{"id":254860,"date":"2026-07-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/two-storylines-to-watch-in-the-second-half-of-the-2026-wnba-season-the-gist\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T00:00:00","slug":"two-storylines-to-watch-in-the-second-half-of-the-2026-wnba-season-the-gist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/27\/two-storylines-to-watch-in-the-second-half-of-the-2026-wnba-season-the-gist\/","title":{"rendered":"Two storylines to watch in the second half of the 2026 WNBA season | The GIST"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>The GIST: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/newsletter\/daily-sports\/bfc2573b-8efa-4634-bdff-513d7b681f1a\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Group Chat<\/em><\/a> popped off about all things WNBA All-Star Weekend, from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/Kvm_b4hwuMM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">historic three-point contest<\/a> to the most <a href=\"https:\/\/www.them.us\/culture\/wnba-all-star-weekend-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">chaotic livestream in sports<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marieclaire.com\/fashion\/celebrity-style\/best-looks-2026-wnba-all-star-weekend-players\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the collection of \u2019fits<\/a> that belong in the Louvre. Now, it\u2019s back to reality as the second half of the season <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wnba.com\/schedule?season=2026&amp;month=all\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tips off tomorrow<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u274c League addresses ongoing harassment crisis: <\/strong>It\u2019s been a tumultuous year with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/story\/_\/id\/49427707\/wnba-union-meeting-addressed-racist-hateful-abusive-messages-directed-players\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recurring instances<\/a> of racism and harassment dominating headlines, culminating in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7470273\/2026\/07\/25\/cathy-engelbert-wnba-all-star-game-player-safety\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a meeting<\/a> between league commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the players\u2019 association last week. Any tangible action remains unclear, but those discussions reportedly \u201cmarked the beginning of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wnba.com\/news\/wnba-wnbpa-statement-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">an ongoing dialogue<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Engelbert highlighted the importance of transparency and reiterated the league\u2019s existing security measures in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OiZQ80fwlkA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">her All-Star press conference<\/a> on Saturday, later sharing that a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7470365\/2026\/07\/25\/wnba-official-replay-center-2027-season-all-star\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">replay center<\/a> will be introduced in 2027 to help manage the continued criticism of league officiating.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u2764\ufe0f\u200d\ud83e\ude79 Injuries continue to pile up: <\/strong>Stop us if you\u2019ve heard this before but the W\u2019s been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theixsports.com\/features\/wnba-injury-tracker-who-gets-hurt-how-often-and-why-it-matters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">decimated by injuries<\/a> with 216 already reported this year, a whopping 51 more than this time last season. It remains a league-wide concern, but thankfully two previously sidelined superstars are <em>so<\/em> back.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\ud83d\udc31 Napheesa Collier and the Minnesota Lynx vs. the Toronto Tempo \u2014 8 p.m. ET: <\/strong>After posting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NQpVdeeYI7E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a double-double<\/a> in last week\u2019s season debut, expect more magic from perennial MVP candidate Collier as her league-best Lynx host All-Star Marina Mabrey and the Tempo.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u2728 Kelsey Plum and the LA Sparks vs. the NY Liberty \u2014 10 p.m. ET:<\/strong> Plum was putting up MVP\u2013caliber numbers before a leg injury sidelined her in June. And while the Sparks are keeping their cards <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25457490-kelsey-plum-gives-injury-update-sparks-return-timeline-wnba-all-star-weekend\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">close to their chest<\/a>, she <em>should<\/em> be hooping in this marquee matchup.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n  n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n  document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('init', '1716705275141133'); \/\/ Insert your pixel ID here.\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n      <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/article\/second-half-wnba-season\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GIST: The Group Chat popped off about all things WNBA All-Star Weekend, from the historic three-point contest to the most chaotic livestream in sports to the collection of \u2019fits that belong in the Louvre. Now, it\u2019s back to reality as the second half of the season tips off tomorrow. \u274c League addresses ongoing harassment [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":254861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-254860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}