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The WNBA regular season will take a pause for a few days this week as the 2025 Commissioner's Cup championship takes center stage. On Tuesday, Napheesa Collier and the Minnesota Lynx will host the Indiana Fever, who may be without the services of Caitlin Clark. Should Clark take the floor, this will be the most anticipated title game since the in-season competition began in 2021. 

The Lynx are the defending champions, and are looking to become the first team to go back-to-back. They are off to a league-best 14-2 start overall this season behind Collier and elite 3-point shooting, and went 5-1 in Commissioner's Cup games to earn the top spot in the Western Conference. 

The Fever, on the other hand, have dealt with all sorts of adversity this season. Clark has missed seven games due to two injuries, while Sophie Cunningham and coach Stephanie White have also missed multiple games. Meanwhile, key offseason signing DeWanna Bonner forced her way out of town. They are just 8-8 overall, which has them stuck in eighth place, but went 4-1 in Cup games to earn the Eastern Conference's spot. 

It's hard to write a full preview without knowing Clark's status. She told reporters on Sunday that she's "day-to-day," and White added that she's still limited to non-contact drills. It would make sense long-term to hold Clark out and give her the extra days of rest, but she'll be pushing to play and the league would certainly love to have her involved in a marquee event. 

The Lynx deserve to be favored regardless of whether Clark plays, especially at home where they are a perfect 8-0, but if she suits up the Fever are more than capable of beating anyone. 

Here are CBS Sports' latest WNBA Power Rankings:

1
Lynx
The Lynx felt Napheesa Collier's absence in their surprise loss to the Mystics -- just their second defeat of the season -- but immediately got back to business once she returned. Their overtime win over the Dream was one of the best games of the season, and after their dominant victory over the Sun they now have the best offensive rating (107.9), defensive rating (93.9) and net rating (plus-14.0) in the league. In other good news, Collier was named a captain for the All-Star Game.
2
Mercury
After setting a new franchise record with 17 3-pointers in a win over the Sky last week, the Mercury one-upped themselves with 18 3s in a victory over the Liberty. Their combined 35 3s were the most in a two-game span in WNBA history. Though the Mercury couldn't keep the hot streak going Sunday against the Aces, and had their six-game winning streak snapped, they have taken sole possession of second place.
3
Valkyries
In case you still weren't aware, the Valkyries are no joke, especially at home in Ballhalla. Their 27-point win over the Storm helped them close their five-game homestand with a 4-1 mark and improve to 7-3 at Chase Center for the season. Here is a crazy fact: over those five games, they shot just 40.5% from the field, but held their opponents to a staggeringly low 34.8% shooting. For the season, the Valkyries are limiting opponents to 39.3%; no team has held opponents under 40% for a season since the 2019 Aces.
4
Dream
This was a frustrating week for the Dream. They managed just 55 points in a loss to the lowly Wings, shot 15 of 75 (20%) from 3-point range across three games and blew a late fourth-quarter lead to the Lynx before falling in overtime. While they did bounce back to defeat the Liberty, Rhyne Howard was hurt in the process. She left with an upper body injury and asked for prayers on social media after the game.
5
Storm
The Storm continued their roller-coaster season with a downward swing this week. Most notably, they shot 27% from the field in a blowout loss to the Valkyries, which was their worst single-game field goal percentage since 2015. One trend to watch is their 3-point shooting. They entered the week shooting 37.8% – nearly a 10% jump from last season and only a decimal behind the Lynx for the best mark in the league. They went 23 of 84 (27.4%) this week, however. Was that a blip? Or are they coming back down to earth?
6
Liberty
There's never a good time to be without two starters -- Jonquel Jones and Leonie Fiebich -- but there are certainly better times than others. The Liberty's four-games-in-eight-days road trip, which consisted entirely of teams in playoff position, and started and ended on opposite coasts, was one of the worst. They've now dropped four of their last five, which is a major blow to their hopes of claiming the No. 1 seed, but considering the circumstances it's hard to read too much into their recent results.
7
Aces
The Aces are starting to show some signs of life. Their thrilling victory over the Mercury was their best win of the season and they've now won three of their last four to get back to .500. Rookie Aliyah Nye went 5 of 7 from 3-point range in Phoenix, and has scored in double figures with at least three 3s in three of their last five games. If she can be a consistent shooting threat, that would be a huge boost for their bench.
8
Fever
Good news for the Fever this week: their road win over the Storm was one of their best performances of the season, Kelsey Mitchell continued her resurgence with a season-high 32 points to beat the Wings and Caitlin Clark was named an All-Star captain. Bad news for the Fever this week: they blew another double-digit in a loss to the Sparks and Clark got hurt again. This time, it's a groin injury and her status remains day-to-day.
9
Mystics
The Mystics beat the Lynx and Aces to start the week, then fell to the Paige Bueckers-less Wings, which epitomizes their up-and-down start to the season. Sonia Citron had two more 20-point games this week and is up to 15.1 points and five rebounds per game for the season. The list of rookies who have put up 15/5 for an entire season is a who's who of all-time greats: Lauren Jackson, Tamika Catchings, Candace Parker, Tina Charles, Elena Delle Donne, Breanna Stewart, A'ja Wilson just to name a few.
10
Sky
The Sky got back in the win column this week with two victories over the Sparks, one of the few teams as bad as them on the defensive end. While the Sky remain well under .500, the good news is that Angel Reese has broken out of her sophomore slump. She's averaging 17.3 points, 17.5 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.3 steals over her last four outings, and has become the first player in WNBA history with 15-plus rebounds in four consecutive games.
11
Wings
After two wins this week, including one where they held the Dream to a season-low 55 points, the Wings have quietly won four of their last six. Paige Bueckers sat out of their victory over the Mystics on Saturday with a knee issue, but Chris Koclanes said it was "precautionary." Their other rookies, Aziaha James and JJ Quinerly, each scored 15 points in that game, and have had some nice moments as of late.
12
Sparks
A fourth-quarter comeback to defeat the Caitlin Clark-less Fever is the Sparks' only win in nearly three weeks. Their turnover rate is up to 20%, and they're giving up 18.3 points off turnovers per game. Both of those marks rank 12th out of 13 teams. It's tough to win on a regular basis with that formula. The Sparks could use more from Rickea Jackson. Last year's No. 4 pick is averaging just 12 points and 2.7 rebounds on 39.6% from the field this season.
13
Sun
Marina Mabrey was ruled out for two-to-four weeks due to a knee injury, and without her things have gone from bad to worse for the Sun. Mabrey is their leading scorer this season at 15.2 points per game, and their most reliable shot creator on the perimeter. In their first three games without her, they lost by 24 points, 26 points and 16 points to extend their losing streak to nine games.