ESPN, which has presented the WNBA since the league’s inception in 1997, will once again feature a full slate of regular season games during its 29th season, in addition to being the exclusive home of the entire WNBA postseason. Regular season coverage begins Saturday, May 17 with the WNBA Tip Off Presented by CarMax doubleheader featuring Las Vegas Aces visiting the New York Liberty (1 p.m. ET), followed by Indiana Fever hosting the Chicago Sky (3 p.m. ET).  For the second consecutive year, the marquee doubleheader will be available on Disney+, in addition to ABC and ESPN+.

TIM CORRIGAN: Opening weekend is just indicative of what we’re doing to do all year as we kind of put more resources into everything we’re doing, so whether it’s the ring ceremony coming out of Brooklyn, having Elle, Chiney and Andraya there to be at the presentation of the ring ceremony, Pam Ward, LaChina Robinson and Christine Williams calling the game, having major presence from the beginning of the day all the way through, and then we’re going to fire up our LA studio also on Saturday. Malika Andrews who’s joining us to be our point on the ESPN WNBA Countdown show for the season, Malika, Monica McNutt and Carolyn Peck will be on the set for between games and then transition us to the Chicago-Indiana game, where Ryan, Rebecca and Holly will call that game.

So it’s literally a cast of stars on our end, as well, and in addition to being there to start the season with the defending champions and the ring ceremony, the fact that we’re going to expand our footprint not only to what we did last year with Elle, Chiney and Andraya and the ABC show that will come out of Bristol this year, but we’re opening up the facility in LA that we use for our NBA coverage and having Malika be the host there with Monica and Carolyn Peck during the season will really — it just speaks to more resources, our commitment to what we’re doing with professional basketball year-round.

The games are the thing, but everything, all the programming we’re going to do around them is going to be elevated, as well, and we’re just — we couldn’t be more excited for this thing to get started, and I love who we have out in the field and in the studio both in front of the camera and behind the camera. Let’s go!

THE MODERATOR: Thanks so much, Tim. I want to jump right into the Q&A. We see quite a few questions already.

Tim, just wanted to follow up. I know that there’s obviously some interest, unique workflows, different REMCOs and onsites and everything, but when you identify key points in the schedule, be them big matchups, tent poles like All-Star Games, in your view, what is that step up for you all now? What are you adding to the equation? Is it the on-site studio show? Is it certain calibers of cameras? What’s taking it to the next level in this year of the WNBA?

TIM CORRIGAN: Yeah, I’d say all of the above. There will be more REMCO productions this year. I’d say I think 30 percent more than what we’ve done in the past. Again, that’s just a commitment to the games we’re going to cover and the stars who are out in the field in these games. We need to elevate our presentation as this sport grows. It’s clearly an ascending property, and if you look at the numbers of where it elevated to last year, we have the thought that it’s going to continue to grow, being with our talent group in New York a couple weeks ago for the W draft and how the influx of that group is just going to continue to build out and these teams are going to be better and better.

I think it’s our responsibility to upgrade our productions, both in the studio side and I think the LA facility will be a great addition. It’s one of the best studios we have in our company, and to make that a home for the W is going to be great on the ESPN side.

As you all know, we have a daily NBA Today show that Malika Andrews hosts, and we’re going to find a lot more W content on that during the summertime, as well, just because there’s opportunity, and it deserves to be showcased in that.

So think about players coming to play against the Sparks and then dropping into the studio in the afternoon, either the day before or whatever the case might be, which is exactly what we do on the NBA side, and we’ve found great success with that.

I just think all the way around in all ways, we’re looking to elevate everything we can.

1. I have a question for Ryan. I cover the Chicago Sky, and they’ve been talking a lot about wanting to play with pace and space on offense. I also feel like I hear that from every team around the league. I’m just curious if you think that that’s an advantage at this point, playing at that style, or is that just what it is now?

RYAN RUOCCO: Well, I think it’s kind of both things. I think that in general, basketball across the board at every level has trended more and more towards pace and space. But when you do it right, it is an advantage, and if you have the personnel to do it.

I think Rebecca and I have just talked about this in our text messages watching games throughout the preseason. I think Chicago looks really good playing that way.

I think they’re going to have a lot of success under Tyler. I think that in some ways, their roster and the prognostications for them are probably underrating them a little bit. I think they’re going to be a really good team.

I think they also have some players who have come in in tip-top shape. As impactful as Angel was a season ago, she just looks terrific watching her in the preseason and I think will get to display a different level of skill herself in pace and space, a player who spent most of her youth career as a guard getting to show some of those skills, as well.

Plus they just added shooting. I love the addition for them of Rebecca Allen. I think it’s massive.

