(W)NBA2k25: Indiana Fever

[Radii]

My sister and I have gotten into the WNBA pretty heavily thanks to Caitlyn Clark, and I've got a bit of a void in games right now, so I picked up NBA2k25 to try out the WNBA, I'm hoping this is something that can hold my attention for awhile and hoping that writing up a dynasty will make it more engaging.

Platform: PS5
Rosters: Default
Slider Set: NBA 2K25 "The Eccentric Edition" - Realistic Slider Set - Operation Sports Forums
Draft Classes: CPU Generated


The WNBA plays 4 quarters, 10 minutes in length. 40 games a season. The league has 12 teams and 8 make the playoffs. Although the league is divided into conferences, they don't use them for playoff seeding. The top 8 overall records make the playoffs.

I'm planning on playing every 5th game, which will mean that i play 8 of the 40 games each regular season. I'll of course play all of the playoffs.


The Indiana Fever have had the #1 pick in the draft two years in a row, this season that meant that they got to draft Caitlyn Clark. Since Clark is the reason I'm following the league at all, obviously I'll be taking over the Fever.

[Radii]

Roster

Starting Lineup

PG - Caitlyn Clark - 6'0" 170 lbs - 91 OVR - 22 y/o

A+ 3 point shooting, A+ Playmaking, she's our best player right out of the draft and should only get better. She's also got an A in perimeter defense and an A IQ rating.

SG - Kelsey Mitchell - 5'8" 160 lbs - 86 OVR - 28 y/o

Mitchell, like Clark, can shoot the 3, A+ from deep, she has a good midrange shot (B+) as well, but is a liability on defense (C+ perimeter D).

SF - Lexie Hull - 6'1" 155 lbs - 73 OVR - 24 y/o

Hull isn't the default starter, that's Katie Lou Samuelson, but she's also rated 73 overall, and Hull has taken over the starting job in the real world and i'm giving it to her here too. The ratings dropoff compared to the rest of the starters is huge and incdicates the severe lack of depth on this team.

PF Aliyah Boston - 6'5" 220 lbs - 89 OVR - 22 y/o

Boston was the other #1 pick by the Fever, a year before Clark. She is our best inside scorer (A-) and defender (A), and our best rebounder (A-), despite lacking in physical gifts (C+). She has an A IQ rating and the highest potential rating on the team.

C Nalyssa Smith - 6'4" 185 lbs - 85 OVR - 23 y/o

An acceptable inside soccrer (B), defender (B+) and rebounder (B+) to go along side Boston inside.


Noteable Bench Players

C Temi Fagbenle - 6'4" 179 lbs - 77 OVR - 31 y/o

Our 5th best player by overall rating, scary. C inside, B- Inside D, B rebounding, she can eat minutes inside but won't get much focus.

SF Katie Lou Samuelson - 6'3" 163 lbs - 73 OVR - 26 y/o

The default starter in game but I'm overriding that b/c I love Lexie Hull. Samuelson is a worse scorer than Hull (B from 3 compared to B+), but is a pretty solid defender (B- inside/B+ perimeter).

PG Erica Wheeler - 5'7" 143 lbs - 73 OVR - 33 y/o

Wheeler is a poor shooter, but an above average defender and a solid playmaker. Clark shouldn't be playing 40 minutes a game, so Wheeler will get some minutes.

PF Damiris Dantas - 6'3" 214 lbs - 73 OVR - 31 y/o

Dantas can defend well and that's about it, she's a poor rebounder, and a poor shooter/scorer


The Rest of the Roster

SG Kristy Wallace - 5'11" 157 lbs - 73 OVR - 28 y/o

PG Grace Berger - 6'0" 160 lbs - 73 OVR - 24 y/o

PF Victaria Saxton - 6'2" 181 lbs - 71 OVR - 24 y/o


There was a patch today with a fix to substitutions that I was waiting for, otherwise this would have started a few days ago. Ideally we'd run an 8 man rotation with our 5 starters, Fagbenle, Samuelson and Wheeler with Dantas maybe playing a little as well. But we'll see what actually happens. I'd like for subs to be automatic and we may play with settings/options with this for a bit.

[Radii]

Other Stuff

We'll dive deeper into the rest of this later.

The Head Coach is Kristie Sides, on a 1 year contract at $739,000/yr. We have 3 1/2 stars (out of 5) in offensive coaching. 3* defensive coaching, 3.5% Charisma, 0.5* Potential.


Contracts

our starting SG Kelsey Mitchell is in the last year of her deal, so is our Center Nalyssa Smith and about half of our bench.

The salary cap appears to be about $1.45 million for the entire roster. Mitchell makes $212,000, Wheeler $202,0000, and Samuelson $175,000. The rest of the roster is under $100k/yr.

We've got $180,000 we can spend if we want to sign someone in free agency, and there are a few players rated better than our abysmal 73 OVR across the board on the bench, but I'm going to stick with the real life rosters at first.


