WNBA 2025: Impact players for teams' end-of-season success - ESPN

With the trade deadline behind us and just five weeks remaining in the regular season, the push to the WNBA playoffs is officially on.

A few teams made moves to bolster their roster for a postseason push — like DiJonai Carrington being traded to the Minnesota Lynx, who are looking to return to the WNBA Finals. The Washington Mystics hit the reset button, trading Brittney Sykes to the Seattle Storm for Alysha Clark and then sending Aaliyah Edwards to the Connecticut Sun.

Only three games separate the current No. 2 seed (New York Liberty) and the No. 5 seed (Indiana Fever), with the Atlanta Dream and Phoenix Mercury between them.

Perhaps the most interesting chunk of the playoff races is taking place at the bottom half of the standings, between the Storm, Las Vegas Aces, Golden State Valkyries, Los Angeles Sparks and Mystics. Only two games separate the current No. 5 and No. 8 seeds, and just one game sits between the No. 8 and No. 10 seeds.

The three teams seemingly out of the playoffs are the Chicago Sky, Dallas Wings and Sun.

With each game mattering more than ever and the margins of error getting smaller, ESPN's Kendra Andrews, Kevin Pelton and Alexa Philippou look at who could be the difference-maker for the teams with playoff hopes, and who is the key to future success for the teams whose year will finish at the end of the regular season.

Gray has been the Most Improved Player front-runner all season, and her continued growth is crucial to the Dream's playoff hopes. Gray is in the top three of nearly every major statistical category for Atlanta, leading the team in points (18.7 per game), third in rebounds (5.5), third in assists (3.9) and third in steals (1.2).

Gray has been an All-Star for three consecutive years