Ten games into their defense of the first championship in franchise history, the New York Liberty look poised to make a run at another ring.

Although New York’s undefeated start came to an end in Saturday’s 102-88 loss to the Indiana Fever — who got 32 points from Caitlin Clark in her return to the lineup — the Liberty still put together one of the best 10-game stretches in league history to start the season.

Despite the loss, New York boasts the second-best point differential (plus-15.7) for a WNBA team in its first 10 games, trailing only the 2016 Los Angeles Sparks (plus-16.5), who started 11-0 en route to the title. The addition of Natasha Cloud has helped fill the void left by Betnijah Laney-Hamilton’s offseason knee surgery, while Kennedy Burke stepping up and the return of Marine Johannes has strengthened the Liberty bench.

We take a closer look at some of the questions about the defending champion, including the possibility New York could be better than last year, whether there are any weaknesses for the Liberty and the chances of a WNBA Finals rematch against the Minnesota Lynx.

Better than ever?

At 8-2 on its way to a 12-2 start, New York hardly struggled at the outset in 2024. Yet last year’s Liberty team wasn’t as dominant as this season’s group has been so far. New York had just three wins by more than 13 points in that stretch. The Liberty matched that by Game 3 this season and have won half their games by at least 19 points, boosting their point differential.

To some degree, that’s probably a function of schedule. New York has played a combined seven games against the Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Golden State Valkyries and Washington Mystics — four of the five teams with the lowest over/under win totals at ESPN BET entering the season. ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI) rates the Liberty’s schedule to date the WNBA’s easiest. Because New York can’t play itself, that won’t totally even out. The Liberty’s remaining schedule rates fourth easiest but will still test them more than they have been so far.

Historically, teams that have been as dominant as New York has been to start the season have translated that into hardware. Of the eight previous teams to outscore opponents by an average of at least 12 points over the season’s first 10 games, six won championships. One of the others (the 2016 Lynx) lost to the hotter-starting Sparks, leaving the 2012 Minnesota team that lost to Indiana in the WNBA Finals as the only team to outscore opponents by so much early and lose to a slower-starting team in the playoffs.

Of course, the 2024 Liberty set the bar at a championship. But there were already reasons to think coming into this season that New York could potentially improve on last season, when the team finished 32-8 and went the distance against the Lynx in the Finals.

In addition to returning the team’s top four players in postseason minutes, the Liberty were able to add Cloud and bring back Johannes. Cloud has provided the best of Laney-Hamilton’s perimeter defense and the playmaking New York got from departed Courtney Vandersloot, leading the team in both assists and steals. Johannes hasn’t yet got going as a shooter on a consistent basis but showed her potential with six 3-pointers off the bench in a 28-point win over the expansion Valkyries.

The expansion draft cost the Liberty sixth woman Kayla Thornton, who’s excelling in a starting role with Golden State. However, New York had prepared for that by bringing in Burke and acquiring the rights to Rebekah Gardner. The two defensive-minded wings are averaging a combined 14 points and shooting better than 50% on 3s. It’s unlikely they’ll keep that up, but the extra depth will help the Liberty to manage the extended 44-game regular season.

No New York player is averaging more than 30.2 minutes, a mark Laney-Hamilton, Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart all exceeded last year.

Searching for a weakness

Reinforcing their dominance, the Liberty lead the WNBA in both offensive and defensive rating. Of the eight teams to pull off that double in league history, seven won the championship — all but the 2016 Lynx.

New York ranks in the WNBA’s top three in six of the eight “four factors” across offense and defense, including No. 1 in effective field goal percentage (eFG%, which counts 3-pointers as 1.5 field goals to reflect their added value) and opponent eFG%.

The glass is the notable exception to the Liberty’s balanced success. New York ranks last in offensive rebounding percentage and 12th of 13 teams on the defensive glass. The latter is a change from last season, when the Liberty had the WNBA’s best defensive rebounding percentage, and it represents perhaps the single biggest concern for Sandy Brondello and the New York coaching staff.

The Liberty are much stronger on the defensive glass with leading rebounder Jonquel Jones on the court, rating better than league average when she plays but still down from 2024 with Jones on the floor. That points to a decline in rebounding from Stewart, who has gone from securing 15% of all available rebounds in 2024 — about her career average — to a career-low 10% thus far in 2025.

