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00:00The final day of June was a big one around the WNBA as the season rolls on and the first day of
00:06July will feature a championship contest. It's the final of the Commissioner's Cup tonight
00:12in Minneapolis. So for all of that we welcome on Myles Ehrlich joining us here on this Tuesday
00:19on the early line on SportsGrid. Doing great work covering the WNBA for when Sider Myles is here
00:26to break it all down around the WNBA as the summer rolls on. Myles as always we appreciate the time
00:33thanks for being here. Of course good to talk to you Ben good to talk to you Donnie excited to talk
00:38W because it's been a busy couple of days weeks months so excited to get into it. Certainly a
00:45busy final day of June Myles for the WNBA that continues to capitalize on the momentum of this
00:52outstanding growing product. More expansion teams announced yesterday. Cleveland, Philadelphia
00:59and Detroit all joining the WNBA by at least 2030 with the previously announced expansion squads in
01:08Portland and Toronto. By the time we get to a new decade that will bring the WNBA from 13 teams
01:15currently in 12 a season ago already to 18 organizations. So Myles Ehrlich as we look at
01:22expansion around the W what does it mean for the league as a whole to keep adding teams and franchises
01:28it seems each and every year? So for the league as a whole this is a great thing. Think about in 2019
01:35Joe and Clara Wusai bought the Liberty for somewhere between 10 and 14 million dollars and now we're seeing
01:41these 250 million dollar posting fees for new organizations. The Liberty were recently valued at
01:48450 million and the Golden State Valkyries who just joined the league last year had a valuation of 500
01:54million. So the prices are going up and up and up. The question that I have is is this too much too fast
02:02in terms of expansion when there are still so many things that the league can do better in terms of
02:07we need rosters expanded. We're seeing right now constantly players are coming in on hardship
02:13contracts because they are dipping below nine players on an active roster. We need to make sure
02:19that these veterans are taken care of. So that's a big thing with the next CBA with with extending the
02:24cap because right now it's a hard cap that makes it really difficult. There's a lot of stuff that needs
02:28to happen for this league to keep up with this momentum because like you said it's here and everybody
02:33wants in on it and then as far as the cities themselves in a vacuum I love these three cities
02:39Detroit Cleveland and Philadelphia but then you look at just kind of the map and I wonder if we
02:46couldn't have had a team in the south where there's a huge lack I think there's Atlanta there but not
02:51much else in the southeast and then at west we're getting a couple of teams with the Valkyries this year
02:57Portland next year but it seems like there's a little bit of an imbalance there. I would like to see
03:01that representation kind of spread around a little bit more if the league tries to go to 20 or 22
03:06eventually. Yeah capitalizing on the success too obviously with the Caitlin Clark you have page
03:11backers coming in you know Juju Watkins going to come in as well it's rightful that it is expanding
03:15and also let me ask you this question because new teams coming in right 28 29 and 30 did they stagger
03:21that on purpose because you can't have like three teams or four teams come in at once and sort of
03:26have the NBA the WNBA draft and all that is that why they staggered this out just to make sure
03:30everybody gets a clean landing in each one of those seasons? So that that is probably part of
03:36it I would also say that we don't really know a lot behind the scenes about what goes into
03:40securing facilities and building new ones so that that can also play in but man as someone who has
03:47to cover this on a day-to-day I don't look forward to expansion drafts every single year next year is
03:52going to be super weird next year is going to be weird because everyone is a free agent in anticipation
03:57of this new CBA so good luck to the to Toronto and Portland trying to figure out who they're taking
04:04off of teams because nobody is going to be signed to a contract is really just going to be almost
04:08like a fantasy redraft of the entire league so yeah I'm not looking forward to that aspect of it
04:14but it's cool that Golden State has been able to kind of have that spotlight this year as the one team
04:20next year will be split a little bit but I like one at a time yeah Miles speaking of expanding in a
04:26positive way the Golden State Valkyries doing an incredible job this year not only ingratiating
04:31themselves the community there by the bay but also have won seven of their last ten nine and seven the
04:37record for the expansion team this year the Valkyries in the W not just expansion but trades yesterday in
04:45the W as well Melissa Smith during her first year in Dallas struggling slightly with the wings dealt
04:52for a first rounder in 2027 and now we'll head to the Las Vegas aces Miles how do you grade this deal
04:59between Dallas and Las Vegas so it's an easy a for me from the perspective of the Dallas wings
05:06because like you said earlier 2027 could be the Juju Watkins draft and there is no guarantee right now
05:14that anyone is going to be on the aces in 2027 it's hard to imagine Asia being somewhere else it's
05:20hard to imagine Jackie Young being somewhere else but the fact of the matter is they haven't had a
05:25first round pick in Vegas since 2022 and now they won't again until 2028 and if you're Asia Wilson and
05:32you're looking at your prime and then you see something like the Golden State Valkyries for example
05:36where they're pulling in 18,000 fans a night and they've got a culture building there
05:41Natalie Nakase had been an assistant with the aces I mean I would take that phone call so that pick
05:47could be really really big and then if you look at the other side of it the grade is a b- for me on
05:53the aces side because they did need somebody to play next to Asia in the front court she's at her best at
05:59the five and Melissa slots in at the four but like you said she has not had her most efficient season
06:04I think if there's anyone that could kind of pull that out of her it is playing alongside someone
06:09like Asia who Melissa has said is her goat so I think the two of them together is good but I just
06:15don't know what the ceiling is for this Las Vegas team so trading that future away doesn't make a lot