Draft Prospects

The draft class is available. There don't seem to be any stars in it, with the best players being rated a C overall (though I honestly don't remember how this translates in game or what it will mean). My initial assumption is that I'm going to be able to re-sign Kelsey Mitchell at SG and will draft a SF or a big, so I put all of the best players at those positions on my draft board and will keep an eye on it.

[Radii]

May 14th, 2024

Indiana Fever (0-0) at Connecticut Sun (0-0)

Connecticut Scouting

PG Veronica Burton - 75 OVR

SG Dijonai Carrington - 86 OVR

SF Dewanna Bonner - 88 OVR

PF Brionna Jones - 90 OVR

C Alyssa Thomas - 95 OVR

IRL Connecticut is the 3rd best team in the league and outside of PG they sure look good from a high level.


1st Quarter

Connecticut 26
Indiana 17

Tough start for Indiana, our weakness on defense shows in a big way as Connecticut hits 7 3's. Dewanna Bonner with 3 of them and 12 points to lead them. Clark has 10 points for Indiana. I've tried hard to get Boston going and she's only got 2 points from the line, 0-4 from the floor.


Halftime

Connecticut 43
Indiana 37

We cut the lead to 1 a few times but never tied nor took the lead. Bonner has 16, Harris 10 for Connecticut, while we've got 16 from Clark and 7 from Mitchell. We got great minutes in the 2nd quarter from backup PF Damiris Dantas with 4 points and 5 rebounds.


3rd Quarter

Connecticut 63
Indiana 54

We had too many turnovers in the 3rd and it shows. Connecticut gets inside frequently and uses their bigs against us. Clark is the bright spot with 25 points but we are struggling too much to get Mitchell and Boston involved.


Final

Connecticut 82
Indiana 72

Bonner leads the Sun with 29 points and 7 assists, Harris 14. Alyssa Thomas with 12 boards.

For Indiana Caitlyn Clark has 30 points on 12-20 shooting, 6-7 from 3, 5 boards and only 2 assists. Mitchell with 12 points/9 assists, and Boston 10 points/19 rebounds. Boston cleaned up anything inside really.


Mostly the game felt good to play, the team is awful when Clark isn't on the floor. I have the CPU calling plays right now and it mostly calls plays that start with Mitchell with the ball, hence her assists instead of Clark getting them. The slider set makes it so the defense is in the passing lanes a lot more and leads to a lot more tipped balls, and I had a lot of turnovers due to that, it'll take some adjustments on my part to get used to the gameplay with the sliders. But this is a team that's better than us, at their place, I think it's a good result to start things off.

[Radii]

May 16th, 2024

New York 91
Indiana 83

We're outscored 22-11 in the first quarter and keep things pretty even from there. Naylssa Smith with 20 points, Mitchell 17, Clark 15 and 7 assists. Boston only 6 points with 10 boards. We went 10 deep this game and Clark played the most minutes with 29. I don't like that.


I make some rotation adjustments, lets see if they work.


May 18th, 2024

New York 108
Indiana 49

Hmmmmm. Boston with 12 points, Mitchell with 9, Clark with 8 points. Smith only scores 2 but leads us with 9 boards, Clark with 5 assists. New York is the best team in the league, but... damn lol.


May 20th, 2024

Connecticut 89
Indiana 66

Clark with 27 points, Boston with 9 points/9 boards. Mitchell only scores 7 on 1-7 from 3.



May 22nd, 2024

Seattle 80
Indiana 66


Boston leads Indiana with 22 points/10 boards. Smith with 13 points/9 boards. Clark with 10 points/9 assists and Mitchell with 10 points as well. We shot 28-72 from the floor, 5-24 from 3.


This is how things started in the real world too. All of these games are against top 5 teams in the league, with little time after the WNBA draft to build chemistry and practice. Hopefully it gets better here just like it did in the real world.

[Radii]

May 24th 2024

Indiana Fever (0-5) at Los Angeles Sparks (2-1)

LA Starters:

PG Oddysey Sims - 79 OVR
SG Lexie Brown - 73 OVR
SF Rickea Jackson - 81 OVR
PF Dearica Hamby - 89 OVR
C Cameron Brink - 80 OVR


IRL the Sparks are the worst team in the league and the favorite for the #1 pick. Hopefully we can do ok here even on the road.


1st Quarter

Los Angeles 21
Indiana 15

Too many turnovers on my part. No subs at all from LA, 8 points from Brown/8 from Hamby as they come out hot from 3.Clark leads Indiana with 7.


Halftime

Los Angeles 39
Indiana 30

LA's Lexie Brown leads everyone with 15. We've got 11 points from Clark and 5 from Mitchell. Mitchell is 1-5 from 3.


3rd Quarter

Los Angeles 67
Indiana 43

Two problems - one is the turnovers, settings for the CPU defense to contest passes are all the way up and it seems like I can't handle it. I'll probably lower that before my next game. The other problem is that the CPU only seems to call a couple different plays and that gets old fast, so I'll look at the playbook and maybe start calling my own plays.


I end up simming the 4th quarter.

