The Las Vegas Aces and Chicago Sky will square off Tuesday night at Wintrust Arena for the second annual WNBA Commissioners’ Cup Championship game. While the game does not count toward each team’s regular season record, players will compete for a $500,000 prize pool. Members of the winning team will be able to win over $30,000 per player and players on the second team will have a chance to win $10,000 per player. An additional $5,000 will be awarded to the MVP of the game.
ESPN Stats & Info Senior Researcher Jennifer LaCroix breaks down the championship matchup, taking note of everything from injuries and lineup changes to recent trends and more.
All odds are provided by Caesars Sportsbook. The times are ET.
This is what to look for tonight:
Las Vegas Aces in the Chicago Sky
WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship, 8:30 p.m., Wintrust Arena, Chicago
Line: Sky (-2)
money line: Sky (-130), Aces (+110)
Total: 169.5 points
Questionable: Courtney Vandersloot (concussion)
Discarded: None
Fantasy needs to know: Chicago and Las Vegas rank first and second in the league standings, respectively, so it’s no surprise they made it to the Commissioners Cup Championship game. This could be considered a preview of the 2022 WNBA Finals. The Sky have won seven of their last eight games but are coming off a three-point loss to the Liberty on Saturday. The Aces are on a similar trend, having won five of their last six games. These two teams split their previous two games against each other this season and in both situations, the away team won.
Let’s talk about the Aces first, and nothing much has changed for them, they’re still very heavy with their starters, so there’s not much to choose from when it comes to their starters (all five of their starters are listed in 93% or more of leagues). But if you have any of these starters on your team, definitely play them anytime because they’ll give you some serious fantasy points. However, the Aces don’t have much of a bank. His reserves are only averaging 12.5 PPG, which is the lowest in the league. Despite their lack of depth, they have Riquna Williams (88.6% available) who has proven to be a good contributor as the sixth woman since she returned from injury. She is the only player off the bench to average more than 15 minutes per game and the team’s highest average scorer off the bench. She also racked up double-digit fantasy points in each of her last eight games and made at least one 3-pointer in each of her last 11 games.
The Chicago Sky isn’t as heavy, but Courtney Vandersloot, Candace Parker, Emma Meesseman and Kahleah Copper are on the roster in 94% or more of the leagues — the only starter not so heavily on the roster is sharpshooter Allie Quigley ( 21.6% available), if Quigley is available in your league, you should grab her as she has scored 20 or more fantasy points in three of her last four games. Vandersloot has missed the last four games due to a concussion. His status is day to day, but she practiced with the team on Monday.
If Vandersloot doesn’t play, he should pick Julie Allemand (94.9% available). Allemand has started in place of Vandersloot and is a great facilitator. She has averaged 4.5 APG, 5.8 PPG and 1.5 APG in the last four games and scored double-digit fantasy points in each of her last five games. If Vandersloot is out again, expect Allemand to continue to get big minutes.
Best bet: More than 169.5
I’m taking the over on this because this is an offensive power matchup. In four of the last five meetings between these two teams, they have gone to the over and in all four cases, the O/U was 170 or higher. The Aces have gone under the total in four straight games, so they need to come out on top. Both teams are also coming on three days off, so they will be well rested ahead of this game. It also helps that the Aces have averaged a league-high 89.8 PPG on the road and the Sky have averaged 87.8 PPG at home. If both teams hit their averages, they should combine to get 170 points or more.
Source: www.espn.com