Caitlin Clark struggled in her first 15 minutes in the WNBA as she remained scoreless before rumping up her performance in the remaining of the game where the Indiana Fever were blown out by the Connecticut Sun, 71-92. Clark had 10 turnovers in her first official WNBA game and finished with 21 points and five triples.
Alyssa Thomas led the Sun with 13 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, registering the 12th triple-double of her career. DeWanna Bonner added 20 points and DiJonai Carrington had 16 for the winning side.
Jonquel Jones scored 25 points, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton added 20 and New York opened the season with an 85-80 victory over Washington. The last season WNBA finalists were down 67-59 after three quarters, but outscored their opponents 26-13 in the final quarter to get the win.
WNBA champions show why they are the favorites to three-peat
The Las Vegas Aces entered the season opener with high effort and build an early lead holding off the late Phoenix Mercury comeback to get an 80-89 win in front of a sold out crown in Michelob Ultra Arena. A’ja Wilson was the player of the game with 30 points and 13 rebounds, while Jackie Young added 23 points for Las Vegas and Kelsey Plum scored 19.
Diana Taurasi led the Mercury with 23 points and Jackie Young had 19 in her official debut with her new team. Before the game, the Aces were given their championship rings and a banner was unveiled, raised and placed next to the 2022 one.
Alanna Smith scored 16 of her career-high 22 in the first half, Napheesa Collier added 20 points including several big plays in the fourth quarter and Minnesota beat Seattle 83-70 in the WNBA season opener. The Lynx decided to spoil the Seattle debuts of Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike.
The Storm ended last season with 11 wins and 29 losses having the worst record in the league. The new-look Storm were not able to get the win in the season opener. Diggins-Smith returned to the floor after missing the 2023 season while on maternity leave and Ogwumike left behind LA for the first time in her WNBA career.