Final

Los Angeles 85
Indiana 76

Clark 23 points/6 boards/4 assists
Smith 15 points/8 boards
Mitchell 12 points/8 boards/4 assists
Boston 8 points
Fagbenle 8 points




I lower the setting for the CPU to get in the passing lanes from 80 to 65.

[Radii]

May 25th, 2024

Las Vegas (3-1) 84
Indiana (0-7) 70

18 from Clark, 15 from Mitchel, 10 from Dantas, Boston 7 points/11 boards.



May 28th, 2024

Los Angeles (4-1) 86
Indiana (0-8) 80


Clark with 18 points/8 assists
Boston 18 points/13 rebounds
Mitchell 16 points
Smith 10 points/8 boards



May 30th, 2024

Indiana (1-8) 96
Seattle (4-4) 74

Hey, our first win. Lexie Hull hurts her foot in this game and will miss 1-2 weeks.

Mitchell scores 30
Clark 23 points/10 assists
Smith 10 points/8 boards
Boston 7 points/14 boards



June 1st, 2024

Chicago (3-4) 76
Indaina (1-9) 65

Smith 13 points
Wheeler 12 points (in 16 minutes off the bench)
Clark is cold today and only scores 7 with 5 assists

[Radii]

June 2nd, 2024

Indiana Fever (1-9) at New York Liberty (7-1)

New York Starters:

PG Sabrina Ionescu - 93 OVR
SG Kennedy Burke - 74 OVR
SF Betnijah Laney-Hamilton - 84 OVR
PF Breanna Stewart - 97 OVR
C Jonquel Jones - 93 OVR

Playing the best team in the league on the road after playing the night before is a tough ask.


1st Quarter

New York 22
Indiana 17

Ionescu with 3 3-pointers and 11 points is giving us huge problems. We get 7 points from Mitchell to keep it fairly close early on.

Halftime

New York 41
Indiana 36

The second quarter is almost entirely Mitchell and Clark, they've got 13 and 11 points respectively now. Boston and Smith inside combine for 1-8 shooting, I can't seem to get either one going.


3rd Quarter

New York 63
Indiana 55

We get the lead down to 4 and have a number of chances to cut it closer, but end up ice cold. Ionescu is killing us with 29 points, while Mitchell has 23 but is only 2-9 from 3.

4th Quarter

We've had a couple chances to tie it up and haven't been able to.

4:00 - Clark gets to the line to make it a 4 point game. NY up 72-68.

3:00 - Ionescu hits a 3 after Mitchell cuts the lead down to 2, 75-70.

A couple empty trips for us, a couple buckets from New York and it's a 9 point game and that does it for us.

New York 84
Indiana 73

That game did feel better, less absurd turnovers on my part, though they're still there.

Sabrina Ionescu with a career night, 42 points against us to carry the game. Every time we cut the lead down to 1 posession it felt like she hit a shot against us.

Mitchell - 28 points/6 boards/5 assists but abysmal 3-11 shooting from 3. If she hits a couple more open shots we have a chance.
Clark 16 points/7 assists
Samuelson 8 points/ boards
Boston 4 points/10 rebounds.

[Radii]

June 7th, 2024

Washington (3-8) 86
Indiana (1-11) 80

Indiana led by 14 going into the 4th quarter and got destroyed. Clark 25 points/7 assists, Boston 13 points/6 boards


June 10th, 2024

Connecticut (7-4) 89
Indiana (1-12) 82

Clark 18 points/7 assists
Mitchell 16 points
Smith 13 points/8 rebounds
Boston 12 points/12 rebounds


June 13th, 2024

Atlanta (3-8) 81
Indiana (1-13) 72

Clark 20 points
Boston 19 points/14 boards
Wheeler 13 points
Smith 9 points/10 boards



June 16th, 2024

Los Angeles (7-6) 69
Indiana (1-14) 66


Boston 10 points/7 boards
Hull 10 points
Clark 7 points/9 assists (fouls out)



In the last game Mitchell injures her hip and is out for 2-4 weeks. Given our abysmal record and one of our only players above replacement level being out for weeks I may speed through the rest of the season.


In the real world about this time Indiana started playing much better, they got a little rest and practice time after the awful early schedule and Clark clearly made everyone better. That kind of thing isn't going to happen in game and we're just going to suck until we add some more quality and depth through the draft and perhaps free agency.

[Radii]

I decide to sim until Mitchell is back:

June 19th, 2024

Indiana (2-14) 84
Washington (5-10) 77

A home win even without one of our stars. Clark with 21 points, Boston 18 points/10 boards. Wheeler with 14.


June 21st, 2024

Atlanta (5-9) 85
Indiana (2-15) 66

Ugly game, Kristy Wallace and Nalyssa Smith both lead us with 12 points. Clark with 8, Boston 6.


June 23rd, 2024

Indiana (3-15) 77
Chicago (7-8) 61

Clark 16 points/5 boards/5 assists
Smith 13 points/5 boards
Boston 13 points/8 boards


June 27th, 2024

Indiana (4-15) 74
Seattle (9-8) 65

Two wins in a row? Heck yeah.

