2023 WNBA season primer: All eyes on Aces, Liberty ‘super teams’ plus Brittney Griner’s return as league opens 27th season

The 27th WNBA season already has an electricity about it, thanks to the return of Brittney Griner and the anticipation over two new “super teams” hitting the court, led by reigning champion Las Vegas Aces and the new-look New York Liberty. Fans will get their first view of all of it when the regular season tips off this weekend, kicking off an expanded 40-game schedule for each team that features every franchise in action over Friday and Saturday.

The Aces kept nearly every piece from their championship team and then added another superstar to their roster with two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker. But Las Vegas will open the season without head coach Becky Hammon after she was suspended for two games without pay following a month-long investigation into allegations by former Aces player Dearica Hamby, who claimed to have been bullied and manipulated for being pregnant.

Meanwhile, the Liberty signed two MVPs of their own in 2018 MVP Breanna Stewart and 2021 winner Jonquel Jones, plus they added last year’s assists leader Courtney Vandersloot.

“I think we put [together] a really good team — we’ve had a great offseason,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello told media on Tuesday. “But you know, ‘on paper’ doesn’t mean anything at the moment. We haven’t had much of a training camp to be quite honest with all our players — the big three coming in — and that’s unfortunate, but it is what it is. I think we’ll just have patience early, but these players really want to win.”

As for Griner’s first season back in the league following a nearly 10-month detainment in Russia, Phoenix’s second-year head coach Vanessa Nygaard told media earlier this week that they’re preparing for the spotlight to follow them throughout the year.

“When we go