With five games on the schedule, the WNBA headlines Friday’s sports schedule. All eyes were on the Indiana Fever and whether superstar guard Caitlin Clark would play against the Dallas Wings, but Clark has been ruled out for the second consecutive day with a groin injury, meaning we won’t see her go up with 2025 No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers of the Wings. Even with Clark out, there’s plenty of intrigue with the Fever against the Wings as well as other games on today’s WNBA slate, including the New York Liberty at the Phoenix Mercury and much more.
Do you have interest in WNBA betting and WNBA player props at the best betting sites? Here are today’s WNBA best bets for Friday, June 27. All odds are courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook.
Today’s WNBA pick:
Valkyries -8.5
Can’t stop, won’t stop when it comes to the biggest cash cows in the WNBA this season.
One of those is the league’s newest team, the Valkyries, when they are at home in Golden State. The Valkyries were 9-point underdogs against the Liberty on Wednesday, and as I noted in that day’s best bets article, anything over two possessions (Liberty -6.5 or higher) was worth a play on the Golden State side. That turned out to be right on the money as the Valkyries didn’t trail by more than six points the entire game and wound up losing by just three points to the defending champs.
Th Valkyries are back at home this Friday and are sizable favorites the Sky, and I still really like them when it comes to this matchup.
A big reason for that? Kamilla Cardoso, or really, the lack of Cardoso. She scored a career-high 27 points in the Sky’s last game against the Sparks, and she leads Chicago with 12.7 points per game in 2025 on 56.1% shooting. But as noted, this game will have a lack of Cardoso as she is out of WNBA action for an overseas tournament. Given her elite size and her recent scoring surge, that’s a big blow for the Sky.
Chicago has major scoring issues and the Sky lead the WNBA in turnovers with 17.8 per game. They also don’t shoot the ball well, and with Cardoso out, scoring will be even tougher. The Valkyries have also been one of the best defensive teams in the WNBA this year under first-year head coach Natalie Nakase. Golden State enters Friday third in steals per game at 8.4, and given Chicago’s turnover woes, the Valkyries should have quite a few transition opportunities in this matchup.
I think this spread should be double digits. The Valkyries just laid 10 points Sunday at home to the Sun and wound up winning by 24. The Sky aren’t quite as bad as the Marina Mabrey-less Sun, but when they lose, they often lose big. Eight of their 10 losses have come by at least 13 points, and they’re now down their top scorer.
I also think this is a huge coaching mismatch between Nakase and Sky first-year head coach Tyler Marsh. As such, I’m making this my first 1.5-unit play of the season. Nakase and Marsh were both Aces assistant coaches before this season, and I’m sure Nakase wouldn’t mind showing who the superior option was from the Becky Hammon coaching tree.
Mercury +2.5
The other cash cow has been fading the Liberty without Jonquel Jones. In games that Jones has either missed or left early due to injury, the Liberty are 4-3 straight up and 1-6 against the spread. With Jones healthy, the Liberty are 7-0 straight up and 5-2 against the spread. Jones is out for a few weeks after re-injuring her ankle, and it’s obvious that New York misses her rebounding, defense and overall strong all-around game.
Without Jones and fellow starter Leonie Fiebich (EuroBasket), the Liberty don’t look anywhere close to the destroyer-of-worlds juggernaut that they were earlier in the season. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that they don’t look like a true title contender without the two of them. That’ll change when Fiebich and Jones are back, but for now, let’s take advantage once again of another inflated Liberty spread.
The Mercury just beat the Liberty in New York last Thursday, and that was without Kahleah Copper. Copper is still knocking off the rust after missing nearly the first month of the season after undergoing knee surgery. She does have three games under her belt so far this season, and she provides another scoring option for a Mercury team that has many of them.
Over the past four games, the Mercury have had four different players lead the team in scoring—Satou Sabally, Alyssa Thomas, Monique Akoa Makani and Sami Whitcomb. Copper averaged 21.1 points per game last regular season, so she can light it up as well. Before the season, the Liberty had much more perceived depth than the Mercury, but right now Phoenix has more options it can trust than this current version of the Liberty that is so reliant on Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu.
Along with their bevy of scoring options, the Mercury also have a hellacious defense that turns opponents over like crazy. The Liberty didn’t know what hit them last week, as their normally well-tuned offense was forced into 22 turnovers. The amount of pressure the Mercury generate on defense is incredible, and they lead the WNBA with 18.1 forced turnovers per game (the Seattle Storm‘s defense is second at 16.3). The best way to counter the Mercury is with size, but without the 6-foot-6 Jones, I think the Liberty will struggle once again.
Editor’s note: As noted, Max Meyer played the Mercury at +2.5. That line has since shifted and the Mercury are now favored by a point. Instead of playing that on its own, Max recommends parlaying the Mercury and Valkyries money lines, which is currently +126 at FanDuel.