WNBA power rankings: Can the Atlanta Dream regain their footing after recent skid?

We have arrived at the midpoint of the WNBA season. The regular season itself doesn’t end until Sept. 24 because of the 17-day FIBA World Cup break, but the number of game days is half over.

As a result, Tuesday is the WNBA’s midseason cutdown date, after which every player still on a 12-player roster has a contract guaranteed. Usually at this point of the season, a flurry of action occurs as teams part ways with players at the end of their rosters to create roster and cap space for better fits for the stretch run. Last year, more than half of WNBA teams waived a player within a week of the cutdown date.

This season’s cutdown date has not yet been as frenetic. That could be because teams are required to carry 12 players at all times instead of 11 as was the case under the previous collective bargaining agreement. Waiving a player means having another option ready to go almost immediately — though that can be on a seven-day contract, not a rest-of-season deal — and that is even more challenging when 180 players are already rostered with 15 franchises and 23 are on developmental contracts.

Nevertheless, if a player is unexpectedly cut over the next two days — keep an eye on the ones who haven’t been in rotations recently — don’t be surprised by the timing. This is standard practice for teams to retain flexibility during the second half of the season; it’s easier to make trades before that Aug. 2 deadline with a little more cap space, for example.

And players who make it past 5 p.m. ET Tuesday without being waived can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing they’ll still have a paycheck for the next two months.

Here are this week’s power rankings:RankTeamPrevious rank1New York42Minnesota13Las Vegas24Golden State35Dallas 66Indiana77Washington88Atlanta59Chicago910Phoenix 1011Toronto1112Portland1413Connecticut1314Seattle1215Los Angeles15Trending upDallas WingsThe Wings didn’t need to make things so difficult against the Connecticut Sun, in what was something of a homecoming game fo