These Teams Had The Best 2020 WNBA Schedule Reveals

It’s that time of year, aside from all the ways it’s not because the COVID-19 pandemic has ruined basically everything and messed with the timelines of every sports league. Anyway, in case you missed it, the WNBA released the schedule for the 2020 regular season — which is set to tip off on July 25 — on Monday. Training camp started on Friday and all teams (and almost all players) have settled in at IMG Academy, affectionately nicknamed the “wubble,” where the entire season will take place.

Each team will play 22 regular season games, down from the usual 34. The first game of the season is set to be a momentous one; after missing all of last season due to injuries, Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird will return to the court with the Seattle Storm taking on rookie sensation Sabrina Ionescu and the New York Liberty. That game will also serve as Liberty head coach Walt Hopkins’ first at the helm and the first game in New York threads for veteran guard Layshia Clarendon, who joined the team in free agency.

Since this was a historic offseason during which star players hopped around teams like they were playing a game of musical chairs, there will be plenty of homecoming games for players like four-time WNBA champion Seimone Augustus, who left the Minnesota Lynx after 14 years, Skylar Diggins-Smith, who forced her way out of Dallas and longtime Atlanta Dream forward Angel McCoughtry, who joined the Las Vegas Aces in February.

As I did on Twitter when the schedule was first announced, I will break down and give my thoughts on the schedule release promos from around the league. Unfortunately, not every team went all-out for the occasion and settled for a graphic to announce their schedule, so we will just have to make do. Without further ado, here are the best WNBA schedule reveals of 2020:

Indiana Fever: A+

Here, we have Fever veteran and mom Candice Dupree explaining how to watch all of this season’s games to her adorable, tiny identical children. I’m not even sure the twins paid much attention to their mom, they were just living their lives, playing on their iPads, having a dance party and drinking out of sippy cups. Dupree is normally one of the more quiet and serious figures in the league, so getting to see this softer side of her is quite heartwarming. While this may not be the most technically sophisticated schedule reveal, it is certainly the cutest.

Las Vegas Aces: A+

As I tweeted, can someone please give A’ja Wilson her Oscar already? The Aces star donned her classic Bill Laimbeer wig and pillow-under-her-shirt (I’m not actually sure what is under her shirt) once again to give us a newsworthy performance. I’ll say this: the Aces’ social team really knows how to utilize its fan favorites and come up with great, funny content. Well done, Vegas.

Chicago Sky: A-

The Sky mixed some different stuff here, pulling various scenes from Florida into their video which I enjoyed. I am a sucker for a cool words on swimming pool action so I definitely liked that, and the slo-mo practice scene was also good, except that I almost missed the slate of games listed on the wall because I was distracted by the shot (that’s almost certainly a me problem, though). Also, whose house is in the background toward the end of the video? I liked the music and editing of the video, so an overall nice job by the Sky.

Connecticut Sun: B+

The Sun — in tune with the team’s focused and underdog mentality — opted for a highlight reel video to list out their games this season. The video included a mix of plays from last season, in which the team advanced to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2005, and some snippets of recent practice sessions at IMG Academy. The Sun lost star guard Courtney Williams and sharpshooter Shekinna Stricklen in the offseason, but acquired three-time All-Star DeWanna Bonner and Connecticut still has title hopes after last year’s loss. All in all, the team’s schedule reveal was a well-executed video that will surely get Sun fans excited for the season.

Minnesota Lynx: B

This was a solid effort and the Florida postcard was a nice touch, but I feel like there was so much lost potential here. First off, the fact that there is no music in the video really threw me off — is it that hard to throw on some relaxing ocean wave sounds? The team has some really entertaining personalities and I would’ve loved for a schedule reveal that showed some more of that — like this perfect Tik Tok that has head coach Cheryl Reeve dance to AC the Prince’s “Go Go Go Who’s Next.”

Atlanta Dream: C

I debated if the Dream should even be on this list given that the team account initially just posted a graphic. But in a reply, they included their entire schedule as emojis, which I thought was somewhat clever and at least more of an attempt at creativity than some other teams in the league. Also, is a hot dog really the most obvious Chicago reference?

As for everyone that just put their schedules on a graphic, they all get a D. This means the Liberty, Storm, Wings, Mystics — which spelled Aerial Powers’ name incorrectly — Mercury and Sparks, I’m looking at y’all.