WNBA Power Rankings: Time running out as teams jockey for playoff seeds

The drastic separation between the haves and have-nots has begun as the 2026 WNBA season turns into the final stretch. Time is running out for those trying to play their way into the postseason, while a clear upper tier navigates playoff seeding. One team -- Minnesota -- has officially secured a berth, while one -- Seattle -- has been officially eliminated. Every team in the league has from 10 to 13 games remaining in the regular season to essentially sprint through the final quarter of the 44-game season. Any of the teams below current No. 8-seeded Dallas (19-14) in the standings will need significant help, as the No. 9 team -- Portland (13-19) -- is 5.5 games back and not a single team currently on the outside has a winning record over the past 10 games. Trying to predict the final seeding would take a crystal ball considering the way the teams are bunched up. Golden State and Las Vegas are within 1.5 games of each other in the No. 2 and No. 3 slots. Indiana is 1.5 games behind the Aces. Then the Fever, Washington, Atlanta, New York and the Wings are all within 1.5 games of each other through Monday's games. The time to start nitpicking over every win and loss has arrived. Let's look at how each team shapes up in this week's WNBA Power Rankings. 1. Minnesota Lynx (27-7) Previous ranking: 1 Next seven days: @ POR (Aug. 12), @ LV (Aug. 15) A seven-point loss to Los Angeles on Thursday broke the Lynx's 10-game win streak and drew the wrath of coach Cheryl Reeve. But they put it in the rearview mirror with double-digit wins over Las Vegas and Dallas. In Sunday's 13-point decision over the Wings, Kayla McBride put on a show with a career-high 43 points and a WNBA single-game record 10 3-pointers. Olivia Miles has 20 points and a career-high 13 assists to become the third rookie in league history to post multiple 15-point, 10-assist games. And the Lynx are the first team to clinch a playoff spot. 2. Las Vegas Aces (22-11) Previous ranking: 3 Next seven days: vs. WAS (Aug. 11), vs. WAS (Aug. 13), vs. MIN (Aug. 15) If ties were a thing, the Aces and the Fever would both be No. 2 in this week's Power Rankings. Las Vegas needed buzzer-beaters from Chelsea Gray in regulation and overtime to win a game Indiana controlled. But the weekend ended for the Aces with losses in Minneapolis and New York on back-to-back days. A'ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Gray all sat out the Liberty game in what was a scheduling nightmare, so that loss doesn't really affect this ranking. The defending champs ultimately finished their brutal road trip 2-3, including a buzzer-beater loss to the Sky. 3. Indiana Fever (20-12) Previous ranking: 2 Next seven days: vs. NY (Aug. 11), vs. DAL (Aug. 14), @ ATL (Aug. 16) Indiana's head-to-head loss to the Aces accounts for this one-slot drop. The Fever led by 20 points with less than four minutes left in the second quarter before Vegas rallied. Indiana's week closed with a win in Chicago, as Kelsey Mitchell posted a league-record 16th consecutive 20-plus-point game and Caitlin Clark registered her WNBA single-season-record sixth game of 25-plus points and 10-plus assists. "We've been a resilient group," Indiana coach Stephanie White said. "Sometimes, we make it harder on ourselves than it needs to be, and that's just an area that we've got to continue to grow in." 4. Golden State Valkyries (23-9) Previous ranking: 5 Next seven days: vs. CHI (Aug. 12), vs. DAL (Aug. 17) Life in the San Francisco Bay Area returned to normal after a rare two-game losing streak. The Valkyries have since won four in a row by an average of 13 points -- though three of those came against the struggling Tempo and Sparks. An 18-point win over the Wings would also feel better if Dallas wasn't going through its own free fall. Golden State has already matched its win total from 2025 and is now the middle of a postseason-seeding battle. With two upcoming games against the Lynx and sitting just three games back from them, there's an opportunity for Golden State to make a run at the No. 1 seed. The remaining schedule is very manageable too, with eight of its final 12 games against teams on the outside of the playoffs -- and none against the Aces, Fever, Mystics or Dream. The Valkyries remain the No. 1 team in the league in defensive rating and scoring defense. 