How One Play Defines the 2024 WNBA Season: The Importance of Answers

It still doesn’t feel like the W season ever ended, the series just paused and I’ve been waiting for another game since. All sincerity, what a series, what a season… basketball, it rocks!

Starting to keep up with Euro games, rewatching college prospects, and thinking back on this season and particularly the Finals, the importance of answers sticks in the back of my mind.

What do I mean by that? It seems simplistic, but I’ve gone back and forth: When something happens on the court, you have a way to counter it and keep a baseline of play without bleeding on either end.

When I was coming up, I had this grand idea that there were these one-sized fits all approaches in basketball. That there were ways to “perfect” or “right ways” to play. Are there ideals that hold true especially with respect to thresholds of importance? Absolutely.

However, the more I ingratiate with the game, the more I recognize that there is very little that is binary in basketball, part of what makes the game so beautiful.

There is so much gray area in the wins and losses of the game, so strongly emphasized by an all-time WNBA Finals series. We saw some truly elite games played with varying styles, so many counters, and a wealth of contrasting and clashing ideas. Again, that leans into the importance of having an answer. Versatility is essential, a staple in modern roster-building, but there has to be meaningful versatility, right?

I think both teams had that, but it can certainly be argued that New York had more leeway to play outside of their style. When things got muddied and ugly in a Game 5 in which both teams had somewhat exhausted one another in scouting, the game slowed. Playing in a phone booth becomes so key in games like that and percentages go out the window.

That’s not to make this a one-sized fits all takeaway, as again, there is so much to be gleaned from this series.

In a game where the Liberty struggled mightily early to play with force and poise, they were able to throw the plan out the window in a sense, and run with players off the bench that could provide that in Kayla Thornton and Nyara Sabally.

We saw both teams cycle through different ideas on either side of the ball, sometimes as a punch, other times to shell themselves up because they were taking so many punches themselves. That’s the point: Being able to maintain what makes you a great team while also being able to adapt in-game.

I don’t mean this as a slight, but I think about the Connecticut Sun so much with this, as we can learn from a team that fell short as much as those that win (sometimes even more). They’re a team that’s just fascinated me since I first began to be around the league heavily, and this season was no exception.

I went back and rewatched the 2019 WNBA Finals before the playoffs started, the first playoff series that made me fall in love with the W. The 2019 Mystics are still one of the great teams of W history, the 2nd best offense in league history, just behind the 2023 Aces. Would we still be talking about that team if the Sun had won the series? Do you remember that the Sun had a a half time lead in Game 5, and had the lead with 7 minutes left in the 4th?

The Mystics would rip off a 22-8 run to close the game and the series.

Again, that’s not to denigrate either team, but rather to point out how slim the margins are. This Sun team, which was largely the same foundation, was always just shy on the margins. Injury impact cannot be denied in the Sun not winning a title over the past half decade, but I also point to some of the struggle with style… and not always having answers.

I think basketball, and particularly winning in the playoffs, is 90% about your ethos, consistency, and practiced ideologies. What happens when all that hits the fan? The other 10%.

How do you counter when you can’t get what you want, or can’t stop what they want? It’s not as simple as I’m making it out to be, but man, I can’t get it out of my head.

Having any additional margins is so key in winning those games that are unwinnable for the teams that don’t have another avenue. I wouldn’t include Minnesota in that for what it’s worth, I think they more than showed that they have the ability to hang.

This play I saw watching a French League game just stoked that in my mind to finally write about this.

Dominique Malonga (more on her next week) has hit a new level in France, and is dominating, shooting 62.9% from the field this season. That’s not a typo!

Watching teams pull out all manner of schemes and ideas to guard her out of the pick and roll, where she’s most deadly, has been a blast.

I love this concept that Villanueve rolled out, sinking the typical zone defender over top the roller, with the typical backline tagger zoning up after the drop down.

I watch this and it sticks out: It’s not an every possession play, it’s not something that WILL work every time, but it’s just a wrinkle that makes you think. Presenting a new idea, new challenge, and giving yourself breathing room is the point. So much of defense is just making the offense work, period.

It’s a fun concept, and rather simple, but it just really made me think about the game, where it is, and where it’s headed when thinking about Malonga and the talent coming into the league soon.

You need answers. You need versatility. You need elite talent. There are few binary truths in basketball, but being able to minimize the margins you can lose, and maximize the windows for success… that’s what it’s all about at the highest level.

Continued Reading/Watching:

I caught up with Utah State head coach, Wes Brooks! Great dude with a great mind for the game, and someone I’m really excited to watch build this program to new heights

Check it out:

Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6jmMyfqxSe6qREdPpfts7V?si=ohptxcFuR8GmrwowwoAWWw

I also recently caught up with JJ Quinerly of West Virginia for the latest WNBA Draft Film Room episode:

Recently Published Draft Boards:

• 2025 WNBA Draft Board

• 2026 WNBA Draft Board

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