Smith with 16 points/8 boards
Boston 16 points/8 boards
Clark 6 points/8 assists


June 30th, 2024

Indiana (5-15) 77
Phoenix (8-10) 50

Clark 21 points/6 boards/8 assists
Boston 17 points/10 boards


July 2nd, 2024

Indiana (6-15) 78
Las Vegas (11-6) 73

Dantas 17 points
Clark 15 points/6 assists
Boston 10 points/12 boards

Our first win against a legitimately good team, shocking.


All Star Teams

Caitlin Clark is selected as a starter, Aliyah Boston is a reserve.


July 6th, 2024

New York (16-5) 108
Indiana (6-16) 87

Mitchell is back, but I didn't want to play this one, we already got blasted by New York once.

Boston 17 points/8 boards
Clark 15 points/9 assists
Mitchell 15 points


Well at least there's a little bit of light with some wins in the books. We'll play out our next one at home against a bad Washington team.

[Radii]

July 10th, 2024

Washington (8-14) at Indiana (6-16)

Washington Lineup:

PG Jade Melbourne - 73 OVR
SG Brittney Sykes - 85 OVR
SF Elena Delle Donne - 91 OVR
PF Aaliyah Edwards - 79 OVR
C Stefanie Dolson - 83 OVR


1st Quarter

Washington 31
Indiana 18

Gross. We led 18-17 before they blew it open with 14 straight. Clark with 11, Mitchell with 5. We couldn't do anything once they both sat down to rest.

Halftime

Washington 55
Indiana 35

We go through a stretch where we turned it over 4 plays in a row and they blew open the lead. Clark sat for most of the quarter as well and without her I seem to shut down completely. She scored most of our points in the last 3 minutes when she came back in. Clark has 22 of our 35. Mitchell has 10, Boston 3, and no one else has scored. So ugly.


I get frustrated in the 3rd and sim to the end. Clearly my stick skills are a part of my issues, I'm not sure if I want to continue changing settings to make things easier or keep working at it. The play calling continues to be frustrating as well. When I ended up quitting the CPU had called the same play 5 times down the court in a row. There's a setting that's supposed to prevent that but it really seems like only 3 different plays ever get called unless I do it myself. I mentioned earlier needing to call my own plays but the effort to go into setting up the playbook the way I want it is a pain so I haven't done it yet.


Washington 101
Indiana 79

Clark with 36 points/6 assists. Mitchell with 14. Smith and Boston both score some once I'm not controlling them. 12 for Smith/11 for Boston.

[Radii]

July 12th, 2024

Phoenix (10-13) 78
Indiana (6-18) 65

Clark with 17 points/5 assists/4 steals
Mitchell 11 points


July 14th, 2024

Minnesota (14-10) 86
Indiana (6-19) 77

Clark with 21 points/7 assists
Wheeler with 13
Mitchell with 12


July 24th, 2024

Indiana (7-19) 81
Dallas (12-13) 78

Mitchell 17 points
Smith 12 points/7 boards
Clark 10 points/10 assists


With that we're at the all star break, which is also the Olympic break, it's July 17th and our next game is August 16th.

[Radii]

All Star Break Standings

1. New York 18-7
2. Las Vegas 16-8
3. Connecticut 15-9
4. Minnesota 15-10
5. Seattle 15-10
6. Phoenix 12-13
7. Dallas 12-13
8. Chicago 11-13
-------------------
9. Los Angeles 10-14
10. Washington 9-16
11. Atlanta 8-16
12. Indiana 7-19

[Radii]

August 16th, 2024

Phoenix (12-13) at Indiana (7-19)

Phoenix lineup:

PG Natasha Cloud (83 OVR)
SG Diana Taurasi (89 OVR)
SF Kahleah Copper (90 OVR)
PF Monique Billings (77 OVR)
C Brittney Griner (92 OVR)


1st Quarter

Phoenix 26
Indiana 14

I'm experimenting a lot here so don't expect much success


Halftime

Phoenix 43
Indiana 30

We cut it to 5 for a bit but it doesn't last long.


3rd Quarter

Phoenix 68
Indiana 50

Again we cut it to 5 and then go completely ice cold with our bench.


I get annoyed a bit into the 4th and sim to the end.

Final

Phoenix 98
Indiana 73

Clark 27 points/6 assists
Mitchell 11 points
Boston 11 points/11 boards



I did some googling after the game and realized that I'm dumb. I was only calling "quick plays" and had forgotten how to call detailed plays for specific players. Most of my frustration expressed so far should end with this revelation, shoulda looked that up sooner!

[Radii]

August 18th, 2024

Seattle (17-10) 68
Indiana (7-21) 63

Kelsey Mitchell picks up another 2-4 week injury, ouch. I hope this isn't having a permanent negative effect on her.

