July 10, 2026

Valkyries Daily: A'ja Wilson Is Back, and First Place Just Got Crowded

A'ja Wilson returned from a three-game absence Thursday to drop 32 on Portland and pull Las Vegas into a 16-6 tie with Minnesota atop the WNBA. The Valkyries, on a franchise-record six-game win streak, sit half a game back and visit a Connecticut team missing Brittney Griner and Aneesah Morrow tonight on ION.

The top of the league got harder overnight

The Valkyries did not play Thursday, but the standings moved anyway. A'ja Wilson came back from the right leg injury that had cost her three games and went for 32 points and 10 rebounds in an 88-80 Aces win at Portland, per the Associated Press. It was her seventh 30-point game this season. Jackie Young added 19 and 11 assists. The win pushed Las Vegas to 16-6, level with Minnesota for the best record in the league.

That is the unwelcome part for Golden State. The ESPN standings now read Las Vegas 16-6 and Minnesota 16-6 tied for first, with the Valkyries 16-7 in third, a half-game back. Golden State has won six in a row, a franchise record, and is 8-2 over its last 10, yet has not picked up a full game on the lead in a week because the teams ahead keep winning too.

The scarier detail is who Minnesota is doing it without. The Lynx have been without Napheesa Collier all season as she returns from offseason ankle surgery, and rookie All-Star starter Olivia Miles has missed the last two games with a right calf strain, with a possible return Saturday against New York. Minnesota is 16-6 and tied for first largely without its two best players. Las Vegas, meanwhile, just got its MVP back. The Valkyries' path up did not close this week, but the two teams blocking it both look closer to full strength than they did a week ago.

The opening tonight is real anyway. Both co-leaders are off Friday, so a Valkyries win in Connecticut would pull Golden State even with the 16-6 pair in the games-back column. Winning percentage would still rank them third, since Minnesota and Las Vegas have each played two fewer games, but the chase would be down to one co-leader loss.

Tonight: Valkyries at Sun, 4:30 PT on ION

Golden State closes the front end of its five-game road trip at Connecticut, game four of five and the third game in five days for a team that has leaned hard on its bench to survive that stretch.

• Tip: Friday, July 10, 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT, Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville.
• TV: ION, national broadcast. Streaming on WNBA League Pass via Prime Video.
• Line: Golden State is a 7.5-point favorite, total around 154.
• Road trip so far: 3-0, with wins at Atlanta, Washington, and Toronto. The Valkyries are 6-4 away from home. The trip ends July 15 at Indiana.

The only prior meeting this year was a 97-70 Golden State rout on May 25, when the Valkyries never trailed, hit 13 of 33 from three, and forced Connecticut into 18 turnovers. That was a 4-2 Valkyries team beating a 1-7 Sun team. Connecticut is 5-17 now and still last, but it is a different team than the one Golden State blew out in May.

Connecticut is down its two best bigs

The Sun will be without the two players who did the damage in their signature win. Brittney Griner is out with a left quad strain, the same injury that sidelined her for the rematch loss to Minnesota on Wednesday. Aneesah Morrow is out for reconditioning as well.

That strips Connecticut of its interior. Griner had a season-high 29 points and 10 rebounds in the 90-89 upset of Minnesota in Minneapolis, the result that cracked the race open for Golden State last week. Morrow is the Sun's leading scorer at 10.5 points per game and their leading rebounder at 9.4. Take both off a team already 14th in scoring (80.0 ppg) and 10th in points allowed (86.7), and what is left is a perimeter group of Leila Lacan, Saniya Rivers, Aaliyah Edwards, Diamond Miller, and Hailey Van Lith trying to outscore a top-three defense.

Connecticut has earned some benefit of the doubt. The Sun are 3-2 over their last five, including that win over the Lynx and a competitive 86-80 loss in the rematch. Griner, before sitting out, framed the turnaround plainly to reporters last week: "We're going hard; we're trying to get better. The wins weren't coming the way we wanted them to come, but they are starting to come, and that's because of that hard work that we're putting in." She will not be on the floor to back that up tonight.

Film room: the paint is where this gets decided

The matchup breaks down to one pattern. Golden State's defense is built to punish a thinned frontcourt. The Valkyries allow a league-low 76.7 points and a league-low 31.6 paint points per game, and they do it while guarding without fouling and taking care of the ball, committing a league-low 10.6 turnovers. Connecticut, now missing the 6-foot-9 Griner and its leading rebounder in Morrow, has to manufacture offense almost entirely from the perimeter.

That is a bad combination for the Sun. In the May 25 meeting, Connecticut scored 22 in the first quarter and then 8 in the second, finished with 18 turnovers, and watched Olivia Nelson-Ododa foul out trying to handle the inside. Expect Golden State to crowd the paint, dare Connecticut's guards to shoot over the top, and run off the misses. The Valkyries lead the league in threes made at 10.7 per game; the Sun make just 5.1, 15th in the WNBA. If Golden State turns this into a defense-and-transition game, the spacing only widens.

The one lever Connecticut has is offensive rebounding. The Sun are second in the league on the offensive glass at 9.9 per game, and without Morrow that number figures to drop, but Nelson-Ododa and Edwards on the boards are the cleanest path for Connecticut to keep this close. If the Valkyries rebound and do not give the ball away, the math is hard to see the Sun solving.

Gabby Williams is a game-time call

The one injury to watch on Golden State's side is the one that matters most. Gabby Williams is questionable with the back contusion she suffered on a hard third-quarter fall in Toronto on Wednesday, when she landed awkwardly competing for a rebound with Maria Conde and did not return. She is the team's leading scorer at 15.0 points per game and its only All-Star starter.

Head coach Natalie Nakase downplayed the long-term concern after the Toronto win, telling reporters, "I actually did not check with medical, but she was smiling, so that's all I can say." The All-Star Game is July 25 in Chicago, and any back injury between now and then is worth monitoring. For tonight, the bench model that outscored the starters 52-31 in Toronto is the safety net if Williams sits or is limited, with Janelle Salaun and Kaitlyn Chen carrying the closing unit.

Tracking the league

• Indiana won without Caitlin Clark. The Fever beat Phoenix 92-89 on Thursday, with Kelsey Mitchell scoring 29 and hitting the go-ahead layup with 10.1 seconds left. Clark sat the second night of the back-to-back for rest, as expected. Indiana is 13-9, and the Valkyries visit the Fever on July 15 to close the road trip. Clark's status for that one is the open question.
• Atlanta ended its skid. The Dream beat Seattle 89-78 as Allisha Gray scored 22 and Angel Reese posted her league-best 15th double-double, stopping a five-game losing streak. Atlanta and Indiana are now tied at 13-9, four games behind Golden State.
• The All-Star replacement door for Veronica Burton stays ajar. Burton was the closest Valkyrie to a reserve nod and remains the obvious injury-replacement candidate. A'ja Wilson's return closes her slot, but Olivia Miles' calf and Kelsey Plum's longer-term absence are the two still-open names. Miles could return as soon as Saturday against New York, which would narrow that door again.

Six in a row, half a game out, and a shorthanded opponent between the Valkyries and a virtual tie for first. Tip is at 4:30 Pacific on ION.

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