Stewart rediscovering her rebounding prowess would go a long way toward solidifying New York’s one shortcoming.

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Liberty stay perfect behind big games from Stewart, Ionescu

Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart lead the way as the Liberty defeat the Sky to improve to 9-0.

Trending toward a Finals rematch?

As well as they’ve played, the Liberty are still a half-game back in the standings of 10-1 Minnesota, the team that took New York the distance in last year’s Finals. The two teams, both of whom started 9-0, are two losses ahead of the rest of the league.

In that context, I was surprised to see that a Lynx-Liberty Finals rematch is considered less likely than not at ESPN BET, which gives it plus-205 odds. The odds imply a better chance of New York facing the field than Minnesota.

It’s easy to overstate the inevitability of favorites meeting in the Finals, but those odds are longer than what BPI simulations show. The BPI has the Liberty making the Finals 73% of the time and the Lynx 60%, meaning they square off again in 45% of matchups.

The tougher question, one we tackled in our recent team grades, is who might knock Minnesota and New York out of the Finals. The BPI favors the 8-3 Atlanta Dream, who aren’t far behind the top two teams in the standings or in terms of point differential (plus-9.0 points per game). Remarkably, the Dream still have the seventh-best title odds at ESPN BET.

I picked the Fever, who showed their potential on Saturday against the Liberty. New York’s most competitive win also came against Indiana, bookending Clark’s absence. Indiana boasts a plus-10.2 differential in the five games Clark has played, albeit fattened by a 35-point win over the Sky in the season opener.

The market still shows faith in the Las Vegas Aces, who are 5-5 with a minus-2.3 differential after losing Sunday with A’ja Wilson sidelined for a second consecutive game by a concussion. The Aces have the pedigree of championships in 2022 and 2023 and Wilson still playing at an elite level when healthy, but they have just two wins all season by more than five points and were no match for New York in the season opener.

BPI simulations still have Las Vegas fourth in championship odds, same as ESPN BET, but we’re going to need to see the Aces back it up on the court sooner rather than later.

The Boston Red Sox might be the best embodiment of the emotional swings that teams go through in this era of Major League Baseball.

Ten days ago, they had dropped nine of their past 12 games, and industry executives were eyeing the strongest parts on Boston’s roster in case the team was forced to start dealing players before the July 31 trade deadline. But instead, right-hander Hunter Dobbins notched two wins against the New York Yankees, Roman Anthony arrived in the big leagues (finally) and the Red Sox are back to .500, fostering a run at the postseason, real or imagined.

Then, a Father’s Day trade, out of the blue: Craig Breslow, the head of baseball operations for the Red Sox, shipped Rafael Devers off to the San Francisco Giants. He addressed all the necessary business at once — dumping the contract of the unhappy Devers, adding pitching depth, and creating opportunity for the team’s young position players by opening the team’s DH spot.

He and the Giants’ Buster Posey shared in what seems destined to be the biggest trade of the summer. In doing so, they shifted more onus onto some of their peers. Here are seven more who have the most at stake as trade season heats up.

Mike Hazen, general manager, Arizona Diamondbacks

Hazen will have a lot of say about what happens at this year’s trade deadline because if Arizona decides to trade talent, he’ll dangle a highly marketable set of players. Josh Naylor (could the Mariners be interested? Or the Giants?), Eugenio Suarez (Yankees would be in on him), Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen would become some of the best options, and other GMs like to trade with Hazen because they find him communicative and decisive.

But Hazen has also seen success when his team has been on the fringe of contention. Two years ago, the D-Backs won 84 regular-season games and, after upsetting the Phillies in the playoffs, they came within two victories of winning the World Series. Arizona just lost Corbin Burnes and reliever Justin Martinez to major injuries, but with an extraordinary core of talent, could Hazen add help, rather than trade away players? Knowing that Burnes will miss most or all of next year, could Hazen start constructing the team’s 2026 rotation? A lot is riding on his choices this trade season.

Arizona’s chances for making the playoffs, according to Fangraphs, are 34.9%.

David Dombrowski, president of baseball operations, Philadelphia Phillies

Over the past couple of years, Dombrowski installed two younger starting pitchers into his rotation, 28-year-old left-hander Cristopher Sanchez and 27-year-old Jesus Luzardo, acquired in a trade with the Marlins. Meanwhile, Andrew Painter, the highly regarded 22-year-old right-hander the Phillies held out of the Garrett Crochet trade talks last summer, has reached Triple-A.

