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After an off-day yesterday, the WNBA returns Thursday with a pair of late-night games. The Lynx visit the Mercury in one game, while the other games sees Candace Parker and the Aces head to Los Angeles to take on the Sparks, the team that Parker played the majority of her WNBA career with.
If you're looking for WNBA daily fantasy picks and some betting advice this season, then you're in the right place. I'll be here providing picks for any slate with two or more games, as well as adding a little betting advice as well.
In this article, I'll be providing you with some daily fantasy WNBA lineup picks for DraftKings and FanDuel. These lineup picks will range from elite players to mid-priced options and value plays. The slates lock on 5/25/2023 at 10:00 p.m. ET. Want to talk more about the WNBA? I'm always available on Twitter and always down to discuss women's basketball: @juscarts.
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WNBA DFS Picks: Forward
Brittney Griner (Phoenix Mercury) - vs MIN - DK: $10,700, FD: $9,600
Brittney Griner has been dominant in her return to the WNBA. In her first game back, she had 18 points, six rebounds, two assists and four blocks. In the second game, she had 27 points on 9-for-13 shooting with 10 rebounds, one assist, four blocks, and one steal. She also drained a three and was 8-for-9 from the charity stripe.
Griner hasn't lost a step. And on Thursday, she gets a matchup against a Lynx team that just won't have the size to stop her. Jessica Shepard is a really good player, but Griner has five inches on her and a major strength advantage. I expect Griner to be unstoppable in this one.
Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx) - @ PHO - DK: $7,900, FD: $7,600
Collier scored 39.25 DraftKings points last time out, and yet her DFS price fell by $500 ahead of this game. I really don't know what's going on there, but I suppose we'll just keep playing her every night until she's up to the price where her production should have her.
Last time out, Collier was 8-for-16 for 20 points and also added five rebounds, five assists, one block, and two steals. She does a little of everything for the Lynx and is clearly their best player—everything will basically run through Collier all season.
Jessica Shepard (Minnesota Lynx) - @ PHO - DK: $9,200, FD: $6,300
Look, I know I said that this wasn't a good matchup for Shepard, but the problem is that this is a relatively weak slate for forwards. You could opt for Chiney Ogwumike here, but Shepard still has an advantage because of her presumed usage.
Yes, she might get dominated by Griner when the Lynx are on defense, but Shepard's also not someone who makes her living via blocks. She'll still have plenty of chances to grab rebounds, and she doesn't take too many shot attempts anyway. What gives her a good chance of scoring well in fantasy is that the Lynx use her to set shots up. She's averaged 5.5 assists per game this season and I don't see Griner really impacting that.
WNBA DFS Picks: Guard
Jackie Young (Las Vegas Aces) - @ LAS - DK: $8,800, FD: $6,600
If you were worried that adding Candace Parker and Alysha Clark would hurt Young's production, then the first game should have quieted some of those concerns. The former No. 1 pick played 26 minutes, going 8-for-13 from the floor and 3-for-4 from deep, scoring 23 points and adding five rebounds, three assists, one block, and one steal.
Young's overshadowed sometimes by how many other good players are on this team, but there's a reason she went first overall in 2019. Her scoring numbers have gone up every season and last year she shook off her biggest concern, shooting 43.1% from three on 3.4 attempts per game. She'd never shot over 31.8% from deep in a season before. It's just been one game, but it looks like her shooting improvement has stuck.
Lexie Brown (Los Angeles Sparks) - vs LV - DK: $6,900, FD: $5,300
Lexie Brown wasn't firing away at will in the opener like I expected, but she still managed to post a strong stat line, shooting 4-for-7, which included a 3-for-5 mark from deep as she finished with 14 points, four rebounds, two assists, one block, and one steal.
Zia Cooke's emergence in the first game introduced a new variable to figuring out the wing situation in Los Angeles, but Brown should still be on the floor even if Cooke gets more minutes, so I don't think that hurts Brown as much as it might hurt Layshia Clarendon. Brown should continue to fire away from deep, giving her a good ceiling because of her ability to knock down threes.
Sug Sutton (Phoenix Mercury) - vs MIN - DK: $6,400, FD: $4,600
I was worried that the return of Sophie Cunningham would hurt Sutton's minutes last game, but it turns out the real concern isn't going to come until Shey Peddy returns from her knee injury, which doesn't appear to be happening any time soon.
Sutton impressed in her first game of the season, scoring 10 points on 4-for-10 shooting, and then she came out and impressed again in her second game, playing 30 minutes and shooting 5-for-9 with 13 points. She also added one rebound, two assists, and two steals. The Mercury don't have a lot of backcourt depth right now, so Sutton should continue to play heavy minutes, giving her a chance to produce strong fantasy numbers at a low cost.
WNBA Bet of the Day
Every day, I'll provide my favorite bet. I'll be using DraftKings Sportsbook for the odds.
Season Record: 1-1
Sparks/Aces U 172
The Aces absolutely destroyed the Storm in the opener, winning 105-64. It was an impressive showing on both ends. I expect the Aces offense to perform close to that level again on Thursday against the Sparks and while I think the Sparks offense is better than the Storm, it's still not the best offense. Nneka Ogwumike is good. Lexie Brown can score at a high volume when needed. But the Sparks also have some key players injured and I don't think they come close to the 94 points they scored in the opener against an Aces team that's this good defensively.
