The 2026 WNBA playoffs open on Sunday with four first round games.
In the afternoon, the New York Liberty faces the top-ranked Minnesota Lynx before the third-place Las Vegas Aces host the Indiana Fever. In an evening doubleheader the fourth-place Atlanta Dream hosts fifth-seeded Washington Mystics before the Sunday slate closes with the runner-up Golden State Valkyries facing the seventh-ranked Dallas Wings.
Nobody plays more than three games in the opening round. The lower seeds host Game 2 on Tuesday or Wednesday and any Game 3 goes back to the higher seed's building on Thursday or Friday. From there, the bracket holds. The Lynx-Liberty winner would see Atlanta or Washington next, in a best-of-five that starts Oct. 4, while Las Vegas or Indiana waits on the other side for Golden State or Dallas. The Finals open Oct. 17. It will be only the second best-of-seven Finals in league history.
What might transpire on the road to the Finals? BIL has a bold bodement for each of the eight playoff teams ...
(1) Minnesota Lynx
Minnesota reaches the WNBA Finals after a three-game first round.
The Lynx finished 33-11, the best record in the league, after a stretch that included four losses in five games. Minnesota clinched the top seed Tuesday despite a 96-77 loss in Indianapolis when Golden State lost in overtime at Portland hours later. Reserves played the final 25 minutes of that game. Two nights later, the Lynx led by as many as 36 points in an 86-66 win over Indiana.
This is Minnesota's second straight season as the No. 1 seed. Phoenix eliminated the Lynx in the semifinals last year.
Olivia Miles did not play in either game this week. The rookie point guard has a left calf injury and Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve told the Star Tribune the team "simply can't take a chance" with it. Miles averaged a team-high 19.8 points and 6.0 assists and broke Caitlin Clark's rookie scoring record. She also missed two games with a right calf injury in early July.
Surgery on both ankles last offseason kept Napheesa Collier out until July 22. Across 16 games, she put up 16.8 points and 6.9 rebounds a night.
(8) New York Liberty
New York steals Game 1 in Minneapolis.
The Liberty won two of three meetings with Minnesota this season, including a 93-81 win in Minneapolis on Sept. 18. New York also beat the Lynx in five games in the 2024 WNBA Finals.
New York rebounded 31.6% of its own misses this season, fifth in the league. Minnesota finished 11th in defensive rebounding percentage at 67.7%.
Atlanta won twice at Barclays Center in the final week of the regular season, 95-84 on Monday and 83-65 on Wednesday. Breanna Stewart played 37 minutes in the first game and finished with 27 points and 14 rebounds. She sat out the second with left knee soreness. In 42 games this season, she averaged 20.8 points and 8.3 rebounds.
Liberty coach Chris DeMarco said the knee started bothering her after Monday's game and he called the decision to hold her out Wednesday precautionary.
"Some soreness crept in," DeMarco said. "It's just precautionary with soreness."
DeMarco did not commit to Stewart's availability for the playoffs, which will be his first as a WNBA head coach. Jonquel Jones grabbed 14 rebounds Wednesday before leaving in the third quarter with a left ankle injury. DeMarco said Jones "rolled her ankle, made contact with a fan, but she's in good spirits."
Without Stewart on Wednesday, the Liberty made five three-pointers in 29 tries and gave the ball away 20 times. That was their second loss to the Dream in three days, and it dropped New York to 26-18 and the last playoff spot.
(2) Golden State Valkyries
Golden State gets its first playoff win Sunday and doesn't stop until the WNBA Finals.
In Nneka Ogwumike's farewell game at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday, Golden State fell behind Los Angeles by 16 and came back to win 76-75 to lock up the second seed. Down by 10 late in the fourth quarter, the Valkyries scored 14 straight points. Their bench accounted for 33 of the 76 with Kaitlyn Chen earning 18 of those tallies on 8-of-12 shooting. Veronica Burton scored 17 to lead starters. It was a return to form for Golden State, which lost 90-82 in overtime at Portland two days earlier.
Golden State is the first team in league history to reach the postseason in each of its first two seasons. It went 32-12 this year after being swept in the first round last year, and it is still looking for its first playoff win. This season, the Valkyries held opponents to a league-low 78.8 points per game and their defensive rating of 99.1 led the league. No team played slower, as the Valks posted only 90.79 possessions per 40 minutes. Their bench, however, averaged 36.0 points, which ESPN reported as the highest-scoring bench in a single season in league history.
