WNBA Tanking Season Is Officially Underway for Several Teams

The WNBA’s eight playoff teams have been pretty clear for the last several weeks. That appears to have activated the tank signal for teams on the other end of the standings.

With less than 10 games remaining for each WNBA team as of Friday, the gap between the Dallas Wings (21–16) and the Portland Fire (15–20) for the final playoff spot is five games. 

The Toronto Tempo, once a threat to make the playoffs, have lost 12 consecutive games, with their last win coming against the New York Liberty on July 12—which was 40 days ago. The expansion franchise has been hammered by injuries all season; notably, max player Brittney Sykes and rookie Kiki Rice have missed a combined 34 games.

While both players have returned in recent weeks, on Wednesday against the Mystics, Sykes was ruled out for “left foot load management.” Marina Mabrey, the team’s other max player, also missed that game with a right hamstring injury, and she’s already been ruled out of Friday’s game as well.

Toronto currently has the second-best odds to win the 2027 WNBA draft lottery, and has a few more losses from jumping past the Connecticut Sun for the best odds. 

The Los Angeles Sparks have not shown the same futility as the Tempo—their losing streak is currently at six. But on Thursday, coach Lynne Roberts practically admitted that the team is tanking.

According to reporter John W. Davis, Roberts informed the team that bench players will receive additional playing time for the rest of the season, even though their starters are healthy. The Sparks currently have the fifth-best odds to win the lottery, and recently passed the Fire, who have won two in a row.

Los Angeles also traded five-time All-Star Kelsey Plum at the trade deadline.

Tanking in the WNBA is not nearly as egregious as it has been in the NBA, which recently enacted sweeping changes to address the issue. The WNBA also has a different lottery system than the NBA, taking into account a team’s standings over the last two seasons, making tanking efforts more difficult.

That is why the Seattle Storm, who went 23–19 last season, have the fourth-worst lottery odds despite having the worst record in the league this season. (Because the Tempo and Fire are expansion teams, their record this season is compared to other teams based on win percentage.) 

There are also teams that haven’t tanked because they have no incentive to do so; in particular, the Chicago Sky and Phoenix Mercury do not own the rights to their 2027 first-round picks. The Sky traded a pick swap to the Mystics last year to acquire Ariel Atkins (who is no longer on the team), while the Mercury traded their pick to acquire Plum. 

And the Fire, who control their own draft pick, seem to just want to bring the winning culture to their expansion franchise. GM Vanja Černivec told Front Office Sports in June that the team wants “to be as competitive as possible.”

“We definitely don’t want to start a franchise thinking about getting the number one draft pick next year,” she said.

But it’s not surprising why some teams have chosen to tank.

USC star JuJu Watkins is expected to be available at the top of the board for the lucky team that has the No. 1 pick in 2027. And for those who fall just short, Texas star Madison Booker and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo are also blue-chip prospects.

Considering recent drafts produced immediate superstar players including Olivia Miles (2026), Paige Bueckers (2025), Caitlin Clark (2024), and Aliyah Boston (2023), teams can rightfully believe a young star can help expedite a rebuild.