Of the 13 teams in the WNBA, the regular season is of the utmost importance for nine of them. The Sun, Wings, and Sky are all out of the playoff race entirely. The Minnesota Lynx are head and shoulders above the league and are coasting their way to the No. 1 seed. But the Seattle Storm continue to fight for their playoff lives, and every game counts.
The Lynx are 8.5-point favorites at home and hold -360 odds on the Moneyline on DraftKings Sportsbook. The total is set at 164 points. Let’s look at the best bets and predictions for this Lynx–Storm contest.
Lynx vs. Storm prediction, pick
Napheesa Collier’s injury didn’t even cause a bump in the road for Minnesota on their quest to the top seed in the WNBA playoffs — that’s just how good they are. The MVPhee returned to action against the Indiana Fever on August 24th after missing seven games. It was like nothing even changes as Collier steamrolled the Fever and retook a stranglehold on the MVP race.
Speaking of steamrolling and the Indiana Fever, things are not going well for the Storm. They had a crucial matchup with Indiana for deciding playoff seeding, and subsequently got crushed. The Caitlin Clark-less Fever shot 41% from deep and out-rebounded the Storm 42-21. It was so bad that Lisa Leslie went on the postgame show to (jokingly) offer her services as a rebounder.
It’s been a very perplexing season for Seattle. The talent is there, to be sure. Nneka Ogwumike remains elite on both ends, Skylar Diggins is a tremendous offensive table-setter, Gabby Williams has broken out, Ezi Magbegor still defends at a high level, and their depth has looked passable. Plus, rookie Dominique Malonga is developing faster than anyone expected. But something is just off.
Teams with serious playoff hopes are better than the sum of their parts. The Lynx are one such example; just look at how they coalesced so well without their MVP. But the Storm cannot stop getting in their own way. Even with a steep line in this one, expect Minnesota to roll.
