Welcome to the Winner’s Circle, a weekly column by Bet For The Win senior writer Prince J. Grimes.
The NBA season ended a couple of weeks ago, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more basketball to bet on. The WNBA is in full swing, and the schedule is about to get juicy.
The Las Vegas Aces, who have been every bit as good as they were projected to be before the season (maybe even better), are finally about to play the New York Liberty Thursday in a clash of titans. The game should give bettors a good idea of how the rest of the season will play out. If the Liberty don’t have anything for the reigning champs, it’s likely no one does.
The Aces are 12-1 on the season with their only loss coming in the second of back-to-back games against the second-place Connecticut Sun. They have an average point differential of 16 points. They aren’t just winning, the Aces are steamrolling folks. They’re 15-point favorites Monday against the Fever, who they beat by 13 on Saturday.
Their dominance has led to a laughably high 33.5 win total over/under at DraftKings, which is four games better than the current WNBA single-season record of 29 wins. But their chances to hit the over aren’t laughable at all. Odds actually favor them to do it at -115.
It’s a good bet, and not just because of the new 40-game schedule the WNBA implemented this year (the previous wins record was set in a 34-game season). Vegas has dominated the teams it’s supposed to dominate, and it plays one of the easiest remaining schedules in the league, according to Massey Ratings, which projects an expected 22.19 more wins for Vegas.
The Aces may even give themselves an outside shot at the win percentage record of .900, which was set in the 30-game 1998 season. That would require a 36-4 record which, barring injuries, isn’t out the question.
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Two-time MVP A’ja Wilson is shooting a career-best 53 percent from the field while averaging 19 points, which is second on the team to Jackie Young, who has blossomed into an MVP candidate herself while averaging a career-best 20 points per game. Kelsey Plum is also posting a career-high shooting percentage, while Chelsea Gray is averaging career-high assists and 3-point shooting. Two-time MVP Candace Parker is merely a luxury at this point.
The Aces are the team everyone is gunning for, which gives the WNBA all the intrigue a bettor could ask for. You’re either riding with the favorites and their -145 odds to win it all at, or you’re riding with another team. The Liberty are +175 at FanDuel. The rest of the field is 13-1 or longer.
My money is on the champs.