So I think across the board, there’s going to be some — I think they’re going to have shooting that really can allow them to play — obviously Ariel Atkins is a player who you’ve got to guard from the three-point line who’s fast, who can ball handle, who can play with space. I think a lot of their players are going to benefit from it.

Question for Ryan and one for Rebecca. For the Sky-Fever game on Saturday, have you found there to be a true rivalry between the teams, or is it more a manifestation of Clark versus Reese? Then for Rebecca, Angel does get most of the publicity on the team, but Kamilla Cardoso was drafted first and I wonder what you thought she needed to do to take the next step in her development?

RYAN RUOCCO: Yeah, I think a lot of this depends on what your definition of rivalry is because for me, I think it absolutely is a rivalry now. The way I look at it is do those regular-season games feel bigger; does that matchup feel bigger; does it feel more significant than any other two teams on the schedule in a regular-season game, and I think what we saw last year is every single one of those Indiana-Chicago games felt bigger, and that was with two teams that were battling just to make it into the Playoffs, never mind contend.

For me, it is a rivalry. Obviously the core of that rivalry is Caitlin and Angel, but I don’t think that anything about that makes or should make anyone dismiss the idea that it is a rivalry. Think about Colts-Patriots for all those years. What was at the core of that rivalry? It was Peyton and it was Brady. So you developed that.

I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have felt like it was a huge rivalry if all of a sudden one of those quarterbacks wasn’t there. You don’t feel that way about it anymore.

I just think that naturally in sports, that is the way that certain rivalries come about. It happens with two central stars, and we have that in this matchup and presumably will have it for a long time.

Then the other part of it that I think just poured gasoline on it being a rivalry last year was the games were amazing. If you go back and look at those matchups between them, they were incredibly well-played, highly competitive games with a lot of dramatic moments.

For me, absolutely, no question, I believe it is a rivalry, and I think it’s one that’s only going to grow as the stakes for what these teams are playing for continue to grow, meaning they’re more and more of a legitimate contender for deeper playoff positioning or a championship someday.

Angel Reese gets most of the publicity on the team, but Kamilla Cardoso was drafted four spots ahead of her. What does she need to do to take the next step in her development and become a star in her own right?

REBECCA LOBO: Well, I thought she had a really solid rookie campaign a season ago, and I think this year the style they’re playing in Chicago is going to be really conducive to her. Not only the style but the pieces she has around her.

Last year she and Angel were inside, and they didn’t have shooting around them, so they didn’t have the space to really be able to maneuver and do what they would want to do in the paint. We’ve already seen it in some of their preseason games, but now with three-point shooters surrounding them, that will be a much bigger piece to what Chicago does. That will give them more room to operate. Even when Angel and Kamilla are on the floor together, you see Angel farther away from the basket facilitating. We saw that throughout some of the preseason games in terms of the high-low action that they had with Angel passing inside to Kamilla.

I’m eager to see what she can do with the different pieces around her, the different system that she’ll be playing in and just the natural growth you see from a player between her rookie and sophomore campaigns.

I have one for Rebecca and then just a clarifying question for Tim. Rebecca, New York has made it very clear that they are running a new, more modern five-out offense this season. I guess from the early preseason action you’ve seen, what exactly looks most different about their offense, and why was what they were running last year, I guess, not considered five-out?

REBECCA LOBO: Well, preseason is hard to base anything on. Stewie doesn’t play in one of the preseason games and you’re trying to integrate all different kind of pieces.

I’m eager to see what teams look like — New York Liberty and a lot of — and everybody for the most part but especially teams with new coaches, what they’re going to look like the first weekend of the season, the first week of the season as they go forward because that’s going to be a little bit more of a true showcase of what a team is going to do.

New York had so much success and looked so good the past couple of years, playing pace and playing space and often having five out with J.J. being able to roll inside or being able to drive and kick and do some of the other things that they like to do.

But you can glean some things from preseason. Other things can be a little bit more challenging just based on the personnel that’s out there and in that case, especially in their first or second preseason game, who wasn’t out there in terms of Stewie.

Tim, you were mentioning the ring ceremony. I just wanted to get clarification. So you all will be broadcasting the full ring and banner ceremony before tip-off?

TIM CORRIGAN: That is correct.

We’re starting to hear more about Caitlin Clark adding a little muscle from an off-season training regimen. What did you see from her last year that made you think she needed to get stronger, and what do you think of the results so far?

REBECCA LOBO: Well, certainly we were able to be out in Iowa to do that preseason game, and you can tell looking at her frame that she has more bulk to her. She has more strength to her.