However, the Phillies’ group of position players is older, with Bryce Harper in Year 7 of the 13-year deal he signed and Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto in the last years of their respective contracts. The team’s window is now. Jose Alvarado could return from his PED suspension before the end of the regular season, but he will be ineligible for the postseason. The Phillies need bullpen help, just as they did last season, and Dombrowski will need to augment that group before the deadline.

“He’s been through this plenty of times before,” one of his peers said. “He’ll make deals. He always does.”

Jerry Dipoto, president of baseball operations, Seattle Mariners

Seattle has been wildly inconsistent while sorting through some rotation injuries. George Kirby has gradually improved over the five starts since being activated from the injured list, and Logan Gilbert was just activated off the IL and will start Monday against the Red Sox. If not for Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh would be the front-runner for the American League MVP Award.

But despite Raleigh’s power, the Mariners are struggling for offense at first base (their group has a wRC+ of 90, 22nd among the 30 teams) and DH (24th in wRC+, at 89). There is a clear need for a thumper, whether it’s Ryan O’Hearn or Josh Naylor — or someone of that ilk. As with the Orioles a year ago, the Mariners’ farm system is loaded, and Dipoto can present a buffet table of options to rival executives looking for a match.

Chris Young, president of baseball operations, Texas Rangers

Last July, with the Rangers coming off their first championship in 2023, Young waited and waited for a turnaround that never came before the trade deadline, refusing to deal. This year’s problems are a little different, but still similar. Jacob deGrom is dominating, but the offense has been shockingly sparse, with Texas ranked 26th in runs scored. There are reasons for hope: Evan Carter, impacted by injuries over the past 18 months, is hitting .387 in June (although he has been experiencing a wrist issue in recent days), and Wyatt Langford is getting better. It’s also hard to imagine Marcus Semien hitting .224 all year.

Young bet on a turnaround last summer. Will he do so again this year?

Mike Elias, general manager, Baltimore Orioles

The hole the Orioles have dug this season might be too deep to dig out of — they’re 6½ games out of the last AL wild-card spot. The Orioles were just 2½ games out of the wild-card race in 2022 when Elias chose to trade talent away rather than acquire it. But the context is different now, with Baltimore’s group of prospects older. By year’s end, Adley Rutschman will have four years of service time.

One way or another, Elias has to start building a rotation for next season. Maybe dealing Ryan O’Hearn and/or Cedric Mullins and others will help.

J.J. Picollo, general manager, Kansas City Royals

With the recent spate of losses, Kansas City is under .500 — and their playoff chances are 13.3%, per Fangraphs. Picollo’s track record is well-established: He has done what he can to win, signing free agents such as Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha and Carlos Estevez, and more recently, promoting top prospect Jac Caglianone and bypassing the opportunity to manipulate his service time.

But Cole Ragans is out indefinitely because of a strained shoulder, and Lugo has an opt-out on his deal after this season — and at 35 years old, it makes sense for him to take advantage of his leverage. Maybe that’s a contract extension with the Royals, or maybe that’s testing free agency. If the Royals’ recent malaise takes root, Lugo would be coveted in the trade market.

Jed Hoyer, president of baseball operations, Chicago Cubs

Chicago is so good — its offense so dynamic and versatile, its defense so efficient — that one evaluator believes that the question for Hoyer is not whether the Cubs will make the playoffs (their playoff chances, per Fangraphs, is 88.5%), but what will make them more dangerous in the meaningful games they’re bound to play at the end of the season. Especially with Kyle Tucker, the heart of the offense this year, headed for free agency in the fall.

Pitching is needed, with Justin Steele out for the season. The talented-but-young Ben Brown has an ERA over 6.00, and Colin Rea has been inconsistent. The Diamondbacks’ Kelly or Gallen might be a perfect fit, while the Orioles’ Zach Eflin would be an upgrade.

The Cubs’ payroll is well under the luxury tax threshold, the 12th highest in the majors, but Chicago wasn’t competitive in the bidding for Alex Bregman, even though he would’ve been a perfect fit. Rival evaluators wonder if Cubs ownership will greenlight the sort of pricey acquisition that could help this team compete for its second title in the past decade.