The Minnesota Lynx are sitting at the top of the WNBA standings at the quarter mark of the 2026 WNBA season. That gap matters because the league’s first-quarter grades are already separating a surprise front-runner from teams that were expected to push higher, including the Atlanta Dream and Chicago Sky.
Minnesota Lynx Atop
The Lynx have turned the opening stretch into the cleanest answer in the standings. At the quarter mark, they are the team every other contender is chasing, and that is the sharpest early change in the league’s table.
That kind of lead at this stage is the product of more than one good week. In a standings race, sitting first after a quarter of the season means the early math has already shifted in Minnesota’s favor, even before the rest of the schedule has fully settled.
Atlanta Dream In No. 4
The Atlanta Dream are 9-4 and in the No. 4 seed spot. They are also 10th in 3-point percentage, which makes the record look better than the shooting profile underneath it.
That split is why Atlanta lands in a tricky middle ground. The record is strong enough to track with preseason expectation, and the team is on track to have the best win percentage in franchise history, but the Lynx’s surge has pushed Atlanta down a spot in the standings picture.
Angel Reese has helped generate second chance points through her rebounding ability, a useful edge in a league where extra possessions can decide whether a strong start turns into a real climb. Atlanta’s numbers show a team getting results without yet pairing them with a top-tier perimeter mark.
Chicago Sky Changes
Chicago spent the offseason transforming the roster, adding Skylar Diggins and trading away all of its draft picks. That kind of overhaul usually asks for immediate stability, but the season took a sharper turn after Rickea Jackson suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Once that injury hit, the season started going downhill. When a roster is built around a major reset, losing a player to a season-ending knee injury leaves less margin for the new pieces to settle and fewer ways to cover the missing production.
For the reader, the practical takeaway is simple: the quarter mark has already separated the league into teams that are beating expectations and teams that are trying to recover from the cost of roster change. Minnesota has the lead, Atlanta is still in the top four, and Chicago is left sorting out how far the offseason overhaul can carry it without Jackson.
