Womens Hoops

WNBA: Aces and Storm’s hopes lie with No. 1 picks — seven of them

WNBA: Aces and Storm’s hopes lie with No. 1 picks — seven of them

The WNBA semifinals are wide open with four teams that each have a legitimate shot at winning it all. That’s because they each have a ton of talent. And in the case of the Aces/Storm series there are seven former No. 1 draft picks participating.

The Storm know very well the value of loading up on No. 1 picks. They drafted back-to-back No. 1s in 2001 (Lauren Jackson) and 2002 (Sue Bird) and that duo led them to championships in 2004 and 2010. The Storm won again in 2018 and 2020 with three No. 1 picks: Bird, Jewell Loyd (2015) and Breanna Stewart (2016). The Minnesota Lynx dynasty that won four championships from 2011 to 2017 also featured multiple No. 1 picks: Seimone Augustus (2006) and Maya Moore (2011), as did the 2014 champion Phoenix Mercury: Diana Taurasi (2004) and Brittney Griner (2013).

In all these cases, the team won the championship within three years of drafting the second No. 1 pick: Storm 2002 to 2004 and 2015 to 2018; Lynx 2011; Mercury 2013 to 2014. The 2022 Aces are a year behind schedule as it has been four years since they picked up their second No. 1 pick and three years since they picked up their third. But the Aces have been in the mix for a title both of the past two seasons. They were the No. 1 seed in 2020 and made it all the way to the Finals and then were heavy favorites to win it all entering 2021 and ended one win away from returning to the Finals.

Now, the Aces are again the No. 1 seed and are expected to make the Finals, where some expect them to fall to the defending champion Chicago Sky, though they beat the Sky in this year’s Commissioner’s Cup. 2018 No. 1 pick A’ja Wilson has been the best player in the league this season and has a good shot at winning her second regular-season MVP award. Meanwhile, Vegas’ two other No. 1 picks — Kelsey Plum (2017) and Jackie Young (2019) — have not had as great careers as Wilson, but both joined her as superstars in 2022 with Most Improved-caliber seasons. Though the Aces had better winning percentages in 2020 and 2021, many feel they have played their best basketball in franchise history with Wilson, Plum and Young leading the way in 2022 — better than the way they played when Liz Cambage was Wilson’s co-superstar and Plum and Young had lesser roles.

Meanwhile, the Storm have added yet another No. 1 pick to give them four total. It wasn’t through the draft; 2012 WNBA MVP Tina Charles came to the team after a…

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