Clark 16 points/6 assists
Dantas 15 points
Mitchell 9 points

August 24th, 2024

Indiana (8-21) 85
Minnesota (19-11) 76

Clark 20 points/9 assists
Smith 18 points
Boston 12 points/7 boards


August 26th, 2024

Indiana (9-21) 89
Atlanta (9-20) 62

Clark 20 points/4 assists/6 steals
Smith 14 points/8 boards

Is there something to the fact that we seem to do better with our starting SG out hurt and a much much lower rated player starting for her?


August 28th, 2024

Connecticut (19-11) 80
Indiana (9-22) 67

Clark 16 points/6 assists
Smith 11 points/6 assists


I'm going to play one more game to see if it feels better w/ my playcalling confusion figured out and then move on to next season.

[Radii]

August 29th, 2024

Indiana Fever (9-22) at Chicago Sky (11-19)

Chicago lineup:

PG Lindsay Allen (77 OVR)
SG Chennedy Carter (89 OVR)
SF Diamond Deshields (74 OVR)
PF Isabelle Harrison (77 OVR)
C Kamilla Cardoso (82 OVR)


1st Quarter

Chicago 16
Indiana 10

I forgot Kelsey Mitchell is still hurt. We get out to a 10-2 lead and then go 6 minutes without scoring. I'm trying a bunch of different plays that I've never run before and our rotation is garbage without Mitchell.

Halftime

Chicago 36
Indiana 28

Despite the same scores that we're used to seeing, the flow of the game feels way better. Clark has 11, Boston 4 points/9 boards already.


3rd Quarter

Chicago 51
Indiana 44

We actually tied the game at 40 before a Chicago run. Clark has 20, Wheeler and Boston each with 6. Boston up to 14 rebounds.

4th Quarter

5:00 - We score the first 11 of the quarter and lead 58-55 with 5 minutes to go.

4:00 - Clark with a 3, then a steal leads to an easy layup from Smith, and another steal leads to a fast break 3 from Wallace. We lead 66-55!

3:00 - Chicago with a quick 5 straight but Smith hits a mid-range jumper and we lead 68-60.

2:00 - 68-62 as they get a bucket and Boston misses two free throws.

1:00 - 2 free throws for chicago, a jumper for Clark, an inside bucket from Chicago - 70-66 Indiana leads going into the final minute.


48s - Wallace misses a jumper, Chicago rebounds.

42s - fast break for Chicago, they get it inside and draw a foul, missing the shot thankfully. 1 of 2 at the line and it's 70-67. We rebound.

31s - Clark drains a wide open 3, 73-67, timeout Chicago

We get a stop and that's it!

Indiana 75
Chicago 67

Clark 33 points
Wallace 11 points
Boston 6 points/14 boards
Smith 4 points/10 boards

The game felt way better with my playcalling issues figured out. The next thing to keep an eye on is that I couldn't score in the post for hte life of me. Boston was 3-8, Smith 2-6 , with their buckets on offensive boards/midrange jumpers or wide open looks. Not a single post possession where we scored over our opponent.

With this win I'm going to finish out the rest of the season and get through the offseason. Kelsey Mitchell's contract is up and she seems unhappy, so whether we can re-sign her or replace her in free agency becomes our immediate concern.

[Radii]

September 1, 2024

Indiana (11-22) 80
Dallas (17-15) 77

Smith with 21 points/9 boards
Clark 14 points/6 assists
Boston 11 points


September 4th, 2024

Indiana (12-22) 81
Los Angeles (11-22) 58

Mitchell (back from injury) 16 points
Smith 16 points/6 boards
Clark 11 points/9 boards/9 assists

Temi Fagbenle hurts her knee and will miss the rest of the year.


September 6th, 2024

Minnesota (21-13) 98
Indiana (12-23) 83

Clark 27 points/6 assists
Wheeler 19 points
Boston 10 points/12 boards


September 8th, 2024

Indiana (13-23) 88
Atlanta (10-25) 87

Smith 20 points/14 boards
Clark 13 points/7 boards



We're going to wreck our draft pick lol.


September 11th, 2024

Las Vegas (22-14) 85
Indiana (13-24) 77

Clark 17 points/4 assists
Wheeler 16 points
Smith 15 points/9 boards
Boston 6 points/13 boards


September 13th, 2024

Las Vegas (23-14) 82
Indiana (13-25) 79

Dantas 15 points/7 boards
Clark 13 points/10 assists
Smith 11 points/8 boards
Boston 10 points/9 boards


September 15th, 2024

Dallas (21-18) 99
Indiana (13-26) 73

Clark 19 points
Hull 15 points
Boston 9 points/9 boards


We won our last game, I missed it b/c it went right into offseason stuff.

[Radii]

League MVP

A'ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces
21.0 ppg/14.7 rpg on 50.6% shooting, 2.1 blocks per game.