06:20of sense to me. Smith in her first three years in the W with the Indiana Fever averaged 13 and 8 13
06:27points per game eight boards per game this year only about 6.7 and 4.9 rebounds per let's talk about
06:34the aces miles in the final minute of this segment you saw the graphic they are eight and eight this
06:39year a team that had won back-to-back WNBA titles in 2022 and 2023 now fluttering around 500 do you
06:48still consider Las Vegas a title contender around the W? Yeah I think that they're in the conversation
06:55of that second tier title contender right now even though the Liberty are scuffling down a couple of
07:00starters and John Quill Jones and Leonie Feebish they're still at the top for me so are the Minnesota
07:05Lynx who I know we're going to talk about with the Commissioner's Cup tonight they're 14 and 2
07:09and I think that the aces have been leapfrogged at this point by the dream and I don't know Phoenix is
07:16really good too so they've got their work to do. Plenty more with Miles next. A title on the line tonight
07:24in the Twin Cities it's the Commissioner's Cup final in the WNBA between the Minnesota Lynx who
07:30won the crown a season ago beating the New York Liberty in the Indiana Fever. Miles Ehrlich back
07:36with us for a second consecutive segment to break down this game and what we will learn tonight about
07:42a Minnesota Lynx team who is in the top spot in the WNBA 14 and 2 best record overall around the W
07:49this season. Miles as we focus on tonight's Commissioner's Cup title the Lynx a six and a
07:56half point favorite against the Fever the over understands at 164 in a hook before we get to
08:02the key matchups and the X's and O's let's start with the status of one of the stars lining up
08:08tonight we hope in Caitlin Clark who of course has already missed multiple games this year due to
08:13injury now battling a groin injury as of practice yesterday she was listed by Indiana as questionable
08:20what are you hearing about Clark status entering tonight's Commissioner's Cup final?
08:26So I hate to say I don't have much more information than that heard that she went through a partial
08:30practice yesterday for me it comes down to how important is this game in the grand scheme how
08:36important is any game when you're trying to play into October and for this being an exhibition in the
08:42middle of the season even though the winning team every player gets 50,000 and the losing players
08:46get 25,000 sure that matters in terms of financial incentive if you're Stephanie White you have to
08:52be thinking big picture here unless Caitlin's 100% and good to go I would hold her out personally but I
08:59guess they might have her go through shoot around this morning see how she feels because you need all
09:04the firepower you can get against the Minnesota Lynx. Yes you certainly do Clark does have props listed
09:11on the FanDuel Sportsbook right now always a strong indication of availability we'll see what CC's
09:18status is for tonight she's already missed seven games this year for a player that did not really
09:23battle any injuries during her rookie campaign or her collegiate career at Iowa all right let's get to
09:29the breakdown the Minnesota Lynx accustomed miles to winning a Commissioner's Cup crowd as they did
09:34last year out on Long Island against the New York Liberty now at home where as you mentioned
09:40it does not impact a regular season record but Minnesota is perfect 8-0 in Minneapolis so far
09:48this season six and a half points spread in favor of the Lynx where do you start your breakdown for
09:53tonight's title game in the Commissioner's Cup? So I started with the Lynx looking to break the
10:00what I will call a very recent Commissioner's Cup curse where last year they won that title but then
10:06lost the WNBA title the year before the Liberty won the Commissioner's Cup title and then
10:10lost that WNBA title so they're trying to break that little trend that's happening but yeah the
10:15Minnesota Lynx they are just a wagon they've picked up where they left last year and it's all led by
10:20Nafisa Collier Fee is leading the league in scoring she's just been on this revenge tour since losing game
10:25five of the finals last year and where it's going to come down to me really is in points in the paint
10:31I think that we have the top two scorers in this game and Aaliyah Boston's number one overall with the
10:36fever and then Fee is right behind her at number two in points per game in the paint and we're
10:41going to see that that matchup that's the really the one advantage I would see that Indiana has in
10:47this one is getting the ball down low but again that is way more effective when you can run that
10:53that pick and roll with Aaliyah Boston and Kaitlyn Clark and if Kaitlyn's not out there are you just
10:58kind of spamming pick and roll or are you just trying to post up deep with Aaliyah and then that's
11:02something else that Minnesota's scramble defense can deal with a lot better the links are just all
11:07over the place going to shoot they're leading the league in efficiency offensive rating now defensive
11:12rating as well so obviously net they're ahead of everybody else it's just there are no holes on this
11:18team and if you're Indiana you have to play perfect basketball tonight 14 and 2 Minnesota prime for
11:25another run to the WNBA finals that of course this year is a best of seven sets second best record to win
11:31the championship but our second best price I should say to win the championship behind the New York
11:37Liberty as you see there the odds on favor to win that WNBA MVP hardware that is Minnesota's
11:44Nafisa Collier at minus 240 miles final minute of this segment for some that maybe haven't seen
11:50fee play this year for the links what will they see tonight and is the MVP award hers to lose this campaign
11:57yeah they're going to see an incredibly efficient player who has probably her and Bree Jones for me
12:04have the best footwork in the WNBA it's just everything is smooth the fadeaways the the defensive
12:10help she does everything at a plus level and looking at those MVP odds Caitlin being second you mentioned
12:16she missed seven games there's never been anyone to win an MVP award missing more than five games and
12:23that was John Quill Jones in 2021 obviously there were 32 games then and there are 44 games now
12:28but that math is actually even both of those seven equates to 15 percent just like five of 32 so it's
12:35working against Caitlin in that sense miles we appreciate the time as always the early line returns tomorrow
12:428 a.m. Eastern
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