That was the thing a season ago was young players when they come in, I think one of the biggest adjustments is how physical the WNBA is, and not just when you have the basketball in your hands. Last year, especially early in the season, we were talking about how much she was getting blitzed and double-teamed and that sort of thing. But when you don’t have the ball in your hands, how physical it is. You’re cutting through the lane, you’re getting bumped, or when you’re trying to finish inside.

So certainly we saw that picture of her during the Big Ten Tournament where she was kind of flexing and you saw how much stronger she was.

I don’t think that’s only important early in the season, but I think in terms of going through the course of the year, how much better, how much stronger is she going to feel come playoff time or nearing the end of the season because of the strength she put on and how she’s able to absorb that contact a little bit better.

I’m eager to continue to watch and see how that affects her game. Can she still be as fast as she has been, and I think she will. But kind of the difference — I think more absorbing the physicality of the league, if it’ll have less of an impact on her, again, not only at the beginning of the season but sort of the cumulative wear and tear that players get.

For either Ryan or Rebecca, a very easy one, I realize, but what does Natasha Cloud bring the New York Liberty with even more veteran experience now on top of everything they’ve already got?

REBECCA LOBO: I mean, a couple of years ago when New York lost to Vegas in the Finals, the question about the New York Liberty was they need perimeter depth and they need a big strong guard and they need a stronger defensive presence at the guard position, and Natasha brings all those things. All coaches like to talk about players having a dog in them, and certainly Natasha fits that bill, as well.

Ryan and I were even talking, I think it was two years ago, before she went to Phoenix, about how perfect Natasha would be for the New York Liberty if they were able to get her in free agency. It happened a year later than the conversation than Ryan and I were having, but she just fits the bill to sort of everything that they need, and especially now with Laney out, with her injury, Natasha just brings a big, strong, tough guard who can really defend and shows incredible leadership, and sort of her personality very much seems like it sort of fits New York City, fits Brooklyn.

For Ryan and Rebecca, what excites you the most about Saturday’s ABC slate of games? And to follow that up, outside of the Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark matchup and last year’s semifinal rematch, what will some storylines fans should be looking out for?

RYAN RUOCCO: I mean, I think we have just an incredible double-header to start things off. We have the two hottest rivalries in the W right now with New York and Vegas and Indy and Chicago. We have the best player in the world in A’ja Wilson playing. We have the most exciting player in the world in Caitlin Clark playing. We have a ton of other massive stars with Stewie and Sabrina and Chelsea Gray and Angel Reese. I just think we’re going to see a really highly competitive, high quality of basketball.

I also think one of the things we saw with the Playoffs last year was there was this carryover from the excitement and the buildup of the regular season, and I think that you’re going to feel that at the start of this season. There’s a yearning to get back to this league after what we saw in the Finals last year.

That’s one of the storylines we’re not going to see in our double-header, but I’m very interested and excited to see where does Minnesota pick up from where they left off last year. This was a team that was seconds away from winning a championship and brings back so many of the same pieces, and when we talk about rivalries, even though they really didn’t have one previously with New York, I think that’s going to feel like one now this year in their matchups.

I think also some of the other teams who have significant rookies and significant second-year players like an LA, for example, in the Sparks, Rickea Jackson year two, when Cameron Brink comes back, added to Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby and some of the other veteran talent that they have there.

Those are a few of the storylines, but I think you couldn’t ask for a better opening double-header on ABC than what we have.

REBECCA LOBO: I’ll just quickly add, we’ve got eight new coaches in the WNBA this season. We have some teams that have major overhauls to their roster. Phoenix would be one of them. How good can Phoenix be with the big three that they brought in. Seattle with some new additions to their roster, as well. Atlanta, again, a new head coach, different players brought in, Brittney Griner being one of them, what are they going to look like.

You kind of have four teams that look like they’ll be favorites to contend for a championship in terms of New York, Vegas, Minnesota and Indiana, but then you also have a lot of intrigue with some of the other teams just in terms of for their particular fan bases. Like if you’re a Connecticut Sun fan, what the heck is my team going to look like this year. If you’re an Atlanta Dream fan, what is my team going to look like this year.

I think for all of those places, it’s sort of a fun new intrigue. Golden State, a brand new franchise. They have 17,000-plus show up for their preseason game. What is the excitement level going to be there as they watch their new pieces and their new coach?

I think there’s just a lot of fun interesting storylines that are easy to kind of keep track of all of them because there’s only still 13 teams in this league.

