7 budding superstars who made big splashes during the first weekend of the WNBA season

A longtime backup for Sue Bird during her four seasons with the Seattle Storm, Jordin Canada enjoyed an impressive debut as PG1 during her first game with the Los Angeles Sparks.

The 5-foot-6 guard poured in a team-high 21 points — tying her career high — as the Sparks downed the reigning champion Chicago Sky in the Windy City. She added four rebounds, eight assists, and two steals, while going a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe.

Though her 10-point, six-assist performance against the Indiana Fever two days later wasn't quite as noteworthy, Canada has proven herself worthy of a starting role in a league where point guard opportunities are incredibly difficult to come by.

Dream General Manager Dan Padover billed Rhyne Howard as "a foundational piece" before Atlanta even selected her with the first overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft. Needless to say, expectations for the Kentucky Wildcats product were sky-high from the jump, but Howard rose to the occasion in her professional debut.

The 6-foot-2 wing stuffed the stat sheet on the road against the Dallas Wings, leading Atlanta with a team-high 16 points, four assists, four blocks, and two steals, while adding three rebounds in an incredibly well-rounded effort. Her Dream left Texas with a seven-point victory — an encouraging sign of progress for a squad that won just eight games last season.

Sabrina Ionescu was a bona fide superstar during her days as the Oregon Ducks' triple-double queen. And while she's shown flashes of brilliance over her first two seasons in the pros, the 5-foot-11 point guard — who has struggled with a nagging ankle injury for the duration of her New York Liberty career — has yet to find the consistency that would make her a WNBA All-Star.

Ahead of the regular season, however, Ionescu told the media that she finally felt fully healthy and ready to make her mark on the league. And if her season opener was any indication of what's to come, she's absolutely right.

Ionescu scored a team-high 25 points in the Liberty's upset of reigning MVP Jonquel Jones and her powerhouse Connecticut Sun. Ionescu added four rebounds, six assists, and two steals to round out one of the most impressive stat lines across the entire WNBA during the first weekend of play.

The Chicago Sky are loaded with superstars. But even with three Finals MVPs and three All-Stars on their roster Friday night, it was second-year guard Dana Evans who stole the show for the reigning champions on opening night.

The 2021 second-round pick had a career performance, racking up a game- and career-high 24 points on 52.9% shooting from the field. Her five assists, four steals, nine field-goals made, four free-throws made, and two three-pointers made were all career highs. And while it wasn't enough to bring Chicago the win against Los Angeles, it may lock in Evans' spot in a deep Sky rotation.

With Jackie Young seemingly taking a massive jump to start the season, Becky Hammon's Las Vegas Aces may very well be the team to beat in the WNBA this year. The 2019 No. 1 draft pick out of Notre Dame has been a solid role player for the Aces in years past, but she's started 2022 with All-Star caliber numbers that should put the entire league on notice.

On opening night, Young scored 20 points on 80% shooting from the field and added three rebounds, four assists, and a steal. She shined again as Las Vegas hosted the Seattle Storm Sunday night, scoring 19 points on 60% shooting from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.

Young added three rebounds, three assists, and a steal to help the Aces down Seattle and race out to a 2-0 season start. She currently ranks in the Top 10 in points, field-goal percentage, three-point percentage, and plus-minus.

Marina Mabrey has improved her output each of her three years in the WNBA, but she started out 2022 with a serious leap for the Dallas Wings. The 5-foot-11 guard scored a game-high 20 points on 50.0% shooting from the field and 42.9% from range off the bench Saturday night against the Indiana Fever.

In roughly 24 minutes on the floor, Mabrey added six rebounds and an assist while accruing a team-high 15 plus-minus. With Wings superstar and fellow Notre Dame product Arike Ogunbowale seemingly struggling to start the season, Mabrey could prove to be Dallas' focal point in the backcourt early the year.

The Indiana Fever had a record-breaking four first-round picks in the 2022 WNBA Draft, but it was their second-rounder who shined brightest of all come opening weekend. A point guard fresh off a national championship with the South Carolina Gamecocks, Destanni Henderson opened her pro career with four points, two rebounds, and five assists without a single turnover in 17 minutes on the floor.

The 5-foot-7 sharpshooter, however, really shined two days later, when the Fever took on the Los Angeles Sparks at home. On her graduation day, Henderson erupted for a team-high 19 points on 75.0% shooting from beyond the arc and tacked on three rebounds, three assists, and two steals to boot.