5. Washington Mystics (19-12) Previous ranking: 6 Next seven days: @ LV (Aug. 11), @ LV (Aug. 13), vs. LA (Aug. 15) Things keep rolling along in the nation's capital, as the Mystics have the league's longest active win streak (seven), tying a single-season franchise record. The youngest group in the WNBA knocked off two more teams (Dallas and Atlanta) ahead of it in the standings and blew out a Phoenix team that is all-in on a playoff push by 20 points. Washington has grown into the second-best scoring defense (82.6) this campaign, with the No. 2 defense rating (102.8). In the past three weeks, the Mystics have beaten the Aces, Valkyries, Wings and Dream -- and that was before adding veteran guard and former All-Star Betnijah Laney-Hamilton off waivers. 6. Atlanta Dream (20-12) Previous ranking: 4 Next seven days: @ CON (Aug. 13), vs. IND (Aug. 16) It wasn't exactly the kind of week the Dream had hoped for, as a five-game win streak ended against the Aces followed by a five-point loss to the Mystics four days later. Two wins came against the Mercury and Tempo, but those are a pair of teams in the bottom four of the standings. Since July began, the Dream have eight victories, with seven against non-playoff teams. With 12 games remaining, there should be a chance to move up the standings with meetings against the Fever, Aces, Lynx and Liberty (twice). Angel Reese on Monday recorded her franchise single-season-record 22nd double-double, which leads the WNBA. 7. New York Liberty (20-13) Previous ranking: 8 Next seven days: @ IND (Aug. 11), vs. LA (Aug. 13), @ CON (Aug. 15) The Liberty are on a four-game winning streak and have won seven of eight, seemingly putting them on the other side of a midseason lull that had them hovering at just above .500. They might still be a bit challenging to evaluate, however, as five of those victories came against teams likely to miss the postseason. In contrast, four of New York's past five losses came against likely playoff teams. Sunday's 40-point victory against the Aces would feel much better if Las Vegas' big three -- Wilson, Young and Gray -- hadn't all sat out. 8. Dallas Wings (19-14) Previous ranking: 7 Next seven days: vs. TOR (Aug. 12), @ IND (Aug. 14), @ GS (Aug. 17) Last week was ugly for Dallas: a 13-point loss in Minnesota, an 18-point loss to Golden State and a four-point loss to Washington. The Wings have now lost three in a row and six of eight. The two victories during that stretch came against likely draft lottery teams Portland and Connecticut. Defense has been an issue of late for Dallas, with opponents averaging 97.7 points in the previous three losses (even though those three foes are upper-echelon teams). The Wings were already without No. 1 draft pick Azzi Fudd (right knee) on Sunday. Then Most Improved Player contender Jessica Shepard went down with a right knee injury in the first quarter against the Lynx and did not return. 9. Portland Fire (13-19) Previous ranking: 13 Next seven days: vs. MIN (Aug. 12), @ SEA (Aug. 14), @ PHO (Aug. 16) A two-game win streak broke a five-game losing stretch to move Portland up to ninth in the standings this week, though the Fire are still 5½ games behind the Wings with 10 games remaining on the schedule. Let's add some context, though: Those two victories were against the Tempo and Storm, the two teams at the bottom of the Power Rankings. The worse news was that guard Carla Leite went down with a left knee injury two minutes into the first quarter against Seattle on Saturday and didn't return. After the game, coach Alex Sarama said they'd be very cautious with how quickly they look to return their scoring (15.5) and assists (6.2) leader. "When one of your best players is out, the strength of your team is who can then come up and keep going and you don't feel like you're skipping a beat," Sarama said. "That's the type of culture and development we're trying to create here, where your 14th player is as important as your first. You get rewarded with