RYAN RUOCCO: One other thing off that is all but two veterans are going to be free agents at the end of this year. I think that is just — just creates such an interesting prism through which we are all going to be viewing this season. So any fan base, regardless of what they’re seeing with their own team this year, is going to be watching, thinking about a potential construction where they’re pulling players from every other team or they’re wanting to retain their own. I think there’s going to be just an intrigue and a tension there throughout the season that’s going to then end up leading into what will be the most consequential and exciting off-season that we’ve ever had in the history of this league.

Rebecca, going off what Ryan was just talking about, obviously there’s a lot of excitement heading into this season. There was a lot of roster changes that happened over free agency and everything, but there’s also the backdrop of the CBA negotiations that are going to go on, and it feels like the league is very much hitting another inflection point in a lot of ways. How much do you think that excitement paired with the CBA negotiations, paired with the season starting up is just going to play out over the course of the next several months?

REBECCA LOBO: I think you’re just going to continue to see this level of excitement grow and grow. I think we had more interest in this past free agency than we ever have. The past two drafts have been our two highest rated drafts that we’ve ever had on ESPN.

There’s just an off-season excitement, now that the season is here, I think it’s going to continue, but to your point, it’s not just going to be about what’s happening on the court and what’s happening off the court with these players. It’s going to be about the future of this league, the CBA, what is this going to mean. I think everyone has looked at the popularity of this league over the past couple years, the new TV deal that was signed just about a year ago. All right, so now how is this going to translate in terms of salaries for the players and different amenities for the players going forward in the next CBA.

And I think all of those things are what you hear talked about in every other major professional league, and we have that now in the WNBA, and I think it just helps increase the level of excitement, what we see on the floor but also in a broader way, as well.

Just wanted to ask a fun question here for Rebecca and Ryan. If you could have one WNBA player on your team right now heading into the 2025 season, who would it be and why?

RYAN RUOCCO: Well, I’m going to take A’ja Wilson because she’s the best player in the league. That’s going to be why.

I think A’ja has elevated into a place where she has enough runway in front of her where we’re going to end up having conversations about her being the greatest of all time. Like that’s the kind of runway that she has, and that’s what she’s already accomplished. She’s still in her late 20s, just speaking to that runway. We’re talking about someone who’s really just entering their prime.

I think if my pure goal is to just win this year, that’s who I’m choosing to have on my team.

REBECCA LOBO: And to that end, again, if your goal is to win, then you’re probably taking A’ja. You might be taking Napheesa Collier because same thing, she’s a player who had an incredible year a year ago and is on the ascent. If you are an owner of a team, you are starting with Caitlin Clark, understanding the importance of ticket sales and TV viewership.

About the CBA and how that’s looming over, do either of you have concerns about the momentum possibly being slowed or interrupted? The players have said that they would be willing to walk out or have a lockout if it means getting their fair market value, and I think pretty much everybody agrees they’re not getting that right now. But do you have a concern that this could have any detrimental effect on the league?

RYAN RUOCCO: I mean, I don’t have that concern because I do believe ultimately both sides will understand the importance of getting a deal done, and there will be a lot of different commentary and negotiating, publicly and privately, that happens in the interim with everybody believing it’s going to benefit their group’s goals.

What’s actually getting done or not getting done or will or won’t get done, most of that we obviously won’t actually hear about until it’s on the five-yard line or one-yard line or done.

But I just think in general, when there’s a really obvious conclusion, and that obvious conclusion is for both sides there couldn’t be a stoppage to continue this momentum – this just me personally – I believe that when it’s very obvious something needs to happen, smart groups make that happen. So I just have a faith that ultimately a new CBA will get done in the timing that it has to.

Now, what does it look like, what does it mean, I have no idea, but I just have a faith that both sides are too smart and too aware of where this league is at right now to let that momentum be stopped.

REBECCA LOBO: I’ll just add quickly, I was part of the first negotiating committee when the Players Association first formed in I think it was late ’90s, early 2000s, and that negotiation and every negotiation since, I just get nervous because I just want to make sure that everything is going well with the league.

I’ll say this: What will be interesting to me is to see the amount of attention, media attention that’s given to the negotiations in 2025 versus in any prior negotiation that we’ve ever had because rarely has it ever been talked about, the off-season negotiations, whenever there’s been a new CBA. Rarely has there been much interest and conversation around it, and I think that is going to be very different this year, and as long as there isn’t a work stoppage and as long as games start again next season, I think that will — going back to some of the conversations we were having earlier today, I think that will be good in terms of fueling the interest in this league going into the 2026 season.

Either one of you could answer this: Considering how strong the Valkyries’ preseason attendance was, all the buzz around them, the very strong season ticket sales, do you see that organization as setting the new standard for attendance and what they’re doing as an expansion team for when Portland and Toronto come into the league?

