game since the break. After a disappointing Skylar Diggins-less loss to the Wings in Seattle on Tuesday, they traveled to Chicago to play the Sky on Thursday, with a 21-point return from Diggins driving a dominant win. On Saturday, they’ll be all the way across the country in the DC, hoping to avenge their home loss to Washington Mystics from before the break, when Seattle fumbled away a double-digit fourth-quarter lead (7:30 p.m. ET, League Pass).

At the All-Star Game, WNBA players declared, “Pay Us What You Owe Us.” Yet, players’ demands should go beyond fair pay. A schedule that respects players should also be on the agenda. Yes, it’s impossible to avoid some challenging schedule stretches. But, immediately throwing teams into an intensified post-All-Star schedule is a bit absurd.

Players are not revenue-generating robots who can be tuned up to play on-demand. Playing high-quality, compelling basketball requires time to rest, rehab and rejuvenate. A slammed post-All-Star schedule—one that features an increase in cross-conference, and thus cross-country, games because inter-conference games are front loaded due to Commissioner’s Cup play—prevents those prerequisites from being fulfilled.

But for now, expect WNBA players to suit up and do their jobs, playing the best hoops possible despite the long flights, back-to-backs and late nights. A third game in four days? A’ja Wilson can still unleash an efficient double-double. Same goes for Stewie. And no one will be surprised when Alyssa Thomas turns in a triple-double, Plum Dawg drops another 30-ball or Nneka Ogwumike plays almost mistake-free basketball.