nights like tonight when things are going your way." 10. Chicago Sky (12-21) Previous ranking: 10 Next seven days: @ GS (Aug. 12), @ SEA (Aug. 16) Injuries have been a problem for the Sky since a 3-1 start -- and nothing changed this week. Skylar Diggins (knee) remains out, and rookie Sydney Taylor, who had become the team's best isolation operator, missed the past two games with a left groin injury. Azura Stevens, however, returned from an absence due to personal reasons. Chicago had been competitive and playing essentially .500 ball for the past month and hadn't lost by more than five points since July 10. But consistently finishing these close games has been a struggle, and it happened again Monday in Seattle, allowing the Storm to break an 11-game skid; the 97-88 loss was Chicago's first by more than five points in a month. DiJonai Carrington scored a career-high 26 points off the bench in just her sixth game of the season. 11. Los Angeles Sparks (12-19) Previous ranking: 12 Next seven days: vs. PHO (Aug. 11), @ NY (Aug. 13), @ WAS (Aug. 15) A six-point victory over Minnesota, snapping the Lynx's 10-game winning streak, was a strong start to the week, as it also ended the Sparks' six-game skid. Los Angeles was even within one point of the Valkyrie with 1:17 remaining in that game but couldn't complete the comeback. Clawing back from six games behind the Wings to claim the No. 8 playoff spot with 13 games to go is a tall order. Newly acquired Monique Akoa Makani seemed to be fitting in well, but she was sidelined Sunday with a right ankle injury. 12. Connecticut Sun (8-23) Previous ranking: 14 Next seven days: vs. ATL (Aug. 13), vs. NY (Aug. 15) The Sun halted a five-game losing streak on the day the franchise retired Alyssa Thomas' jersey. In the win against Phoenix, they were able to rally from 15 points down for the first time this season, having previously gone 0-10 in those situations. This part of the campaign is now about evaluation for a team all but mathematically eliminated from the postseason. With a move to Houston on the horizon, this final stretch could influence which players will still be around next summer. 13. Phoenix Mercury (12-22) Previous ranking: 9 Next seven days: vs. LA (Aug. 11), vs. POR (Aug. 16) The hope that sprung from the trade for Kelsey Plum is dwindling: Phoenix is 1-3 since acquiring the five-time All-Star and two-time champion. The Mercury sit 7½ games back of the Wings and the No. 8 playoff slot with just 10 games remaining, making a postseason push a significant challenge. One avenue for optimism -- if they can take care of business -- is that the Mercury will face the Mystics and Wings twice more with a chance to make up some ground. However, Plum left Sunday's game with left calf tightness and did not return. In that contest, DeWanna Bonner also became the 10th player in WNBA history to record 700 career 3-pointers. 14. Toronto Tempo (10-22) Previous ranking: 13 Next seven days: @ DAL (Aug. 12) The Tempo have lost nine consecutive games as they continue to plummet in the standings. Only five expansion teams have lost nine straight in league history. They are one loss away from joining five other expansion teams that have lost 23-plus games in their inaugural season. The best news is that rookie Kiki Rice has returned after being sidelined for nearly two months with an ankle sprain. On Monday, Marina Mabrey continued her career year with a seventh game of seven or more 3-point field goals. Her 36 points resulted in her sixth 30-point game in 2026, which trails only A'ja Wilson. 15. Seattle Storm (7-28) Previous ranking: 15 Next seven days: vs. POR (Aug. 14), vs. CHI (Aug. 16) The losing streak had reached 11 games before the Storm put an end to it with a 97-88 win over the Sky on Monday. Still, Seattle became the first team to be officially eliminated from the playoffs. This was expected to be a rebuilding year, but the Storm are just one game shy of tying the franchise record for the most losses in a season. Dominique Malonga, who earned an All-Star nod in her second season, tallied her third straight game of 20-plus points on Monday (26 points, 10 rebounds) for the first time in her career.