Today on The IX Sports Podcast: Women’s Basketball Edition, hosts Jackie Powell and Howard Megdal discuss the announcement that the WNBA will move to 50 regular-season games in 2027. They are also joined by a special guest to talk about the Dallas Wings’ season and talk about the current state of All-Star voting.
Season expansion
The WNBA announced this week that they will expand their regular season from 44 games in 2026 to 50 games in 2027, the League’s highest number of regular-season games ever.
“Expanding to a 50 game regular season reflects the extraordinary momentum we are seeing across the league, so we don’t know much about the schedule, the footprint, and key dates that will all be announced later,” Powell said.
Megdal said that for years, preseason games in the NBA were prioritized over postseason games in the WNBA.
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“This feels like a statement that that is changing, because no matter how you do it, unless you were to group 50 games into the same chronological footprint … this is going to mean a greater portion of the year is dedicated to the WNBA. That feels like a big deal in and of itself to me,” Megdal said.
Dallas Wings
Drake Keeler, Dallas Wings beat reporter for The IX Sports, joined Powell and Megdal to break down the team’s season so far.
There are still gaps on defense, Keeler said, particularly when it comes to teams that have a lot of length. Paige Bueckers struggled in her matchup with Gabby Williams against the Golden State Valkyries this week. This issue, Keeler said, isn’t going away any time soon.
“So I right now I would say they’re probably not in that top top tier, but you know, if someone like Alanna Smith can get going, if Arike [Ogunbowale] keeps, you know, making shots, if they just keep gelling, maybe they can get there,” Keeler said.
Court Vision: All-Star voting
Powell pulled up the most recent fan vote returns for the All-Star Game. A’ja Wilson and Paige Bueckers sitting up top was not surprising, she said. But Aliyah Boston, Powell said, is probably not the third-best player in the league right now. On top of that, Jonquel Jones is not the 28th best player in the league, Powell said.
In many ways, both hosts agreed, the fan votes reflect a sort of popularity contest for the league — and that’s okay. Media and coach votes help even the score.
Paid subscribers to The IX Sports can help weigh in on a media vote via a live Zoom Monday, June 22 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, where Megdal will fill out his All Star ballot.
Make sure to subscribe to The IX Sports Podcast for in-depth coverage of women’s soccer, hockey and basketball; and tune in each weekday morning for a quick overview of the biggest headlines on Women’s Sports Daily, like WNBA news and PWHL expansion updates.
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