History to Watch For: 2024 New York Liberty and Seattle Storm
So far we've gone through ten WNBA teams and some history to anticipate for each this season:
- Atlanta Dream
- Chicago Sky, Los Angeles Sparks, and Washington Mystics
- Connecticut Sun
- Dallas Wings and Indiana Fever
- Las Vegas Aces
- Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury
Now, let’s round it out with the New York Liberty and Seattle Storm.
New York Liberty
Breanna Stewart
The reigning MVP comes off a disappointing Finals loss with a couple big regular season milestones in reach: Breanna Stewart is 358 points from 5,000 and 52 rebounds from 2,000.
Last June, Stewart reached 4,000 points in just her 196th game, good for fastest in league history by one game (Diana Taurasi - 197). She’s on pace to rival Taurasi’s speed to 5,000 as well.
| Player | Num Games to 5,000 Points |
|---|---|
| Breanna Stewart (Projected) | ~239 |
| Diana Taurasi | 243 |
| Angel McCoughtry | 257 |
| Lauren Jackson | 259 |
Unsurprisingly, Stewart and Taurasi have been on similar scoring trajectories through their first 250 games, Stewart’s just a bit more strictly linear.
As far as her rebounding total goes, Stewart will likely get to 2,000 within her first 5-10 games, which would land her around the top 5 or 6 fastest to that mark.
For completeness, if we combine the two, Lauren Jackson holds the record for fastest to 5,000 points + 2,000 rebounds (259 games), but that will almost certainly be Stewart’s this season; she has 35 games to get there to grab that record.
Jonquel Jones
Fellow 2016 draftee Jonquel Jones is just ahead of Stewart in total rebounds and right on track for 2,000 as well; Jones needs just 31 rebounds to get to 2,000. That’s likely 5-6 games of work (at most) for Jones and would land her squarely around 5th or 6th-fastest to 2,000 rebounds all time (around 241 games).
| Player | Num Games to 2,000 Rebounds |
|---|---|
| Tina Charles | 196 |
| Sylvia Fowles | 206 |
| Lisa Leslie | 211 |
| Candace Parker | 227 |
| Yolanda Griffith | 230 |
| Jonquel Jones (Projected) | ~240 |
| Lauren Jackson | 254 |
Courtney Vandersloot
It may be obvious at this point in her career, but keep an eye on Courtney Vandersloot’s assist numbers this season. After another 8+ assist-per-game season, Vandersloot enters the 2024 WNBA season with 2,701 regular season assists, 299 shy of 3,000.
She had 314 assists in 39 games last year, so similar production this year should make 3,000 within reach. When she gets there, she’ll join Sue Bird as just the second player in WNBA history with 3,000+ assists, and she’ll almost certainly be fastest there. Bird took 539 games to get to 3,000, whereas Vandersloot has only played 397 games.
Reaching the 3,000-assist milestone would also put Vandersloot just 235 away from becoming the league’s all-time leader.
Sandy Brondello
In terms of former WNBA players blazing a trail of success as head coaches in the league, Sandy Brondello has to be a big part of the discussion. She already holds the record for WNBA games coached by a former player (368) and wins (212).
Among all coaches, 21 more games would move her past Michael Cooper (388) and a full season will easily push her past the 400-game mark, making her the seventh coach in WNBA history to get there. She needs 19 wins to get past Cooper (230) in that category, which would move her up to sixth.
Seattle Storm
Jewell Loyd
After setting a new WNBA single-regular-season scoring total record (939 points) in 2023 and nearly taking down Diana Taurasi’s scoring average record from 2006 (25.3 PPG), Jewell Loyd’s scoring should always be a focus.
Loyd averaged 24.7 points per game in 2024, positioning herself just 193 points from 5,000 in her WNBA regular season career. She is also just 83 assists from 1,000, setting up the likelihood that this season she will become just the 12th player in league history with 5,000+ points, 1,000+ assists, and 1,000+ rebounds. She and Sue Bird would be the only players to do so for the Storm, and Loyd would be just the 5th player to do so for one WNBA franchise.
| Player | Franchise | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sue Bird | Seattle | 6,802 | 1,466 | 3,234 |
| Tamika Catchings | Indiana | 7,380 | 3,315 | 1,488 |
| Diana Taurasi | Phoenix | 10,108 | 2,073 | 2,272 |
| Candace Parker | Los Angeles | 5,684 | 2,902 | 1,331 |
| Jewell Loyd | Seattle | 4,807 | 1,023 | 917 |
Skylar Diggins-Smith
Also on a good trajectory to reach the 5,000-point milestone this season is Skylar Diggins-Smith, who returns to the league with the Storm this year.
Diggins-Smith needs 783 points to get to 5,000, and while she scored 591 in her last season (2022), that was just 30 games for her. If she maintains that average over a 40-game season, 5,000 points is within reach.
Crossing the 1,500-assist threshold is also possible for Diggins-Smith this year, needing 247 assists to get there. She would need to get back around her career high (6.2 assists per game in 2018) and play a full regular season, however.
Whether it’s this season or early next year, Diggins-Smith is all-but-sure to get to 5,000 points + 1,500 assists faster than anyone in league history.
| Player | Num Games to 5,000 points, 1,500 assists |
|---|---|
| Skylar Diggins-Smith (Projected) | ~297 |
| Diana Taurasi | 347 |
| Candace Parker | 377 |
If Diggins-Smith and Loyd get to 5,000 and are still playing with Nneka Ogwumike (reached the 5,000-point milestone two years ago), they could get three 5,000-point scorers on the court together in the WNBA.
As of today, that has only happened two other times:
- Most recently: in 2013, Katie Smith, DeLisha Milton-Jones, and Cappie Pondexter played a couple of games together for New York after Pondexter scored her 5,000th point (Smith and Milton-Jones had gotten to 5,000 earlier).
- First: in 2012, Tina Thompson, Katie Smith, and Lauren Jackson (the second, third, and fourth players to get to 5,000 in WNBA history, respectively) played 11 games together for Seattle.
Oh hey, that’s the two franchises from this post…
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