AT&T WNBA All-Star 2024

Playmaking is an art form that can be portrayed through many mediums. While you can look at a box score and gauge that two players are nearly equal in assist total, little is ascertained about how that player dishes the rock. ‘Elite is Elite’ is about diving into the how and highlighting the minor details that constitute some of the significant strengths of the best in basketball.

Before the postseason, we dove into the ins and outs of the top WNBA players and the skillsets that make them unique. Kicking off the 2024 edition: Dimes.

In partnership with NBA 2K25, we pair each of the league’s top passers with playmaking badges from the game that best correspond to their skillset.

Alyssa Thomas: Versatile Visionary  

Alyssa Thomas currently sits second in the W in assists per game at 7.6. The volume of Thomas’ playmaking stands out, as she leads the league in assist percentage (She assists on 39.6% of all made baskets when she’s on the floor). Running a motion-heavy read-and-react offense, so much of Connecticut’s success is predicated on timing and playing outside to open up driving and cutting lanes.

With the ball in her hands, Thomas is a precise and rapid decision-maker, which sets her apart: No one is tasked with doing more as a creator on a possession-by-possession basis. She will dazzle with plays in transition and off the bounce, but where she excels most is her ability to routinely make the right play with snappiness. The Sun are built upon her gravity, so consistently making the correct reads with pace and accuracy is essential to being a successful offense.

Caitlin Clark: Break Starter

Caitlin Clark has acclimated to the league quickly and asserted herself as one of the top-flight playmakers in the league. Clark is already one of the premier pick-and-roll players in the W, as she and Aliyah Boston have continued to find footing in their two-player game, the budding cornerstone of Indiana’s success.

Her kick-ahead and outlet passing in transition have hit a high level since game one and look to be one of the ultimate skills at her disposal in the future. She hits the seams with lightning quickness after corralling a loose ball, head constantly up and probing for an opportunity to push the defense. Per Synergy Sports, Clark leads the WNBA in assists per game in transition, dishing out 2.5 dimes per contest in fastbreak offense, leading the league in total fastbreak assists with 83.

With her aggression in early offense, she routinely creates easy offenses for the fever, which only becomes more consistent when she and her teammates have learned one another’s games.

Chelsea Gray: Unpluckable

Chelsea Gray is a magician with the ball in her hands, one of the premier playmakers and craftiest ball handlers in the sport. The Las Vegas Aces immediately felt Gray’s presence upon her return from injury as she masterfully blended patience, tempo, and the flair that sets her apart.

Gray sees the game in a light that few ever have or will, capable of reading the floor and playing in multiple planes of motion akin to a 4th dimension.

She dazzles with her control of the ball, capable of getting to any spot on the court she wishes at any given time. She manipulates defenses and individual defenders with her eyes and ball fakes at a supreme degree, shifting open cutting lanes and shots with the potential of what she could do before she even does it.

How she moves her teammates and conducts the offense into a harmonic rhythm isn’t always easy to see at the moment. Still, after a lengthy look at what it looks like without her, there should be a further appreciation for the timing and brilliance that Gray adds to the Aces as a decision-maker.

Sabrina Ionescu: Triple Strike

The New York Liberty currently maintain the top-ranked offense in the WNBA, averaging just shy of 110 points per 100 possessions (109.8). That would rank as the 3rd most efficient offense in league history, just behind the 2023 Las Vegas Aces (111.5 pp/100) and 2019 Washington Mystics (110.8 pp/100).

Sabrina Ionescu’s pick-and-roll game and growth as a ball handler has been a staple of the Liberty’s offensive attack, and her tandem with Jonquel Jones has been one of the most effective two-player games in the WNBA by the numbers. Ionescu has dished 68 assists to Jones, per PBP Stats, including 38 rim assists and 20 assisted three-pointers, the 2nd and 6th most assists in those categories.

Her growth in patience with the ball in her hands has opened up her ability to probe the lane, more comfortably dictate offensively in space, and get the most out of her court vision. Her timing on passes always stands out; she is adept with pocket passing, throwbacks to a popping screener, and an improvement in hitting overhead on blitzed ball screens.

Only one player in the WNBA runs more pick-and-rolls per game than Ionescu, 15.6 per game, according to Synergy Sports. She can routinely pick apart whatever is thrown at the Liberty defensively with her growth.