Happy Sunday! Welcome to The Next’s Daily Briefing, featuring the W and NCAA Roundups and daily Watch List. Day 26 of the WNBA season is here, featuring, well, everything. For the 25th time in WNBA history — and for the 21st time in the middle of the regular season — the schedule features every team in the league playing on the same day, per Kurtis Zimmerman of Across The Timeline.
Now, you may be thinking ‘how wonderful, a day chock-full of basketball!’ But I’ve got bad news for you: all six of the games on today’s schedule tip off within a four-hour span, and four of them are completely concurrent! And none are on national television!
As the title reads: fire the schedule-maker.
But first, read:
- Our Antonio Losada gives you the EuroLeague rundown, including one Italian club’s bid to become the next superteam
- I open up a mailbag full of questions on the Storm, from vibes to Ezi Magbegor to matchups and more!
- Our Jacqueline LeBlanc details the odyssey of a Sun week that includes four games in six days
- Our Tony East recaps this week in Fever, including contextualizing their coaching change and the addition of a legend to the staff
- Basketball News’ Mark Schindler breaks down what makes the Sky’s defense so good
- OregonLive’s Aaron Fentress reports on Portland’s eagerness for an expansion team
W Roundup
Connecticut: Big Stephanie Jones’ hardship terminated, with big Joyner Holmes clearing health and safety protocols
Seattle: Combo guard Kiana Williams’ emergency hardship terminated, with point guard Sue Bird and big Ezi Magbegor clearing health and safety protocols
Watch List, Sunday, June 5
(All times in Eastern, Game Of The Day in bold)
Minnesota @ New York, 2 p.m., League Pass (Local: Bally Sports North Extra, YES)
Indiana @ Atlanta, 3 p.m., League Pass (Local: Indiana Fever Livestream, Bally Sports South)
Washington @ Chicago, 6 p.m., Amazon Prime video (Local: Monumental, Marquee) — would be Game Of The Day, but Elena Delle Donne is out
Dallas @ Las Vegas, 6 p.m., League Pass (Local: Bally Sports Southwest Extra, My LV TV)
Los Angeles @ Phoenix, 6 p.m., League Pass/Facebook (Local: Spectrum SportsNet, Bally Sports Arizona)
Connecticut @ Seattle, 6 p.m., League Pass (Local: NESN+, JOEtv/Amazon Prime video)
NCAA Roundup
Transfer portal
Out of the portal:
- Morasha Wiggins: The off-ball guard out of North Carolina committed to Arizona State
