Jones will miss the Liberty’s rematch against the Valkyries after recording a 13/10/5/1/1 line against them on Tuesday in a blowout win. Thursday’s absence will serve as the first missed game of the season for the reigning WNBA Finals MVP, who is off to a strong opening to her ninth season, amidst the Liberty’s perfect 4-0 start. She is averaging her most points and rebounds per game since the 2021 season, while currently seeing a career-best in assists per game. In addition to Jones, reserve center Nyara Sabally will also miss Thursday’s game for the Liberty, leaving opportunities for Kennedy Burke and Isabelle Harrison to step into larger roles and produce.

Bonner has struggled in the early going of this young WNBA season. Part of her struggles have been due to playing with a completely new set of players, but the other end of it is she’s playing at a completely different pace as a 37-year-old. With Caitlin Clark at the helm of the offense, the Fever boast the highest pace in the WNBA due to the fact that Clark and Kelsey Mitchell operate at their best offensively in transition. Bonner has played years on teams that were successful playing at a much slower pace. Without Clark available on Wednesday night, Bonner was a bit more comfortable in half-court play and wasn’t rushing her shots. Also, Bonner’s performance helped her become the first player in WNBA history to reach 7,500 points, 3,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists for her career.

Sykes applied a lot of rim pressure on Wednesday night, blowing by a vulnerable Fever perimeter defense to score almost half of her total points within ten feet of the rim, in addition to that other half coming mostly via her six trips to the line, most of which occurred in the second half. Along with KiKi Iriafen, Sykes carried Washington in the fourth quarter, scoring over 42 percent of her points in the final frame. When Sykes wasn’t scoring the basketball, she was providing secondary rim protection along with keeping the Mystics humming in transition to exploit a sluggish Fever defense.

Plum stayed hot for the second consecutive game, efficiently shooting her way to her fourth 25-point outing of the season. Meanwhile, the former Sixth Player of the Year also continues to make waves defensively; Plum’s four steals against Atlanta marked the third time this season she’s reached that number in a single game. Her three-point shooting is noteworthy from a fantasy standpoint. Plum’s now made at least three triples in all but one of the six games thus far and has tallied four makes on three different occasions. In conclusion, she is producing at a high level on both ends of the floor to begin the fantasy season.

The Fever suffered a significant loss on Monday, as the team announced that Clark is facing a multi-week absence. And this is the same leg that kept Clark out of Indiana’s preseason opener. One of the most productive players in fantasy basketball, the reigning Rookie of the Year’s absence leaves a massive hole in the Fever rotation. While Sydney Colson is Clark’s potential replacement in the starting lineup, this injury is more likely to boost the fantasy values of starter Kelsey Mitchell, as Colson is not much of a scorer.

Sunday’s game is the Dream’s second in as many days, after they beat the Wings on Saturday. Griner will sit to rest her left knee, and she’s been replaced in the starting lineup by Nia Coffey. Griner’s absence also means more opportunities for starter Brionna Jones. Joining Coffey and Jones in the starting lineup are Maya Caldwell, Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray.

For the third time in her career (and the first time since 2023), Gray scored exactly 27 points, which was enough to lead both teams in scoring and held Atlanta improve to 2-2. Gray was held to just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting in Atlanta’s loss on Thursday, so this type of bounce-back performance was encouraging. She also set a new season-high for blocks as she got things done on both ends of the floor and got back on track from distance after missing all five of her three-point attempts on Thursday. Gray will look to keep this going against Connecticut on Sunday, which will be the second leg of a back-to-back.

Indiana’s starting unit for Saturday’s nationally televised game against the defending champion Liberty will look different than what it has through the team’s first three games of the season. Veteran forward DeWanna Bonner has been replaced in the lineup by fourth-year guard Lexie Hull, who is averaging a career-best 8.3 points per game off the bench. While Hull’s promotion is noteworthy, Bonner’s move to the bench comes as an early-season surprise. The veteran forward was seen as a key acquisition by the Fever during this offseason in their attempt to reach championship contention. Bonner is off to a slow start, posting averages of 2.7 points and 4.7 rebounds in her debut season with Indiana.

Plum began the game shooting efficiently off of looks she got cutting to the basket or picking the pockets of opponents and scoring at the other end. But in the final three quarters, the Valkyries perimeter defense, primarily Veronica Burton did an exceptional job of keeping in front of Plum and contesting her shots. When Plum drove through the lane, her penetration was met with rim protection from Kayla Thornton, Temi Fágbénlé and Janelle Salaün.