RYAN RUOCCO: I don’t know if I’d say they’re setting a new standard for attendance because I think there’s been multiple franchises who have really invested in that area and had success in that area in recent years that have almost set an expectation now for the new franchises that are coming in. Like if you’re going to be a part of this, we’re going to need to see a committed fan base, we’re going to need to see a practice facility, whatever it might be.

You think about — I think about a franchise like Vegas, the commitment they made to their practice facility, the way they sold out their building and what’s followed from them. Minnesota has had a very steady fan base for years like that.

We’ve seen New York and the atmosphere at Barclays Center and the fan experience there and the crowds. I cover women’s college, WNBA, NBA. I think those atmospheres at Barclays Center last year were the best basketball crowd atmospheres I’ve ever experienced in my life.

Then all the new practice facilities popping up around the league, obviously Indiana having one in Gainbridge has been unbelievable since Caitlin has gotten there.

I think that from an attendance standpoint, there was a standard laid even before them, but I think the Valkyries have just done an unbelievable job of their branding, their marketing, the way they’ve connected with their community already, and I think they’ve laid a really ambitious blueprint for these other franchises to try and follow, and I feel very confident regardless of what struggles they have on the floor in year one that they’re going to look like a really attractive franchise and that their in-arena experience, their in-game experience is going to be one that attracts players from throughout the league.

So when we talk about all those players who are going to be free agents, I really think that Golden State is going to be a viable landing spot for any of them at the end of this year because of what I expect that whole situation organizationally to present as this year.

I would say that they’ve done an unbelievable job in kind of setting the groundwork for what you hope you’re going to get from any of the expansion franchises to come, including next year with Toronto and Portland.

For Ryan and Rebecca and an extra question for Rebecca. Obviously next year the WNBA media rights deal changes completely and you’ll be sharing a lot of these big events you’ve had exclusively for many years with NBC, with Amazon. There will be years when you don’t get to do the WNBA Finals. I just wanted to get both of your opinions on that. And then specifically for Rebecca, although Ryan you can address this too, there’s going to be a lot of open opportunities for new broadcasters to get into the mix. And obviously Diana Taurasi just retired. Your thoughts on whether they might see her go broadcast booth like we’ve seen a Tom Brady type in recent years.

REBECCA LOBO: I don’t like at all that I’m not going to be calling Finals every year for the next however many years. I mean, Ryan and I have been so spoiled, 12 years now — this is 13 years now where we’ve gotten to call great a semifinal matchup, we’ve gotten to call the Finals. It’s been a perfect world for us.

But we understand that that’s not going to be the case going forward. It is great that there are more opportunities for more broadcasters now.

I think Diana Taurasi, I mean, she’s exhibited every time she does interviews, she’s shown during the Bird & Taurasi Show, she is an absolutely incredibly funny, terrific voice for the women’s game.

I’ve always thought throughout the course of her time as a player, she’s sort of our Charles Barkley in terms of what she could bring to a studio, in particular a studio show, either in the NBA or the WNBA.

But yeah, we are going to very much enjoy calling the Playoffs and Finals this year and we are going to very much not enjoy the years that we don’t get to do it.

RYAN RUOCCO: I second that. I think it’s funny because also, when we first came on, we had the Finals but we didn’t have every game of the Playoffs.

Now the last I don’t know how many years it’s been now, but maybe seven years, eight years, we’ve had every single game of the Playoffs on ESPN. So yeah, there’s an ownership of the property that’s going to make it, I think, just being frank, it’s going to be hard to watch someone else do the Finals next year for me, I know, and I’m sure for Rebecca, as well. I’ll still watch and support, but it’s going to be hard.

I think that just speaks to how much we love it. We truly feel a level of ownership around this league and around this product and take great pride in amplifying the stories of these women and the excitement of their play and the stakes of the Playoffs and the Finals.

We’re going to enjoy the heck out of this, and the good news is we still get the largest cut of the Finals of the deal. We get it every other year. But the years we don’t, yeah, it’ll be tough not to call it.

1. One for Rebecca and also one for Ryan, Rebecca, last season it felt like we saw more cross matching, more switching, more bigs at the level defensively, especially from the two teams that were in the Finals more than any others. How do you see offenses kind of combatting that, and what maybe trends do you see developing in that this season? And then for Ryan, how do you feel the parity across the league is helping to kind of take things from where it is now to generating even more attention going forward into years to come for the W?

REBECCA LOBO: Yeah, I’m eager to see kind of how offenses can take better advantage of that at times because what we would see sometimes last year and I think we saw during the Finals, as well, is sometimes when you would get a matchup with a little on a big and it would somehow make the offense come a little bit to a halt as they tried — as teams tried to exploit that particular matchup and it would stop the ball from moving and flowing, and so coaches kind of have to figure out that balance.

