WNBA Odds, Picks & Predictions: Friday (8/1)
The 2025 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) has five total games on the schedule for Friday night. There are four games with a tip-off time scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET, including an intriguing matchup between the Phoenix Mercury and Atlanta Dream.
At 10 p.m. ET, the Los Angeles Sparks and Seattle Storm meet at Climate Pledge Arena in the Pacific Northwest. All five of the games are televised on ION. We’ll take a deep dive into two of those contests. Let’s build our bankroll with our best WNBA picks and bets for Friday, August 1st.
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Friday’s Best WNBA Picks & Bets
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook | All bets are for 1 unit
Golden State Valkyries (-260) at Chicago Sky (+205) | O/U 156 (-110/-110)
The Valkyries (13-13) and Sky (7-19) meet at Wintrust Arena in Chicago for the second-ever meeting between these teams.
In the first meeting on June 27th in San Francisco, the Valkyries picked up an 83-78 victory, although the Sky covered as 8.5-point underdogs as the over (158) cashed.
The Sky grabbed the cover that night, but this Chicago team will have quite a different look. Angel Reese is sidelined due to a back injury, missing her fourth game in the past six outings. Ariel Atkins is also on the shelf, so it’s likely Rachel Banham, Kia Nurse and Elizabeth Williams will be called upon to try and fill Reese’s huge shoes.
For the Valkyries, they posted a low-scoring 68-67 win against the Mystics in Washington on Thursday night, and now they play with no rest for the first time in franchise history. In Thursday’s victory, Veronica Burton and Kate Martin stepped up, with Burton going for 10 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, while Martin had 14 points off the bench. The Mystics misfired on a shot at the buzzer, as Golden State survived despite not playing its best game.
Golden State has won and covered in three of the past four games, while the under is 5-1 in the past six games. The Valkyries have struggled on offense, ranking 11th in the league with 78.7 points per game (PPG), while it is last in The W with a 40.3% field-goal rate. It ranks 12th in the WNBA with a 31.5% 3-point rate, too. On the flip side, the Valkyries are tops in the league, holding teams to 40.5% from the field. They’re third in the WNBA with 78.5 PPG allowed.
With Reese and Atkins sidelined, it doesn’t look great for the Sky. However, take Chicago catching the six points. It covered against Golden State in the first meeting, and confidence is not high with the Valkyries while playing on no rest, while losing an hour going from the Eastern to the Central time zone.
In addition, we’ll back the under, as Golden State is terrible offensively and very good defensively, while Chicago is missing a big part of its offense with Atkins and Reese on the mend.
Picks: Sky +6 (-110) & Under 156 Points (-110)
Los Angeles Sparks (+194) at Seattle Storm (-245) | O/U 168 (-110/-110)
The Sparks (11-15) and Storm (16-11) meet at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, and the Storm looks to maintain its mastery over the Sparks. Seattle has won five in a row in this series, while going 7-1 in the past eight meetings since June 6th, 2023. The Storm have just a 4-3-1 against the spread (ATS) edge in that eight-game span, too.
Los Angeles lost 89-74 last time out on Tuesday, snapping a four-game cover streak and five-game winning streak. The under in that loss also snapped a seven-game over run for L.A. In the team’s five-game win streak from July 13-26, the Sparks were good for 92+ points per game.
The Sparks have welcomed back Cameron Brink from a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered last season. She came back this past week, playing limited minutes as she eases back in.
The Storm spanked the Connecticut Sun on the road, 101-85, covering as an 11-point favorite on Monday. It has been a roller coaster ride for the Storm lately, going 4-4 in the past eight games, while going 3-5 ATS in the span since July 9th. The under is 6-1 in the past seven games.
L.A. has scored 85 PPG to rank third in the WNBA, while posting a 45.5% field-goal rate to rank fourth, while shooting 35% from behind the three-point line to rank third. On defense, the Sparks rank 11th in points allowed (87.3 PPG) and field-goal rate allowed (45.2%).
Let’s back the Storm laying the points, and we’ll go low on the total, as 168 is a high number for the WNBA.
Picks: Storm -5.5 (-108) & Under 168 Points (-110)