1st Team All-WNBA

Aja Wilson - Las Vegas - 21 ppg/14.7 rpg
Breanna Stewart - New York - 18.5 ppg/10.0 rpg
Alyssa Thomas - Connecticut - 12.6 ppg/9.8 rpg/6.1 apg
Caitlyn Clark - Indiana - 17.7 ppg/6.1 apg
Brittney Griner - Phoenix - 15.5 ppg/10.1 rpg

2nd Team All-WNBA

Cameron Brink - Los Angeles - 12.3 ppg/9.1 rpg (rookie)
Jonquel Jones - New York - 13.5 ppg/10.1 rpg
Sabrina Ionescu - New York - 17.0 ppg/4.7 apg
Arike Ogunbowale - Dallas - 17.6 ppg/3.4 apg
Ezi Magbegor - Seattle - 11.6 ppg/9.1 rpg

All-Defensive 1st Team

Aja Wilson - Las Vegas
Napheesa Collier - Minnesota
Breanna Stewart - New York
Ezi Magbegor - Seattle
Jonquel Jones - New York

the entire 1st team are forwards/centers lol.


All Defensive Second Team

Cameron Brink - Los Angeles
Brittney Griner - Phoenix
Alanna Smith - Minnesota
Alyssa Thomas - Connecticut
Satou Sabally - Dallas

All Rookie Team

Caitlin Clark - Indiana - 17.7 ppg/6.1 apg
Cameron Brink - Los Angeles - 12.3 ppg/9.1 rpg
Angel Reese - Chicago - 8.1 ppg/9.7 rpg
Celeste Taylor - Phoenix - 2.7 ppg/3.8 rpg/3.7 apg
Kamilla Cardoso - Chicago - 5.8 ppg/6.7 rpg

[Radii]

WNBA Final Standings

1. New York - 28-12
2. Minnesota - 25-15
3. Las Vegas - 24-16
4. Phoenix - 24-16
5. Connecticut - 24-16
6. Seattle - 23-17
8. Washington - 16-24
------------------
9. Los Angeles 16-24
10. Indiana - 14-26
11. Atlanta 12-28
12. Chicago 12-28

[Radii]

Quarters and Semis are just a best of 3. Finals Best of 5 I believe.

WNBA Quarterfinals

Game 1

(1) New York 94
(8) Washington 66

NY: Stewart 25 points/15 boards
NY: Ionescu 24 points/7 assists

Game 2:

(1) New York 88
(8) Washington 68

NY: Jones 25 points/9 boards
NY: Stewart 23 points/12 boards

New York Advances 2-0


Game 1:

(5) Las Vegas 86
(4) Phoenix 81

LV: Wilson 26 points/8 boards
PHX: Griner 17 points/11 boards


Game 2:

(5) Las Vegas 88
(4) Phoenix 71

LV: Wilson 30 points/14 boards
PHX: Griner 21 points/7 boards

Las Vegas wins 2-0.



Game 1:

(7) Dallas 71
(2) Minnesota 61

DAL: Ogunbowale 16 points/9 boards
DAL: Sabally 15 points/17 boards

Game 2:

(7) Dallas 86
(2) Minnesota 84

DAL: Ogunbowale 19 points
MIN: Collier 19 points/8 boards


Dallas with the 2-0 upset.


Game 1:

(6) Seattle 89
(3) Connecticut 62

SEA: Xu 22 points/10 boards
SEA: Lloyd 15 points


Game 2:

(3) Connecticut 97
(6) Seattle 90

CT: Thomas 20 points/9 boards/6 assists
SEA: Xu 30 points/7 boards


Game 3:

(6) Seattle 90
(3) Connecticut 69

SEA: Ogwumike 22 points/9 boards/5 assists
SEA: Xu 18 points/7 boards

[Radii]

Semifinals are actually best of 5.

WNBA Semifinals

Game 1:

(5) Las Vegas 96
(1) New York 77

LV: Wilson 29 points/9 boards
LV: Plum 23 points/7 assists


Game 2:

(1) New York 75
(5) Las Vegas 62

LV: Wilson 6 points/22 boards
NY: Vandersloot 18 points


Game 3:

(1) New York 109
(5) Las Vegas 86

LV: Wilson 20 points/13 boards
NY: Stewart 29 points/10 boards


Game 4:

(5) Las Vegas 82
(1) New York 69

LV: Wilson 26 points/17 boards
NY: Ionescu 20 points/8 assists


Game 5:

(1) New York 99
(5) Las Vegas 88

LV: Wilson 25 points/11 boards
NY: Stewart 39 points/11 boards


New York wins a great 5 game series to advance to the finals over the 2 time champions.


Game 1:

(6) Seattle 79
(7) Dallas 50

SEA: Ogwumike 28 points/14 boards
SEA: Xu 15 points/9 boards


Game 2:

(6) Seattle 73
(7) Dallas 68

SEA: Ogwumike 16 points
DAL: Ogunbowale 23 points


Game 3:

(6) Seattle 82
(7) Dallas 70

SEA: Ogwumike 23 points/6 boards



Seattle with a quick 3-0.

