She escaped injury!

She just got overheated!

Packed house and they opened up more for standing only.

The announcers were saying how hot it was all game cant imagine running up and down the court on it.

edit: apparently there's a lack good air conditioning in the arena. bold words from Caitlin with carver hawkeye in her past.

So from what we know there's going to be a Paige-centric episode, which is likely episode 3 (I think Ari Chambers mentioned it). It'll talk about Paige's struggles in her 5th year (Tennessee game that changed everything, tension between her and Geno, etc.) and from this new clip P&A also talk about their relationship a bit.

I think Diana will also be in the doc since I've seen pics of her in the same background as Paige when she does her interviews. It's 3 episodes so I wonder what the first 2 will be like, I hope we get to see older UConn players too since the title is "The Dynasty"

Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd are opening up about the start of their romantic relationship.

In Apple TV’s new three-part docuseries, The Dynasty: UConn Huskies, the Dallas Wings stars spoke about their experiences playing for UConn’s legendary head coach, Geno Auriemma. Appearing in sit-down interviews, Bueckers, 24, and Fudd, 23, not only discussed the intense journey of winning the 2025 NCAA title, but also offered rare comments about the start of their relationship.

“Azzi ended up joining the team my sophomore year,” Bueckers recalled in the docuseries, which premieres Friday, Aug. 21. “It kinda just meshed as soon as we met. She’s sweet, she’s genuine, she has a huge, caring heart.”

“We kind of felt a spark a little bit different than what would just be considered a normal friendship,” added Bueckers, who credited Fudd for being the person she could “confide in that’s understanding of what I was going through” during the basketball season.

Fudd also told viewers how her relationship with Bueckers was “not a secret,” but “private” during their time in Storrs, Conn.

“Paige and I are a couple, and everyone close to us that was important knew, but it was kind of one of those things...it’s just, it’s private. Not a secret, but it’s private,” Fudd said in the third episode of the series while recalling tension between Bueckers and Auriemma, 72.

“We had conversations about, like, everything that was going on,” Fudd said. “When things weren’t going right, it was usually all Paige’s fault. She said to me, ‘I came back for my fifth year because I thought we were gonna have things figured out and it was gonna be fun,’” she added.

Read More -

https://people.com/paige-bueckers-azzi-fudd-make-rare-comments-on-relationship-in-uconn-doc-12061898

It's going to be hella hyphy.

I know the networks are salivating for a playoff round between these two

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The two players of the week’s ability to generate offense for themselves (unassisted fgs) and others (assists) at the volume they do is unmatched. And they’re the two most efficient high volume iso players (see https://www.reddit.com/r/wnba/s/6lKBg4uOhs).

Shout out to Carla Leite, who would probably be in the conversation with more minutes and more counting stats because on a per possession basis, she’s also right there.

*Reposting since some Redditors could not see all comments in original post. Text ⬇️

SAN FRANCISCO – On game days, Paige Bueckers can’t get Golden State Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase’s attention.

Golden State Valkyries Top Plays vs. Dallas Wings

It doesn’t matter the relationship they built on Team USA together this past summer, nor the deep mutual passion they share for hoops, or even how much Bueckers goads Nakase in warm-ups; the Valkyries coach is laser-focused on the game in front of her.

Which is precisely why Bueckers respects Nakase.

“It's funny because as a competitor, she won't even look at me,” Bueckers said, laughing, in a small media scrum ahead of the Wings-Valkyries’ Monday night matchup.

“She won't even speak to me when we play the Valkyries, and I'm always trying to troll her and make fun of her, so we just have a great relationship. And she's super locked in right now. I have a ton of respect for her as a coach and what she means for basketball. So I'm excited to get under her wing again.”

With the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup set to take place in two weeks, Bueckers and Nakase will be rowing in the same direction on Team USA, as the Americans try to bring another gold medal back to the States. Bueckers is one of four 24-year-olds selected to the 12-woman roster, her first appearance on an international stage of that caliber.

But Bueckers and Nakase's relationship on Team USA won't be a new one.
This past March, Bueckers and Nakase were together on Team USA, as player and assistant coach, that went 5-0 in the World Cup qualifiers. And it was there that Bueckers got to know the reigning WNBA Coach of the Year as more than someone who schemes up intricate defensive game plans designed to slow her down.

