ESPN Ranks the Top Players in the WNBA Finals

The WNBA Finals start on Saturday, with the Golden State Valkyries, the No. 2 seed, facing the Atlanta Dream, the No. 4 seed, in a best-of-seven series. Both teams want their first championship. ESPN updated its list of the best players one last time, ranking the 15 who have played the best in the playoffs. The Dream took three of the top four spots, and the Valkyries added one more player to the list. Dream guard Allisha Gray was included, even though she has not played since she hurt her hand in the first game of the semifinals. She said on Thursday that she was hopeful about playing in Game 1.

Here are the first four players.

1. Angel Reese, Atlanta Dream. The 6-foot-3 forward was a 2024 No. 7 draft pick and was recently named the league's Defensive Player of the Year. In her first time playing in the playoffs, she averaged 18.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.2 blocks, 2.0 assists, and 1.6 steals. She is shooting 38.5% from three-point range. According to ESPN, the Dream reached the Finals for the first time since 2013 mostly because of how well she plays on both offense and defense.

2. Gabby Williams, Golden State Valkyries. The 5-foot-11 forward is averaging 22.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists, which makes her the top scorer left in the Finals, about eight points above her regular-season average. She is shooting 40.5% from three, and she finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting.

3. Rhyne Howard, Atlanta Dream. The 6-foot-2 guard is averaging 19.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists. She has had an up-and-down playoffs, but she is good at many things: making threes, driving to the basket, setting up teammates and playing defense. She went 4-for-10 from deep in Game 3 of the semifinals to help close out the series.

4. Jordin Canada, Atlanta Dream. The 5-foot-6 guard, the fifth player picked in the 2018 draft, won two WNBA championships with Seattle, in 2018 and 2020. She is averaging 19.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 8.8 assists, almost seven points more than in the regular season. She also averages 2.2 steals. At 31, ESPN says, she is playing her best basketball at the best time.