[Radii]

WNBA Finals

Game 1:

(6) Seattle 97
(1) New York 83

SEA: Lloyd 21 points
NY: Stewart 36 points


Game 2:

(1) New York 77
(6) Seattle 58

NY: Stewart 14 points
SEA: Ogwumike 16 points


Game 3:

(6) Seattle 82
(1) New York 77

SEA: Xu 18 points/8 boards
NY: Jones 21 points/12 boards


Game 4:

(6) Seattle 88
(1) New York 75

SEA: Lloyd 23 points
NY: Ionescu 28 points


Seattle with the big upset in the finals to win the title

Finals MVP

Nneka Ogwumike 14.8 ppg/6.0 rpg

[Radii]

Offseason

Retirements

Phoenix's Diana Taurasi calls it at age 42 after 20 years in the league.

She averaged over 14 points her last year. A 3 time WNBA champion, 1 time MVP, 10 time all star and 10 time 1st teamer.


Las Vegas' Alysha Clark retires after 12 years in the league at age 37. Clark also won 3 titles, she was all defense twice but never an all star.


Hall Of Fame

Diana Taurasi is inducted into the hall of fame. She averaged 18.8 points per game over her long career.

Draft Lottery

The 4 teams that miss the playoffs have a draw for the top pick. Thanks to trades the bad teams don't necessarily have their pick.


Pick Order:

4. Los Angeles
3. Indiana
2. Washington (via Atlanta)
1. Dallas (via Chicago)

that sucks for the Chicago Sky.


Staff Signing

Our head coach's contract ends. She wasn't that great. We end up signing Michael Stauffer as our new head coach. He's incredibly solid all across the board. We get him for 680k/yr for 4 years. We sign a new CFO and Team Doctor as well. I'm only marginally interested in the staff portion of the game.


Options

We have options on the following:

C Nalyssa Smith - 85 OVR - 24/yo - we can keep her for $91,000/yr, and we do.

SF Lexie Hull - 74 OVR - 25 y/o - we keep her for $88,000/yr

SG Kristy Wallace - 73 OVR - 29 y/o - We decline her option


Qualifying Offers

We don't have any restricted free agents, nothing to do here.


Moratorium - Free Agency

So I messed up and thought I had the chance to negotiate with players whose contracts were ending during the offseason before everyone went into free agency. That was not the case. So Kelsey Mitchell is gone.

My roster going into 3 rounds of free agency:

PG: Clark (92) / Berger (74)
SG: None
SF: Hull (74) / Samuelson (74)
PF: Boston (89) / Saxton (72)
C: Smith (85) / Dantas (74)


A LOT of high quality players went into free agency. It appears the max contract you can offer is 3 years. I offer 3 SG/SF types and land two of them:

SG/SF Dijonai Carrington - 87 OVR - 27 y/o - 3 years/880k - Carrington played her first four years in Connecticut. She had max offers from us and Connecticut but chose to leave. She averaged 9.8 points/game last year.

SF Aerial Powers - 80 OVR - 31 y/o - 2 years/287k - Powers played for Atlanta last year scoring 9.5 points/game

We also made an offer to 89 rated SG Chennedy Carter, but she signed with Los Angeles.


Round 2

We make two more signings, backups who I hope know they're backups lol.


[b]SG Tiffany Hayes - 79 OVR[/B - 35 y/o - 2 years/328k - Hayes can shoot the 3 and defend the perimeter pretty well. She'll improve us a lot off the bench.

PG Courtney Vandersloot - 79 OVR - 36 y/o - 2 years/451k - Vandersloot played for the New York Liberty last year, scoring 8.9 ppg and getting 4.9 assists per game. She's clearly on the tail end of her career and I'm thrilled for her to end it backing up Clark.


Full Free Agency

12 days of free agency with the early players now on our roster. The salary cap appears to be just under $2 million this year and we still have $396k to play with, but I think we want to stay under to make sure we have room to extend Boston next year and to pay for our rookies.


Our updated depth chart:

PG: Clark (92), Vandersloot (80)
SG: Carrington (87), Hayes (79)
SF: Powers (80), Hull (74)
PF: Boston (89), Saxton (72)
C: Smith (85), Dantas (74)


Player Progression

PG Caitlin Clark - 91->94 OVR, Mid Range B->B+, Per D A- -> A+

PF Aliyah Boston - 89->90 OVR. Mid Range and Inside D and Rebounding all go up.

C Nalyssa Smith - 85->86 OVR - inside scoring and rebounding go up.

SF Aerial Powers - 80->79 OVR

PG Courtney Vandersloot - 79->76 OVR - She's 36, so this isn't a huge surprise, big drop though.

SF Lexie Hull - 73->75 OVR. 3 point shooting and IQ go up.

SG Tiffany Hayes 79->75 OVR - 35 y/o, another huge drop, but only for the backup.

C Damiris Dantas 73->72 OVR - 32 y/o, disappointing to see a drop at this low level, especially since she gets minutes right now.

[Radii]

WNBA Draft

This draft class is horrific. I hope this is an outlier and not a sign of what's expected in auto-generated WNBA drafts. No one in the draft is expected to come in rated higher than 75 OVR. With just the 3rd pick we're down to players rated 72 and 70. I debate trying to trade down but the top player left is actually someone we'll get use out of.