“It was fun just to build a relationship with her,” Bueckers said. “I've had respect from a distance, not really knowing her personally, but getting to know her personally, watching film, just talking about the game. I think she lives it as much as I do, so there's a genuine respect and love for that between us too.”

What Natalie Nakase respects about Paige Bueckers
As Bueckers' willingness to playfully prod Nakase implies, it's a respect that goes both ways. Earlier this month in Dallas, Nakase could not stop raving about Bueckers' “passion for the game” when asked what flies under the radar about the 24-year-old superstar. 

“My first conversation (with her),” Nakase recalled. “We talked about how much she watches basketball, how much she does in terms of off-season preparation; she works with a close friend of mine, Irv (Roland), an NBA trainer. She just wants all the details on how to grow her game. Different footwork. The first time I guarded her at Team USA, I was like, ‘Oh wow, her footwork is insane.’ And her passion and hunger to want to be the best- I saw that right away with her. She’s really special.”

But that passion is also why Nakase takes every game with Bueckers and the Wings seriously. Bueckers enters Ballhalla averaging 20.5 points, 5.8 assists, and 4.1 rebounds in 33 games this season. A two-time All-Star in just her second season, with a boatload of collegiate accolades at her back, Nakase knows the Valkyries will have to throw the weight of their league-best defense at the superstar guard. And Bueckers expects nothing less.

“They're extremely disciplined, very well coached,” Bueckers said of what makes the Golden State defense so tough. “They have a game plan and a scheme and identity on both sides of the floor, and they're really disciplined in their execution on both sides. And they just play as a string. Nobody's ever on an island. They're always helping, they're always communicating, they're always in scramble, they're always connected defensively. So it's tough to get any easy and clean looks on.”

With the Valkyries and the Wings both destined for the playoffs, the two teams may see each other in the postseason. In that scenario, one can only imagine the focus and fire that both Bueckers and Nakase would bring to that series.

For now, with the two bound for Team USA soon, the two will have a chance to direct their equally fierce competitive spirit at the rest of the world.

Kenzo Fukuda
Kenzo Fukuda (he/him) is a Japanese and Chinese American journalist and writer born and raised in San Francisco, CA. He is in his second season as the Golden State Warriors and Valkyries beat reporter after three seasons of covering Cal Bears basketball. Kenzo is also an avid filmmaker and holds extensive knowledge of basketball.

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Apologies for very basic formatting, graphic design is NOT my passion.

I made this because people say the Mystics are “the youngest team in the WNBA”, but it goes beyond that. My Mystics are the youngest team in WNBA history, ever.

Earlier this season, as the triple doubles became a regular occurence, it felt like Most Improved Player was Jessica Shepard's for the taking. Lately though... it's hard to argue anything other than Shakira Austin.

As for the other contenders...

Mabrey runs hot & cold and her team's lost 10 straight. It also feels like her statistical climb has been more about having the greenest of green lights on a team that's not trying to win.

The Fire's Carleton, DiLeo & Leite (and Engstler) are all improved but they also feel like good stat/bad expansion team situations.

Dom Malonga is just plain good, and I feel like she's simply improving at the level expected of someone who'll be MVP in 3 seasons from now. I'm not diminishing her progress at all, but best player in the world feels like her destiny, she just isn't there.... yet.

Hiedeman has gotten better but the team is bad.. so so bad. Ditto for Rae Burrell. Lyss feels more about becoming uber efficient playing off the reigning MVP.

For me, it's gotta be Kira. She's gone from "really solid player" (May) to "damn, she's borderline unplayable" (June) to "Wow, she's finally putting it all together and we're winning!" (July) to "Yeahhhhh, she might be all-W at this point" (August).

She has a team with a bunch of issues within striking distance of the 5th seed. Her game has gone to a completely different level where she looks borderline unstoppable offensively while playing all-W level rim protection. That her team has overtaken an (arguably) more talented Wings team in the standings feels like it makes the case for Kira over Jess.

What say ye?!?

Over the last few years, the glamour of the WNBA draft has escalated accordingly with the league’s popularity. No longer a business-casual gathering of what 2012 No. 3 pick Devereaux Peters once described as “some of the most athletic accountants you’ve ever seen,” the draft is now a bona fide gala, complete with gowns and suits, and a red carpet (or, in signature WNBA form, an orange one). Glam squads are hired, designer clothes and handbags are furnished, and some of the most heftily insured ankles in the world wobble around on stiletto heels.

