With a record setting attendance and viewing season the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) heads into the playoffs where the top eight teams in the country battle it out for the title of WNBA Champion. The tournament is played best of three for the first round and then both the semi finals and finals are played best of five.
The eight teams to make the playoffs this year are the Las Vegas Aces, New York Liberty, Minnesota Lynx, Connecticut Sun, Seattle Storm, Indiana Fever, Phoenix Mercury, and Atlanta Dream. Five of these teams are returning after playing in the playoffs last year in 2023.
The Aces, coming into the playoffs 27-13, are the defending champions and are looking to make it a three-peat, as they have won the championship the past two years. They are led by A’ja Wilson, who recently just won the award for Most Valuable Player for the 3rd time (2020, 2022, 2024). She was unanimously voted for the award (earning 670 points), making her only the second player in WNBA history to do so. The Aces won their first game against the Seattle Storm 78-67.
The Indiana Fever (20-20) made its first appearance in the playoffs since 2016 led by rookie Caitlin Clark from the University of Iowa. She was recently unanimously voted Rookie of the Year and finished 4th in the MVP race with 130 points. The Fever lost their first game against the Connecticut Suns 69-93.
The #1 seeded New York Liberty (32-8) came in blazing, advancing to the semi-finals without having to play a third game. They beat the #8 seed Atlanta Dream 83-69 on Sept. 22 and won a second time on Sept. 24 91-82. They are led by Brianna Stewart, who was the 3rd pick for MVP with 295 points.
The Minnesota Lynx were seeded 2nd with a 30-10 record, they won their first match-up against the Phoenix Mercury 102-95. Napheesa Collier leads the team, and her incredible playing awarded her 2nd place in the race for MVP earning 467 points.
The Phoenix Mercury came into the playoffs with a 19-21 record and were seeded 7th. The Connecticut Suns had a 28-12 record and were seeded 3rd. The 5th seed was the Seattle Storm with a 25-15 record, and the Atlanta Dream had a record of 15-25 going in.
The playoffs started on Sept. 22 and round 1 will end on Sept. 27. The semi-finals and finals dates are still up in the air, with the last possible date for the finals being Oct. 20. The playoffs are super interesting to watch, they are filled with great, high level basketball.