1st Round

Indiana drafts C Myisha Mogbo 3rd overall out of Texas A&M. She's rated higher defensively than offensively. Her ceiling is All-WNBA so hopefully that means her potential is pretty high. The main thing we like about her honestly is that she is 6'6" which is pretty tall in this league so hopefully she can help us inside and on the glass.


2nd Round

With the 15th pick we select SF Pollyanna Cook from... Iowa Western Community College?? She's 6'1" and expected to come in rated 69 OVR.


3rd Round

With pick #27 we take PF Amanda Morgan out of Cincinnati. Projected to come in rated 68 OVR and a defensive specialist.



Draft Wrapup

Just in case these guys make big jumps and we hear from them sometime, I'll put the names out there:

1. Dallas - PG Jenny Howard - 74 OVR
2. Wasington - SF Teaira Washington Jr - 73 OVR
3. Indiana - C Myisha Mogbo - 73 OVR
4. Los Angeles - C Kate Bernard - 70 OVR
5. Washington - PG Stacey Hernandez - 68 OVR
6. Chicago - PG Tiana Galloway - 71 OVR
7. Las Vegas - PG Krystal Peterson - 68 OVR
8. Connecticut - PF Shantia Bailey - 68 OVR
9. New York - SG Jacki Ramirez - 65 OVR
10. Minnesota - PF Fran Bridges - 71 OVR
11. Phoenix - PG Sami Perdue - 61 OVR
12. Seattle - PG Lashann Braun - 68 OVR

[Radii]

Rookie Signing

With our free agency signings and 3 rookies we're at 15 players on the roster. I have to cut down to 12, or not sign all of my draft picks.

I release PF Victaria Saxton (72 OVR), SF Katie Lou Samuelson (74 OVR), and one of my rookies.

I wasn't warned of this until I actually signed the draft players, so I end up eating some contracts that I otherwise might not have.


With that we auto-generate the next draft class and move on to the season.


Around the league

I look at the power rankings to see if that reflects roster changes, and it seems like it does. We are 7th out of the 12 teams. Minnesota is #1, and a Washington team that sucked last year is #2.. I want to do a quick review of each team to see how much movement there was among top players.


New York Liberty

PG Sabrina Ionescu (92) - 27 y/o, last year of contract
PF Jonquel Jones (92) - 31 y/o, last year of contract
C Brittney Griner (89) - spent 11 years in Phoenix until this last contract expired, just signed with New York.


Minnesota Lynx

SF Napheesa Collier (95) - 1 year left
C Ezi Magbegor (90) - 25 y/o, didn't re-sign with the champion Seattle Storm
PG Kelsey Plum (90) - Left Las Vegas for a 4 year deal in Minnesota


Phoenix Mercury

PF Breanna Stewart (94) - 30 y/o, left New York for Phoenix, practically a Stewart for Griner trade in the offseason.
Brionna Jones (89) - left Connecticut for a 3 year deal in Phoenix
SF Kahleah Copper (88) - on the last year of her deal


Washington Mystics

SF Nneka Ogwumike (93) - last year's finals MVP in Seattle.
C Shakira Austin (88) - last year of rookie deal
SF Elena Delle Donne(87) - 2 years left on deal


Chicago Sky

PF Angel Reese (90) - rookie deal
C Kamilla Cardoso (87) - rookie deal
PG Lindsay Allen (78) - 1 year left

Chicago looks BAD.


Los Angeles Sparks

SG Chennedy Carter (87) - left Chicago
PF Cameron Brink (86) - rookie deal
SF Rickea Jackson (85) - rookie deal

Kelsey Mitchell also signed with Los Angeles, leaving Indiana last year.


Seattle Storm

SG Jewell Loyd (85) - 1 year left
SF Jordan Horston (84) - rookie contract
PF Cheyenne Parker-Tyus (84) - Left Atlanta last year


Connecticut Sun

PF Alyssa Thomas (92) - On a 3 year deal, did she re-sign or was she on a 4 year deal before?
SG Marina Mabrey (81) - last year of deal
PG Tyasha Harris (80) - last year of deal


Dallas Wings

SG Arike Ogunbowale (91) - last year of deal
PF Satou Sabally (88) - Re-signed this year (4 year deal)
C Teaira McCowan (87) - 1 year left


Las Vegas Aces

PF Aja Wilson (98) - last year of deal. She's only 28, if she leaves next year it changes the league.
SG Jackie Young (90) - last year of deal. Only 27.
SF Dewanna Bonner (85) - Left Connecticut.


Atlanta Dream

SF Rhyne Howard (89) - last year of rookie deal
PF Natasha Howard (86) - left Dallas
SG Allisha Grey (85) - last year of deal


Free agency completely changed the shape of the league. Hopefully there's just an early "settling in" period and we can make our own history with some consistency somewhere.

[Izulde]

I love sim worlds sometimes. Zero chance Plum Dawg leaves Vegas, but cool what-if scenario