Players have to figure out that balance. Yeah, we see that mismatch but we can’t stand here trying to exploit that at the expense of the rest of what we’re trying to do.

One of the teams that’s going to be interesting to watch and see what they do defensively is Atlanta, especially if they start BG and Brionna Jones together. Like what are their defensive schemes going to look like, and then how can offenses exploit, depending on the coverages that they’re in.

Yeah, it’s been a fun evolution. Back when I was playing in the first seven years of the league it was a completely different game. You didn’t have this kind of switching at all. You didn’t have the versatility of the bigs anyway.

Just seeing how the game has evolved and how defensive scheming has evolved and now, like I said, I’m eager to see what that’s going to look like with different teams and different personnel, how they can take advantage of some of those mismatches but at the same time not allow it to completely bog down and take away from the fluidity that they would have otherwise.

RYAN RUOCCO: To your question about parity, I always think parity is a really important part to creating the drama of a season, right. Now, you don’t want parity where it manifests as poor basketball or poor football or poor basketball, whatever sport it might be. But as long as there’s a high standard and a high quality of play, you always want as many competitive teams as possible.

I think that going into this season, there are four teams that feel probably very confident that they have a shot at competing for a championship with Indiana, Minnesota, New York and Vegas, and then I think there’s others who are kind of on the periphery who could easily find themselves in the semifinals, and then who knows.

A Phoenix certainly has enough top-tier talent. We’ll see how it meshes. Seattle has some top-tier talent. We’ll see how it meshes.

Also it just leaves the door open for getting a break here or there in a playoff series, and suddenly you find yourself in a Finals.

I think what’s interesting about some of the other teams who you wouldn’t say are going to compete for a championship this year, but I think there’s still a lot of intrigue on, well, who is going to separate. What is Paige Bueckers’ Dallas team going to look like? Are they going to be a team that’s back in the lottery next year? They might be a playoff team this year.

How about Atlanta with BG and Bri Jones shooting threes now in Atlanta. Is that like a completely different style? Because there’s not a huge separation at least when you look at it, from let’s say the 12th team to the seventh or eighth team, I think that creates a different level of intrigue.

So I just think the league is in a really good place right now of having stars, competitive balance and excellence on the floor and plenty of storylines to sink your teeth into and to grow with.

1. For both of you, as you just mentioned, there’s been a lot of talk about The Fever this year, their off-season additions, and throughout training camp they’ve made it clear that what success looks like for them is a championship. Just what you guys think the ceiling is for The Fever this year.

RYAN RUOCCO: I think the ceiling is a championship. I don’t think that they are the favorites. I would slot them behind, in no particular order, Vegas, New York, and Minnesota, if you were to create championship odds.

But let’s be very clear; by the end of last season, Caitlin Clark was the best guard in the WNBA. She has a unique ability to make everyone around her better, and you go into her second season after having adjusted to the league, she’s a legitimate MVP candidate going into the year.

And then you add in around her some really quality veterans who fit the way she plays with DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard and the trade for Sophie Cunningham I thought was a brilliant move; Syd Colson, who will give some great minutes at the backup point slot, play with Caitlin some, as well, and then obviously fit in around the incumbent players with Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell and Lexie Hull.

I think what you just like is the way the pieces all fit.

Now, a lot of times those young teams have to go through it as a group and fail before they can have the ultimate success, so I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they got to a semifinals and lost in four or five games to one of those other teams. But there’s also a chance that they are every bit as good as those teams and are in the Finals this year. I really don’t think there’s a ceiling for how good they can be.

REBECCA LOBO: I completely agree with everything that Ryan said. A year ago, their ceiling probably was what they reached in terms of making it to the first round of the Playoffs and then having the two-game exit.

They’re not the favorite to win the championship this year. Could they be playing in the WNBA Finals? Yeah. I wouldn’t be shocked by that at all. Especially in the WNBA with kind of 44 games and how closely the games are played together, a team’s health and the health of their most significant pieces always plays a huge part in success and championship capabilities.

That’ll be the case for the Indiana Fever, as well.

But if they stay healthy and continue to grow, they certainly have the talent. They certainly have the cohesion. They certainly have the pieces and the depth to be able to contend for a championship if some of the things fall right for them.

1. My question is also with regards to The Fever. They added DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard in the off-season. I’m curious how those players are going to address some of the flaws they had defensively last season.

REBECCA LOBO: I’m going to start not with defensively but the biggest narrative going into the Playoffs a year ago was the Indiana Fever’s lack of experience. They had a total of 19 games of playoff experience going into the Playoffs a year ago.

