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The Seattle Storm have fallen to eighth place in the WNBA standings, clinging onto the final WNBA playoff spot for now. The Storm travel to face the first-place Minnesota Lynx in the marquee game of the evening at 8 p.m. ET. The other two contests on Thursday night are the Washington Mystics battling the New York Liberty at 7 p.m. ET on Prime Video and the Chicago Sky taking on the Phoenix Mercury at 10 p.m. ET on Prime Video.

If you're interested in WNBA betting and WNBA player props at the best betting sites for Thursday, Aug. 28, then make sure to see today's WNBA best bet at FanDuel Sportsbook. If you're new to betting on the WNBA, we'd recommend reading this WNBA betting guide.

Today's WNBA picks:

  • Liberty -12.5 -110 (1 unit, FD)
  • Napheesa Collier Over 21.5 points -130 (1 unit, DK)

Liberty -12.5

We faded the Liberty last game as double-digit favorites in Breanna Stewart's return against the red-hot Connecticut Sun, and New York ended up escaping with a 2-point win. To me, this feels like the matchup where the Liberty get back on track.

The Mystics come in on a four-game losing streak (three of those at home), including three double-digit defeats (two of those at home). The Mystics are a team that doesn't shoot many 3-pointers (last in WNBA with 16.7 3-pointers attempted per game, the next-closest team is at 20.6) and turns the ball over frequently (second in WNBA in turnover percentage at 19.5% of possessions). 

This seems like a potential nightmare against a team that loves getting out on the fast break and shooting a ton of threes. The Mystics do have the rebounding advantage in this one, but I just don't see them being able to keep up with the Liberty's firepower on the offensive end. 

Napheesa Collier Over 21.5 points

Collier returned last game for the Lynx after being sidelined with a right ankle sprain for a few weeks. Collier looked 100%, as she torched the Indiana Fever for 32 points on 11-of-16 shooting in 31 minutes. This is a Fever team that is tied for the third-most points in the paint allowed per game in the WNBA.

Collier's opponent tonight, the Storm, has allowed the second-most points in the paint per game despite having impressive size. Collier has played Seattle twice this season, and scored 16 (May 27) and 25 points (June 11) in those games. 

What sticks out to me, though, is that she was able to score that many points despite poor shooting efforts in each (7-of-18 when she scored 16, 9-of-23 when she scored 25). She is shooting 54.3% on the season, so I'm expecting a more typical shooting performance here. Additionally, those Storm matchups came earlier in the season when they were one of the slower-paced teams in the WNBA, whereas they rank second in pace over the past 10 games -- so with more Lynx possessions, I'm banking on even more Collier shots taken.

We just saw Aliyah Boston have a field day in the paint in the Storm's last game, as the Fever star big scored 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting. I'm expecting Collier to carve up this same defense tonight.