ESPN's WNBA power rankings are the fully predictable team, and there's almost no one expected. The same goes for last season’s WNBA Finals teams, New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx, and Indiana Fever, which most league followers believe will be one of the most exciting people of 2025.

But the Washington Mystics started at the bottom of most preseason predictions with a new coach and two rookies, shocking the weekend’s opening weekend, capturing everyone’s attention with two wins.

But it was a tough start for top draft picks Paige Bueckers and Dallas Wings. The Bueckers are going through a lot of first-place experiences as they usually join teams that struggled the previous season. Dallas scored 9-31 in 2024, only surpassing Los Angeles in the final ranking. By Monday, the wings sit at the bottom of 0-2.

Bueckers can go home to Minnesota this week, although no one is looking forward to playing Lynx. They looked deeper than last season and took the first place in Week 1.

Pre-season ranking: 2

The next seven days: vs. Dal (Wednesday), with Con (Friday)

In the victory in Dallas and Washington, Napheesa Collier led the lead with 57 points, with Jessica Shepard leading the rebounds (18) and Courtney Williams and assists (19). It’s no surprise to see threesomes that regularly lead these categories this season. Shepard's return after his disappearance last season adds to the depth of the Bobcats due to priority rules. Minnesota shot 50.4% from the field in two games and scored 27 assists per game.

Pre-season ranking: 1

The next seven days: @ chi (Thursday), @ Ind (Saturday)

Freed to collect jewels from the 2024 champions, then continued to master the mastery of the past year or more against Las Vegas, and won a 92-78 opener in Brooklyn on Saturday. Despite hitting 21 from 3-pointers, New York scored 25 points with 25 points from Breanna Stewart, Natasha Cloud's free debut and Jonquel Jones' 17 points.

Pre-season ranking: 4

The next seven days: vs. ATL (Tuesday), @ATL (Tuesday), to New York (Saturday)

The fever controlled their 93-58 victory over Chicago from the start and looked just as good offense and defense, with Caitlin Clark taking a triple-double. They faced Atlanta twice this week after defeating five dream games on May 10 preseason, but the dream Brittney Griner had only two minutes of cameo in that game. The performance with her will be a more interesting showdown.

Pre-season ranking: 12

The next seven days: @GS (Wednesday), @LV (Friday), @pho (Sunday)

Early weeks of the season could lead to some teams standing out in the power rankings…not necessarily staying there. But it may also be that the mystics intend to surprise most WNBA observers and stay in the first half of the league. The Mystics opened with a victory against Atlanta and Connecticut, after Brittney Sykes' total 49 points and 12 assists.

Pre-season ranking: 7

The next seven days: Against Los Angeles (Wednesday), @Sea (Friday), and (Sunday)

It seems that last season’s top scorer Kahleah Copper will end four to six weeks after knee arthroscopy, while Natasha Mack will miss two to three weeks due to a back injury, which doesn’t seem to curb the mercury spirit. They won the opening game against Seattle 81-59. Satou Sabally (27 points) and Alyssa Thomas (20) have a lot of matches starting with Mercury.

Pre-season ranking: 10

The next seven days: @pho (Wednesday), to GS (Friday), to Chi (Sunday)

Sparks controlled Friday's 84-67 victory in Golden's franchise opener, second only to Kelsey Plum's 37-point debut in Los Angeles. The former Vegas star then scored 18 points Sunday when the spark fell in Minnesota's home opener. Plum is also a top distributor for Sparks, with 11 assists in total.

Pre-season ranking: 3

The next seven days: @con (Tuesday), vs. Yes (Friday), @sea (Sunday)

ACE beat Liberty in the 2023 WNBA Finals. Since then, they have lost seven of New York’s seven games in the last eight games, including the team’s season opener Saturday. Dominating MVP A'ja Wilson left in 2024 with 31 points and 16 rebounds. But Jewell Loyd's ace made his debut, scoring 5-point 10 in the game.

Pre-season ranking: 6

The next seven days: vs. pho (Friday), versus LV (Sunday)

It wasn't an interesting opener for the Storm, who finished second on any team in Saturday's 81-59 loss at Phoenix. But they rebounded with a 79-71 victory in Dallas on Monday. Nneka Ogwumike led with 23 points and 18 rebounds, while Skylar Diggins scored 21 points and 9 assists.

Pre-season ranking: 5

The next seven days: @Ind (Tuesday), against IND (Thursday), against DAL (Saturday), against Con (Sunday)

Dream scored 90 points in Friday's opener, and last season, they only reached three times as the team with the lowest score in the WNBA. However, they gave up 94 in their losses to Washington. Atlanta is now back-to-back against Indiana, which is a difficult offense to keep up.

Pre-season ranking: 8

The next seven days: @ min (Wednesday), @ATL (Saturday)

The Wings started a tough start, though certainly their losses were in Minnesota and Seattle, two of the top six teams in the preseason. First-place draft pick Paige Bueckers scored 10 points and 7 rebounds in the Wings opener and 19 points and 8 assists in her second professional game. Defender Arike Ogunbowale struggles in the wild: 6 of 26 (23.1%).

Pre-season ranking: 11

The next seven days: vs. LV (Tuesday), @min (Friday), @ATL (Sunday)

With so many faces defining the franchise, the new-looking Suns lost to Washington's opener 90-85 on Sunday. Tina Charles has 23 points despite five players scoring in double digits. But the Suns' defense put Washington hitting 51.6%, which is a problem.

Pre-season ranking: 9

The next seven days: Against New York (Thursday), @la (Sunday)

Any time Saturday lost 93-58 in Indiana, the Sky didn't look good on the offensive end, hitting 29.1%. But Tyler Marsh has a new coach in the new backcourt of Courtney Vandersloot, Kia Nurse and Ariel Atkins. In addition, fever is good. We will see how Chicago deals with such an attractive opening.

Pre-season ranking: 13

The next seven days: vs. Yes (Wednesday), @la (Friday)

Valkyries is full of fan enthusiasm for Friday’s first competition. But they ran out of gasoline in the fourth quarter with a seven-point fourth-quarter loss to Los Angeles 84-67. Highlights include veteran Tiffany Hayes' 19 points and nine rebounds. Plus, they just stand out.