DeWanna Bonner, she has 200 something games of playoff experience, something ridiculous.

RYAN RUOCCO: It’s something like that.

REBECCA LOBO: Natasha Howard has playoff and championship experience. Syd Colson has playoff and championship experience. So that, number one, addresses one of the biggest concerns you had with this team a year ago.

Yes, do those players, both Bonner and Howard and Sophie Cunningham help address some of the things on the defensive end of the floor? Brianna Turner, as well, especially in certain matchups, how she can help them.

Do they now have multiple players who they can play at the 4 spot who are rim runners? Yes, they do. Do they have a little difference of toughness about them with some of the pieces that they brought in, both are Howard, Bonner and Sophie Cunningham? Absolutely.

So if you looked at this Indiana Fever team a year ago after they lost in the Playoffs and said, all right, these are their deficiencies, this is where they need to get better, every single one of those things was addressed, and mostly in free agency and with trades.

You cannot give Amber Cox, Lin Dunn, that whole organization enough credit for seeing where they needed to get better and then going and finding the exact pieces that fit those needs.

RYAN RUOCCO: And it’s 87 games, but it’s the most of any —

REBECCA LOBO: 87 games; that’s a ton. I think as a team they might have around 200 or something like that.

1. Rebecca, with your ties to UConn and the Sun, I just want to know your thoughts on the Sun’s ownership, the tribe, hiring an investment firm to explore the future of the team and the state?

REBECCA LOBO: I think it’s smart. I think it’s smart of the franchise to explore the future.

You know, this is an organization it seems from the outside who kind of has to figure out what makes the most sense for them. Does it make the most sense for them to invest in the team to get it to where it needs to be in terms of their facilities, build a new practice facility. Is that what is best for them as an ownership group or is it best for them to sell or to bring in new investors? I don’t know, but the league is at a place now where those conversations have to be had.

I love having a team in the state in which I live. I played for the Connecticut Sun in 2003, the first year of its existence. The fans here are such rabid women’s basketball fans both at the college and pro level. I very much like having the opportunity to drive less than an hour to go call a game during the WNBA season. I’ve had a lot of those over the course of the past decade with the success that the Connecticut Sun has had.

But I think it just kind of shows you where the WNBA is right now, is that you can’t just be what you were even last year. You certainly can’t just be what you were a few years ago. It’s now a league where you have to have major investment, and the tribe just needs to decide if that investment is going to come from them or if it’s going to come from someone else.

1. Who are the players to keep an eye on when it comes to MVP candidates? And another question for all of you in regards to Phoenix Mercury’s big three: How do you see this vision with the type of off-season they had and how well it translates to the new season?

RYAN RUOCCO: I think with the MVP conversation, I really think Napheesa Collier has an outstanding chance to win it this year. She was just sensational in the Playoffs last year. She was the best performer in last year’s Playoffs, even though obviously Minnesota didn’t ultimately win the championship. The way she played on both ends of the floor, she was the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.

If it wasn’t for A’ja Wilson having maybe the greatest regular season of all time last year, Napheesa Collier may very well have won her first MVP last year.

So I’d put her in there. I’d put A’ja Wilson back in there. A unanimous MVP a year ago. Three MVPs; now title of best player in the league.

So I’d put her right there.

I’d put Caitlin Clark right there, as well. I think we saw last year she finished top 4 in MVP voting. We see the way she influences winning and just how impactful she is. So I think she’s going to be a legitimate candidate.

Then I think with New York, last year for a while it was Sabrina who took the torch and kind of the MVP conversation from there, but every year I still think you’ve got to have Stewie in that conversation in your top four. She’s one of the greatest players of all time.

I think had the Finals ended in Game 4 instead of Game 5, she would have been the Finals MVP for the third time in her career, and when you think about she’s still just in her early 30s and in her prime, the defending champs, those would be kind of the four names that stand out to me more than any others going into the MVP.

Rebecca, I’ll toss it to you for your thoughts on that.

REBECCA LOBO: Yeah, I would have the same candidates for MVP, and I just want to make it clear because earlier when we were talking about if we were starting a franchise, the only reason that Breanna Stewart’s name might not be at the top of the list is the concern with her knee; having the off-season knee injury, what is she going to look like, and will she be able to play the 44-game season because Stewie obviously is still one of the absolute best players in the world.

Phoenix continues to be intriguing because similar to last year, they’re like top loaded. They have their big three. Their salaries are three or four players who have some of the higher salaries, and then the question is how good are those complementary pieces going to be around those three. With this year, as well, it’s three players who are playing with each other for the first time. Kah playing with AT, playing with Satou, and AT is such a unique player and such a unique talent that she’s different from playing, I think, with most other players in the WNBA.

