CNN
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After a long, history-making WNBA season that included a break for the Paris Olympics, the postseason is finally here.
Eight of the league’s twelve teams have earned the right to compete for the championship ring, and all four encounters have produced exciting events.
Here’s everything you need to know about each game in the first round of the playoff series.
The first round consists of three best-of-three games and all begin on Sunday, September 22. The playoffs will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.
Full schedule for game 1 (away and home)
No. 8 Atlanta Dream @ No. 1 New York Liberty – 1:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
#6 Indiana Fever @ #3 Connecticut Sun – 3:00 PM ET, ABC
No. 7 Phoenix Mercury @ No. 2 Minnesota Lynx – 5:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
#5 Seattle Storm @ #4 Las Vegas Aces – 10:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
Postseason action begins with a rematch of a game that took place on the final day of the regular season when the New York Liberty face the Atlanta Dream.
Atlanta defeated New York in a must-win game on Thursday to advance to the playoffs with a score of 15-25, one game ahead of the Washington Mystics, who also won on the final day.
Dream center Tina Charles became the WNBA’s all-time leading rebounder during the game and told reporters the outcome was never in question.
“We came here with our bags packed,” said the 35-year-old. “We knew we could do it. For us, the playoffs had honestly started a week ago, simply because of the situation we were in.”
There wasn’t much at stake for the Liberty on Thursday, as the team had already secured first place for the second time in franchise history two days earlier.
New York was one of the eight founding teams of the WNBA, but is the only remaining franchise of those eight that has not yet won a championship. The team has lost in the WNBA Finals five times, most recently last year to the Las Vegas Aces.
Led by 2024 All-Stars Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones, the Liberty finished the season with a league record of 32-8 – the only team with single-digit losses – and secured home-court advantage for the playoffs.
With their full roster, the Liberty are the clear favorites in this first-round matchup. New York ranked second with 85.6 points per game, while the Dream ranked last with 77.0 points.
Superstar rookie Caitlin Clark was one of the stories of the WNBA season.
She set a plethora of records, including the single-game and single-season assist record, in a season that will likely earn her Rookie of the Year honors, and sank 122 three-pointers on the year, the most ever by a rookie and just six shy of the record set by Ionescu in 2023.
After a spectacular rookie season, Clark will now be tested by the highs and lows of the postseason for the first time. It’s been a remarkable turnaround for her Indiana Fever team, which began the year 3-10 but hit form after the Olympic break to finish with a 20-20 record and sixth place.
“I’m really proud of their development and their resiliency,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said after the team’s last game against the Mystics. “They’ve put in the work and gotten better.”
We didn’t have enough time at the beginning, but as the season went on they just got better and better.
“They deserve a chance to play in these playoffs.”
Indiana will face the third-seeded Connecticut Sun, who finished the year 28-12, the most wins in franchise history.
The Sun have the best defensive rating in the league, while the Fever are 11th in that regard.
“We really want to win,” Connecticut guard Dijonai Carrington said after his team’s final regular season game against the Chicago Sky. “The offense can’t stop our defense, and I think that’s what we’ve been banking on all season… We’re strong defensively and we make it difficult for the other teams.”
We may be watching a WNBA icon make his final appearance.
Following the Phoenix Mercury’s 89-70 loss to the Seattle Storm on Thursday, the league’s all-time leading scorer Diana Taurasi gave a speech to the home crowd as rumors of retirement continue to swirl.
The 42-year-old was drafted first overall by the Mercury in 2004 and has spent her entire WNBA career with the franchise. She is a former MVP, three-time WNBA champion, six-time EuroLeague champion, six-time Olympic gold medalist, eleven-time WNBA All-Star and is widely regarded as one of the best basketball players of all time.
“I want to thank every single coach, every single player and every single person who has worn a WNBA jersey because it takes a village and our league is about supporting each other,” she said in her emotional speech. “And in turn, we can see where we are now, 28 years later, for those who played before us. This league is where it is now. We’re thankful for you guys and we’re thankful for the next generation.”
“If it’s the last time, it felt like the first time,” she added.
Phoenix fans will get at least one more opportunity to see Taurasi on home turf – the seventh-seeded Mercury will face the No. 2 seed Minnesota Lynx in the first round.
The Lynx finished the season just two games behind the Liberty and have been in top form since the Olympic break. Minnesota has won 13 of its last 15 games, with one of the losses coming in the final game of the regular season against the LA Sparks, where head coach Cheryl Reeve opted to rest her starters.
The team is led by four-time All-Star Napheesa Collier, who averaged 20.4 points per game during an outstanding season.
The Las Vegas Aces are attempting to accomplish what only one team in league history has ever accomplished: winning three championships in a row. The Houston Comets won the first four WNBA Finals from 1997 to 2000 before disbanding in 2008.
Although Las Vegas won it all in 2022 and 2023, the team is certainly not the favorite for the postseason and could only reach fourth place for the playoffs.
“It was so hard to win the first game and then say, ‘OK, we have to come back another year,'” Aces point guard Chelsea Gray told CNN last month. “And it’s even harder to win the second game. And then we come back and they don’t expect us to win the third. It’s going to be even harder to do that.”
“We try to take one game at a time because if you lose sight of the small picture, you’ll never see the big picture.”
Luckily for Las Vegas, they have one of the best players in the world on their roster. A’ja Wilson is fresh off a regular season in which she averaged 26.9 points per game and broke single-season records for points and rebounds. A third career MVP award is all but assured.
Standing in the Aces’ way are the Seattle Storm. The four-time champions are led by the multiple All-Star duo Nneka Ogwumike and Jewell Loyd and ended the season with a win over the Mercury.
Part-owner of the Storm is franchise legend Sue Bird – the former point guard holds the record for most WNBA All-Star nominations with 13 nominations and played her entire 20-year career with Seattle.