The Valkyries swept Dallas this season, 91-80, 94-76, and 78-70. The last of those wins clinched their playoff berth. In the August meeting in Dallas, Golden State had 27 assists while holding the Wings to eight.
(7) Dallas Wings
Jessica Shepard records a triple-double in the series.
Shepard had 25 double-doubles this season, second-most in the league behind only Angel Reese. Her most recent one came on Wednesday in Seattle, where she went 9-of-12 from the field and finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists in a 103-91 win. Paige Bueckers added 25 on 9-of-15 shooting and the Wings piled up 32 assists.
Dallas won 27 games, a 17-game improvement from last season. Twenty of those wins came in 22 tries against the seven teams that missed the playoffs. Against the rest of the field, the Wings were 7-15. Dallas turned it over on 15% of its possessions, the lowest rate in the league.
Azzi Fudd hasn't played since early August. The top pick in the 2026 draft needed a procedure on her right knee, which ended a rookie year in which she averaged 13.1 points over 30 games. Alanna Smith, out with a left leg injury endured during FIBA World Cup play, has no return timetable. Bueckers averaged 20.9 points and 5.9 assists in her second season.
(3) Las Vegas Aces
A'ja Wilson scores 40 points in a playoff game.
Wilson averaged 26.2 points and 9.4 rebounds in yet another MVP defense this season. Her only 40-point game was a 45-point night at Connecticut on May 15, when she shot 15-of-18. She scored 38 at Washington on July 22 and 36 at Chicago on Aug. 1. On Thursday, she had 34 points and 10 rebounds on 16-of-28 shooting in a 100-82 win at Phoenix. The win was the Aces' seventh straight to close the regular season. Jewell Loyd added 25 points that night.
Las Vegas eliminated Indiana 3-2 in last year's semifinals and went on to win the championship. The Aces finished 31-13 this season, winning at least 30 for the third time in the last four years. NaLyssa Smith, who started 38 games, has been out since a season-ending leg injury on Aug. 23.
Indiana won the season series 2-1, and both wins came in Las Vegas. The Aces' win in the series was a two-point overtime game in Indianapolis on Aug. 6.
(6) Indiana Fever
Indiana scores 100 points in a playoff game.
The Fever averaged 96.0 points per game this season, a WNBA record. Indiana's offensive rating of 115.0 was the best in the league.
Kelsey Mitchell averaged 24.7 points and broke Wilson's single-season points record. Her WNBA-record streak of 27 straight 20-point games ended Thursday, when she scored 10 in 21 minutes at Minnesota. Clark averaged 22.3 points and 8.3 assists. In July, she became the first player in league history with a 40-point, 10-assist game.
Indiana already scored 109 in Las Vegas this season. The Fever beat Minnesota 96-77 in its penultimate regular season game before the Lynx's aforementioned revenge in Thursday's finale.
(4) Atlanta Dream
Angel Reese grabs 20 rebounds in a playoff game.
Reese set the WNBA single-game rebounding record this season with 26. She averaged 16.4 points and 12.1 rebounds en route to her first WNBA postseason. With Reese in tow, Atlanta grabbed 73.6% of available defensive rebounds, the best rate in the league.
The Dream finished 30-14 and won their final five games, including two wins in New York to close out the year. Allisha Gray averaged a career-best 19 points, closing out this year with 24 on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range in Wednesday's 83-65 win over the Liberty. Atlanta pulled down 12 offensive rebounds despite Reese not playing the second half. Rhyne Howard lost the lead in successful three-pointers to Mitchell but led the WNBA with 2.3 steals per game.
The Dream hasn't gotten out of the first round in any of their last three trips to the playoffs and their last Finals appearance was in 2013.
(5) Washington Mystics
Washington beats Atlanta.
Atlanta beat Washington by 32 in their first meeting on June 6. The Mystics each of the latter meetings by five points in July and August.
Despite the prowess of Reese, Washington finished first in rebounding percentage at 54.2%. It also edged Atlanta for the top offensive rebounding percentage by a tenth of percentage point at 35.5.
Washington closed the regular season with four straight wins. It beat Indiana and Connecticut last week before passing the Fever for fifth with a win over Chicago on closing night. Sonia Citron missed one of her nine shots and finished with 21 points while Kiki Iriafen pulled down 15 rebounds, seven on the offensive end, and Shakira Austin had 11 to stave off the Sky. Citron averaged 16.8 points and 4.4 assists this season.
This is Washington's first playoff appearance since 2023. Austin, Michaela Onyenwere, and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton are the only players on the roster with playoff experience.