How the success of those three and how they play with one another is going to be a big piece of how much success Phoenix can have.

But I’m also curious, like, the pieces that surround them. Is it enough? Do they have enough to contend with those other four teams that we were talking about earlier who we see as kind of the top tier in terms of championship contenders.

1. For both of you, I just want to talk about you two. In my opinion you’re two of the best dynamic duos in the game right now when it comes to calling games. For you, what’s it like for both of you to be in the business for 13 years covering the WNBA itself? Obviously you guys have done a lot of stuff. But for you two, just to be in the business for 13 years, what’s that mean for both of you? Also, other than Paige Bueckers, who do you think has a chance to be in the race for Rookie of the Year this year?

RYAN RUOCCO: Well, first of all, you have excellent taste, so thank you. I feel really blessed. Rebecca is just as good as analyst as there is on the planet, and she’s just the absolute best teammate in the world.

I always joke with my family members, I say, there’s only one person on the planet who I trust as much as you, and it’s Rebecca Lobo.

We’ve built that relationship and that chemistry over the years, both on air and off air, and I think what is — obviously now we have a ton of reps and life together and in work together, but what’s at the core of it and what bonded us first and is always at the foundation of it is how much pride we take in doing a great job.

We prepare for every single game we do. I was literally yesterday driving with my wife somewhere, and I kept getting emails from Rebecca about having our research look up different things.

I was like, you know one thing I love, I just so appreciate about Rebecca, is she prepares her ass off for every single game. Every game she’s having our producers, our researchers look up different things to give her one little nugget that might be a difference maker.

I know I’m going on a little bit here, but a couple years ago Rebecca did some games in the studio for us for Nets on YES because I also work at YES Network, and I can’t tell you how many people came to me afterwards and were like, oh, my gosh, the way Rebecca comes in prepared, knowing the clips she wants, the research she does to prepare for this. It was something, quite frankly, that was at a different level than anything they had experienced.

I just think that that is what bonds us. We care so much about this league. We care so much about being great at what we do and about amplifying the action on the floor.

We take great pride in this being our 13th year together, and more than anything else, it’s just fun. It’s really fun — it’s a really fun job, and it’s even more fun when you do it with people who you love working with.

REBECCA LOBO: I’m just going to echo that. I absolutely am delighted every time I get to sit next to Ryan. It just makes my job fun. I know I can be my best if I am — even if audio is a mess, if we are having technical difficulties. If I’ve got Ryan sitting to my left, all is good in the world.

This is our 13th season together, and one of the beauties of that is me watching Ryan’s — since the beginning of the WNBA and how much he loves women’s basketball, and now to be able to get him on the women’s college game, as well, the amount of text conversations that we’re having this time of year about what’s happening in the transfer portal and the amount of text conversations or real conversations we’re having in the wintertime about what’s happening in free agency. We just both love this sport, and we love that we’ve been a part of the growth of it.

To see the explosion and the interest and popularity over the course of the last couple of years has been super gratifying to us because for a lot of years we felt like we were the ones that were enlightened watching what was at the time this hidden gem that we knew how wonderful and glorious it was and we got to sit courtside and be the soundtrack of it, and now over the past year and a half, two years, to see so many more people coming to the table and appreciating it, we take a lot of pride in that.

But I absolutely love working with him. I love working with Holly Rowe. We’re so fortunate that we have this work family where we just enjoy one another. It’s a unique circumstance.

I never sit down and take a day of it for granted because they’re the best.

Now to answer quickly in terms of Rookie of the Year, I think Paige Bueckers is the favorite for Rookie of the Year. So much sometimes can be dependent on the minutes that you’re going to get. Dominique Malonga obviously is an incredible talent out in Seattle. She’s not going to leave the team for the European championship. She’s going to be there the entire season. What kind of minutes will she get? How ready is she going to be right away because, of course, she has elite post players ahead of her with Ezi and Nneka. Sonia Citron in Washington I think is going to have a lot of opportunity and certainly looks ready to be an impactful pro right away. I think she could have really good numbers her rookie year because of what Washington will want her to do.

But I do think Paige is the favorite. But I think we’re going to have some really good — see some really nice impact from other rookies across the league.

Saniya Rivers for the Connecticut Sun could have a massive opportunity this year on a team trying to find its way, trying to grow and develop young talent. She could really have an opportunity to put up some big numbers, as well.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you all. That concludes today’s media call with Ryan, Rebecca and Tim. Thank you all for your time, especially you three.

 

 

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Media contacts: santa.brito@espn.com, alex.feuz@espn.com