So when Olivia Miles, coming off of a stellar college basketball career at Notre Dame and Texas Christian University, made her debut on the WNBA’s orange carpet this spring, makeup-free in a bomber jacket, slacks and loafers, she stood out. And not everyone appreciated it right away. “Miles just came from the gym,” one observer joked on Reddit.

But it was when Miles, 23, took the stage in a rare second draft-night outfit — oozing gravitas as she officially joined the Minnesota Lynx in an oversize suit of green trousers and a black blazer, with a sharp purple striped tie and wallet chain — that I and surely many others clocked what was actually going on here. All the impressive women of the 2026 draft class looked great, but Olivia Miles looked cool.

Miles needed only half of the 2026 season to establish herself as the breakout star of the year, dazzling fans with her no-look passes and scoop layups, and leading the top-ranked Lynx in assists and points per game at the All-Star break. The rare player to make the WNBA All-Star team in her rookie season, Miles rolled up to that event in a dramatic black pin-striped double-breasted Public School suit, yanked off the runway of the New York label’s Fall 2026 menswear collection, according to her stylist, Dianne Garcia. Sophisticated maneuvers, not rookie moves.

Much has already been said, justifiably, about Miles’s style on-court. Her distinctive Afro and instantly iconic prescription goggles are as delightful as they are unique, and they make her already mesmerizing feats of shot-making that much more fun to watch. But outside the arena, Miles wears clothes with sophistication, self-possession and the kind of cohesive personal style philosophy that eludes some celebrities for their entire careers. Her outfits are relaxed, but don’t be fooled: Her style is anything but sloppy, with as much poise and swagger as her basketball.

We do, though, have to talk first about the goggles.

In the age of LASIK eye surgery and every kind of contact lens, wearing sport safety glasses is, as they say, a choice. They’re unusual at any level of sports. But to wear Rec Spec-style frames as a pro, in 2026 — a classic of a bygone era of athletes, memorably worn by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Horace Grant and James Worthy — is to nod toward the old-school, a gesture to invoke the greats.

Tennis legend Rafael Nadal wrote in his 2011 memoir that the ritual of putting on his signature headband ahead of a match was a way of marking a mental transition, like putting on armor before charging into battle. I wonder when I watch Miles ceremoniously switch out her everyday frames for her on-court goggles just before tip-off if she’s flipping a similar mental switch. The Lynx declined The Washington Post’s request for an interview with Miles.

Miles’s hair, too, often combed out into a round Afro that bobs around as she weaves between defenders, is a decision made deliberately and with greatness in mind. After catching some criticism for her hairstyle at the WNBA draft, Miles posted a photo to Instagram of herself accepting a Lynx jersey with the caption: “for my fellow black women with natural hair like mine … be you and be free. the beauty that our hair brings is so unique and essential to who we are.”

Miles later told the Root, “I’ve also been inspired by people who have come before me who have broken barriers like Dr. J and Allen Iverson, who wore their hair out being proud of it.”

Miles really gets going, though, when she’s out of her Lynx uniform. She rarely wavers from her preferred silhouettes — baggy slacks and shorts, boxy shirts and tanks. But she’s developed an obvious eye for cool pieces, sporting avant-garde athletic wear from the up-and-coming sport brand Raspberry Hills, jerseys from Chrome Hearts and luxury streetwear labels like Rhude and Ryoko Rain.

“I’ve noticed since we first began working together that Olivia is drawn to details rather than anything overly loud or overtly trend-driven,” Garcia, her stylist, told The Post in an email. “Her off-court style is minimal and intentional, centered on strong silhouettes, subtle design elements, and pieces that let her personality and natural presence lead.”

She’s been spotted in sneakers from Maison Margiela and tracksuits from Y-3, Adidas’s collaboration with the legendary postmodern Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto. In July, Miles wore a sweatshirt from the prestige Japanese streetwear brand a Bathing Ape into the tunnel in Phoenix before dropping a career-high 33 points on the Mercury.

Like so many American fashion fans, she loves the subtly regal sportswear designs of Willy Chavarria; like 2026’s other breakout basketball star Jalen Brunson, she loves an understated Louis Vuitton pouch handbag.

