Caitlin Clark to the Olympics, Aces will win third title: 10 bold predictions for the 2024 WNBA season

The 28th WNBA season doesn’t tip until May 14, but with preseason games starting Friday, it’s time to start thinking about what’s in store for women’s professional basketball the next few months.

There’s never been more excitement around the women’s game. With a star-studded draft class, a team going for its third consecutive championship and a summer Olympics that will help drum up interest in women’s basketball, the WNBA is headed into its most anticipated season since the league debuted almost three decades ago.

So what can we expect this summer? Here are 10 bold predictions for the 2024 WNBA season.

1. Caitlin Clark will lead the WNBA in assists and make the Olympic team

Does this seem like that much of a stretch? No. 1 overall pick Caitlin Clark is the biggest name and face in the women’s game right now, so putting her on the Olympic team, even if she doesn’t play much, seems inevitable. And it’ll be easier to justify when she comes in and distributes the ball to her teammates with flair.

New York’s Courtney Vandersloot led the league last year in assists with 8.1 per game, but Clark can top that merely because she has so many great options to pass to, from 2023 Rookie of the Year Aaliyah Boston to Kelsey Mitchell to NaLyssa Smith and others. Defenders are going to be aggressive and physical with Clark, so it’s likely she’ll struggle to score at the clip she did in college. But her passing will translate immediately, especially in transition.

2. Los Angeles Sparks' Rickea Jackson will be the 2024 Rookie of the Year

In the event that you’re unfamiliar with Rickea Jackson, the No. 4 overall pick out of Tennessee, you should study up.

The 6-foot-2 guard/forward has tremendous size to go along with her skillset, which means she’ll make an immediate impact. What’s more, the Sparks are in desperate need of some scoring — they lost their top two scorers in the offseason — and Jackson can provide that. She’s smooth, fun to watch and her personality will fit in perfectly in Hollywood.

3. Charter flights will become mandatory

Women’s basketball has never been more popular, and while it’s absurd that the WNBA is 28 years old and still not chartering regularly — especially after Brittney Griner’s safety was threatened upon her return from Russia — this is a problem that’s likely to be fixed soon. By the time everyone returns from the Olympic break Aug. 14, charters should be the norm in the WNBA.

Members of the 2024 draft class, led by Clark, are so popular, they’re regularly going to get mobbed in airports. That’s not going to go over well with anyone, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver can step in and fix it with the snap of his fingers. Everyone associated with the WNBA — players, coaches, fans — wants charters. Silver can, and should, make it happen.

4. This will not be Diana Taurasi’s final season

A few important notes on the woman widely — and correctly — considered the GOAT of the WNBA: Yes, Diana Taurasi has talked about wanting to get through the Paris Olympics … but Taurasi has an insatiable hunger for competition, and she’s not ready to give up the sport she loves, or the paycheck, even if she’s dealt with more than her share of injuries lately. (Tauraisi played in just 26 of Phoenix’s 40 games last season.) She’ll be around next summer, too, and very possibly after that as well. After missing the playoffs last season, it’ll be important to Taurasi to lead Phoenix back to the postseason before she bids goodbye.

5. The Las Vegas Aces will three-peat

Yeah, the New York Liberty took Las Vegas to four games in the last finals but let’s be real: In the W right now, it’s Las Vegas and everyone else. The Liberty might have the star power to match Las Vegas, but coach Becky Hammon has proved to be the difference. The Aces return their entire 2023 playoff roster, and A’ja Wilson only keeps improving.

No WNBA team has three-peated since the Houston Comets won the league’s first four titles, from 1997-2000. That changes this summer.

6. Skylar Diggins-Smith will have an All-WNBA season with the Seattle Storm

The No. 3 overall pick in the 2013 draft, Skylar Diggins-Smith has a reputation for bringing drama wherever she goes. But don’t let the off-court rumors or antics take away from her on the court play, which is often spectacular. Throughout her career, the 5-foot-9 guard has averaged 16.7 points, 5.0 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game; she’s also a terrific defender.

Diggins-Smith missed last season after giving birth to her second child, but her absence from the Phoenix Mercury went beyond that; last August, Diggins-Smith said she’d been barred from the team’s practice facility. Diggins-Smith has a long history of playing well when people are dismissing her.

7. The WNBA will announce three expansion teams by the 2024 Finals

Initially, the W planned to announce two expansion teams by the end of 2023, which would start play in the 2025 season. They got halfway there, with the addition of the Bay Area team (which has already sold 7,000 season tickets). But the second team — which was reported to be Portland — fell through and now the W is in a holding pattern. That means that as of now, the league is expected to play with just 13 teams in 2025.

Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said during the 2024 draft that she’s “confident” the league can get to 16 teams by 2028. Fans are clamoring for expansion right now though and while the WNBA drags its feet, the NWSL is naming expansion teams left and right.

An easy way to fix all this: Name the next three cities by the Finals, which will run through October. It really is that simple.

8. A’ja Wilson will win MVP honors. The vote won’t be close

Speaking of the league’s best player, and the world’s top player on both ends of the floor — Wilson has won back-to-back DPOY awards — the 27-year-old will be hungry to get her MVP trophy back this season. There was some controversy last season when Breanna Stewart took home MVP honors despite receiving fewer first-place votes than Connecticut’s Alyssa Thomas (in WNBA awards, voters rank their choices). Wilson admitted that finishing third in 2023 MVP voting “hurt like hell” — in a bizarre move, someone even voted her fourth. She’ll be anxious to flush that feeling, and will go on a tear starting Day 1.

9. Chicago will lead the league in rebounds

Don’t believe this because I said it, believe it because Kamilla Cardoso proclaimed it.

On draft night, after Chicago selected South Carolina’s Cardoso No. 3 overall and LSU’s Angel Reese No. 7 overall, Cardoso joked of the Sky’s imposing new front court, “nobody’s gonna get more rebounds than us.” Except she wasn’t kidding: Reese and Cardoso averaged 13.4 and 9.7 rebounds, respectively, in their final college seasons, which ranked second and 41st nationally. Chicago averaged 33.3 rebounds as a team last year. With Reese and Cardoso in the lineup, except that number to go up significantly.

10. Every New York Liberty starter will be an All-Star

This is going to happen for two reasons: First, the Liberty is stacked with talent, from Breanna Stewart to Sabrina Ionescu to Courtney Vandersloot and more. But here’s the other caveat that’s important to know: This summer, the Olympic team will be playing the All-Star team before the Americans head to Paris. Because all the Olympians are likely to be voted All-Stars first, numerous All-Star roster spots will open up; that’s how Jonquel Jones and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton will also make the team.

Email Lindsay Schnell at lschnell@usatoday.com or follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 10 bold predictions for 2024 WNBA season: Caitlin Clark to Olympics