The 2026 WNBA season arrives with so many fascinating topics at the forefront of everything. But before the regular season tips off on Friday, May 8, we’ve got preseason basketball to dissect.
Here are four compelling storylines that deserve your full attention.
New Dallas Wings head coach Jose Fernandez has done a masterful job of saying a lot without actually revealing much.
Through training camp and post-draft pressers, he’s spoken in glowing terms about his roster’s versatility and his desire to create a “totally different language” on both ends of the floor, but specifics remain hidden.
One of the biggest unknowns is offensive structure. Paige Bueckers, coming off a Rookie of the Year season, is being pushed by Fernandez to expand her 3-point volume. Her sophomore leap could be the difference between the Wings being a darkhorse playoff team and a lottery team.
Meanwhile, Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 overall pick out of UConn, enters as one of the most efficient shooters to join the league in years, having shot 45.5 percent from deep and 95.5 percent from the free throw line in her final college season. The Wings finished second to last in 3-point rate in 2025, and Fudd is an immediate fix for that, but exactly how much she’ll be asked to do, especially defensively, remains an open question.
Add Arike Ogunbowale back into the equation alongside new free agent additions Alanna Smith and Jessica Shepard, and you have some dangerous offensive options at guard plus frontcourt talent that can play inside-out and pass exceptionally well.
The starting lineup is a genuine mystery regarding that presumptive fifth spot. Does the three-guard look with Bueckers, Ogunbowale and Fudd lead to any defensive concerns? How fast will this team play? Preseason is the first chance to get a glimpse at the answers to these questions.
Perhaps no signing this offseason generated more buzz than the Las Vegas Aces bringing in Chennedy Carter on a training camp contract.
Carter is one of the most gifted guards in the world, she ranked 12th in WNBA scoring in her last full season with the Chicago Sky in 2024, but she’s also been unsigned in two of the last three seasons, spending time in China and Mexico, with multiple reports citing locker room issues at each of her previous stops in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Their locker room, anchored by championship veterans with tons of continuity, is focused on repeating as champions, and head coach Becky Hammon is precisely the kind of leader who can manage strong personalities.
The structure is there, but preseason is when we find out how Carter actually fits from a basketball perspective.
Chennedy Carter on signing with the Las Vegas Aces after a year away from the WNBA:"I feel like I've grown, matured, and I've took time to myself to find out what really matters to me and where I need to be… So far, it was the best decision I've ever made in my life.” pic.twitter.com/GnQj2ONmOC
The Aces switched heavily on defense during their late-season turnaround, anchored by A’ja Wilson’s rim protection and the versatility of Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray to guard up multiple positions. Carter, while being a monster on offense, is too small to handle the same task, so what will this mean for the team? Will this affect the lineups she is able to play in? And offensively, does she accept a bench role, and how will she fit without the ball in her hands?
Preseason won’t give us a definitive verdict, but it could tell us a lot about whether this is the start of a comeback story for Chennedy or just a short-term experiment.
The 2026 draft class, despite not having the top-level talent of previous years, certainly brings a lot of intrigue. Azzi Fudd, Olivia Miles, Awa Fam, Lauren Betts and Flau’Jae Johnson headline a class that also has a ton of underrated talent all fighting for one award.
On paper, several of these players have legitimate cases to start on day one. Miles will be stepping into the point guard role for a Lynx offense that is going through a semi-rebuild and will be without the services of Napheesa Collier for the beginning of the season.
Fudd’s shooting opens the floor in Dallas and demands a starting role. Fam, at 19 years old with professional experience in Spain, is built for immediate minutes, especially with Ezi Magebegor being out for at least two months.
But here’s the honest complication: Preseason for rookies is a notoriously unreliable indicator.
The jump from an NCAA season, which ended just two weeks ago, to playing professional competition with almost no transition time is brutal. Coaches often use preseason to evaluate depth, experiment with lineups and build conditioning, not showcase their best product.