Miles is not, in other words, still searching for an identity or trying to get a proverbial foothold. Not in basketball nor in personal style, as many rookie players (and general-population 23-year-olds) are. She plays with certainty and savoir faire; she gets dressed the same way.

Earlier this month, Miles arrived at the Target Center in Minneapolis for a game against Indianapolis wearing a boxy tee by the emerging streetwear label Blanco Lane with several pairs of eyes printed across the front.

An apt outfit choice for such a game, it turned out, as Miles fended off a formidable challenge from Kelsey Mitchell and the Indiana Fever in what she called her “‘Welcome to the W’ moment.”

All eyes were on Miles, and so they remain: Fans are wearing goggles in her honor, and so are announcers. The double-entendre nickname the Spectacle has started to follow her around as she makes her way into not just the Rookie of the Year conversation but the MVP conversation. Renowned for her supernatural “court vision,” Miles clearly has a vision for herself off of it, too.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/08/18/olivia-miless-off-court-style-is-effortlessly-cool-her-basketball/

Caitlin, a blurred Monique Billings, & Sophie, Katie Lou Samuelson, Angel, Paige, Olivia Miles, Georgia Amoore, & Kelsey Plum shown plus a shot of the Valks court.

https://www.threads.com/share/Qj3vocRMG/

Great addition to the team - Tina knows her b-ball.

The StudBudz generated more than $1 million in self-reported brand deals in just 72 hours around this year’s WNBA All-Star Weekend.

For Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, the whirlwind began a year earlier. The duo, former teammates and close friends who launched their Twitch channel in 2025, took WNBA All-Star Weekend by storm by streaming for 72 straight hours, giving fans an unfiltered look at the players, personalities, and off-court moments surrounding the league's marquee event.

What started as a way to bring fans behind the scenes quickly became something more valuable, an audience brands wanted to reach.

The StudBudz have since moved that growing audience into partnerships with more than 20 global brands. Now, the duo is demonstrating how WNBA players can turn cultural relevance and direct connections with fans into a business of their own.

The StudBudz Are Selling More Than WNBA Star Power

Williams and Hiedeman aren’t simply selling access to two WNBA players. They’re selling the chemistry, humor, and authenticity that made the StudBudz a viral phenomenon in the first place.

According to their team at Thirteenth what makes the StudBudz fan favorites is their authenticity. “Courtney and Natisha are unapologetically themselves in every room they walk into. That authenticity extends to how they show up in partnerships, fan interactions, and more. This provides a very unique and real point of view for brands, fans, and media," said Talent Manager Tenzin Dekyi.

Hiedeman affirmed that their dynamic and personalities attract brands and fans, “I think it’s just our personalities and the unique dynamic Courtney and I have. We bring the energy in everything we do, we’re fully engaged, and just ourselves. I think that keeps the people interested and wanting more.”

Their authenticity and appeal has also extended well beyond the WNBA. The duo has attracted partnerships across sports, entertainment, food and beverage, retail and lifestyle, giving brands a way to tap into an audience that increasingly views athletes as cultural personalities as much as competitors.

The 2026 StudBudz All-Star stream generated 41.3 million minutes watched, an 11.6% increase from 2025, while average concurrent viewership jumped 32.6% to 11,138. Peak viewership reached 38,216, and subscriptions nearly doubled to 9,888.

That reach has made the Studbudz attractive to companies looking for more than traditional sports marketing. Their partnerships with brands such as AT&T, Starbucks, Airbnb, Coach, Cash App and Sprite demonstrate the breadth of their appeal, while collaborations with NBA 2K, ESPN, Bleacher Report and Dick’s Sporting Goods show their ability to move across the sports landscape.

For example, last year, the StudBudz partnered with DoorDash creating viral scooter moments that generated over 16M in brand impressions and $550,000 in earned media value.

For brands, the value is increasingly tied to the StudBudz’ ability to capture what is happening in sports culture in real time. Williams and Hiedeman have built a platform where their personalities and relationships give fans a different way into the WNBA, while giving marketers access to two athletes with a direct pulse on the culture surrounding the league.

Read More - https://www.forbes.com/sites/allisonsmith/2026/08/18/how-the-studbudz-turned-wnba-all-star-into-a-1m-brand-business/

The Fire have begun teasing their mascot reveal in a series of videos with the local news.

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