WNBA releases 2025 schedule: The Valkyries’ debut, record games per team and matchups to watch
WNBA teams will play a record 44 games during the 2025 regular season, which begins with a Friday, May 16 slate that includes the Golden State Valkyries’ home debut.
The league released the full schedule Monday. The additional four games (up from 40 in 2024) come as a result of the Valkyries entering the WNBA as its 13th team.
“We look forward to tipping off the WNBA’s 29th season in May of 2025 and continuing to build on the success of last season, when the WNBA delivered its most-watched Draft and All-Star Game, and set records for viewership, attendance, digital consumption and merchandise sales,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.
In addition to the Valkyries’ first game, the opening weekend of the season features the Indiana Fever hosting the Chicago Sky, the New York Liberty hosting the Las Vegas Aces and the Minnesota Lynx hosting the Dallas Wings.
The Fever will host the All-Star Game for the first time in franchise history on July 19.
The regular season will conclude Sept. 11.
2025 opening weekend highlights
Atlanta vs. Washington — May 16, 7:30 p.m. ET
Minnesota vs. Dallas — May 16, 7:30 p.m. ET
Golden State vs. Los Angeles – May 16, 10 p.m. ET
Indiana vs. Chicago — May 17, 1 p.m. ET
New York vs. Las Vegas — May 17, 3 p.m. ET
Seattle vs. Phoenix — May 17, 10 p.m. ET
Washington vs. Connecticut — May 18, 1 p.m. ET
Schedule highlights
Chicago vs. Indiana (June 7) — This will be the second of five meetings between the Fever and Sky this season. Last season, Indiana’s Caitlin Clark and Chicago’s Angel Reese finished 1-2 in Rookie of the Year voting, with the Fever defeating the Sky in three of their four regular-season games. In addition to their opening weekend matchup and aforementioned game on June 7, the two teams will also play July 26, Aug. 9 and Sept. 5.
Atlanta vs. Chicago (June 13) — This Commissioner’s Cup game between the Dream and Sky will feature two of the league’s new head coaches, with former Florida Gulf Coast coach Karl Smesko taking the Atlanta job and former Aces assistant Tyler Marsh now leading the Sky.
Indiana vs. Dallas (June 27) — The Fever and Wings will meet four times during the regular season with this matchup being the first. It’s possible the game will feature Clark and Paige Bueckers facing off against each other for the first time — that is, if Bueckers declares and the Wings select her with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
New York vs. Las Vegas (July 8) — This will be the second of three meetings between the league’s last two WNBA MVPs, the Liberty’s Breanna Stewart and the Aces’ A’ja Wilson. After meeting during the opening weekend and on July 8, the two teams will play in Las Vegas on Aug. 13. Last season, the Liberty knocked the Aces out of the WNBA postseason in the semifinals, avenging their finals defeat from 2023. The Liberty and Aces also only played three times during the 2024 regular season, with two of those games being in Las Vegas.
Phoenix vs. Minnesota (July 16) — Whether Diana Taurasi retires or not remains uncertain, but Phoenix will be playing host to last year’s finals runner-up Minnesota on July 16, the final day of the season’s first half. The Mercury will play eight of its first 11 games at home before playing 12 of the next 17 on the road.
Connecticut vs. Washington (Aug. 21) — The Sun and Mystics are two of the three WNBA franchises yet to hire a new head coach. This will be the last of four matchups between the Eastern Conference foes. Interestingly, earlier in the season, both Connecticut and Washington will play games away from their normal arena. The Sun will host the Fever in Boston’s TD Garden on July 15, while the Mystics will play the Sky in Fairfax, Va. on July 8 in their annual camp day game.
Storm vs. Valkyries (Sept. 9) — Seattle closes out its season with a four-game homestand, the last of which will be against Golden State. The Storm are looking to yet again make the postseason for consecutive seasons, while this is one of Golden State’s final opportunities to potentially clinch a spot in the playoffs in their first season.
Sparks vs. Aces ( Sept. 11) — The Sparks hired former Utah coach Lynne Roberts this offseason as they look to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2020. Los Angeles features an exciting young core, led by Cameron Brink, Rickea Jackson and the No. 2 pick in the upcoming draft. Their regular-season finale could serve as a postseason tune-up against the Aces, who feature Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum.
How the 2025 schedule varies from last year
Players and fans will feel a difference between the two schedules in mid-to-late July. A year ago, the WNBA condensed its 40-game slate because of the Olympic break and had a more than three-week stoppage as a result of the Paris Games. The All-Star break will last less than a week this season, with the second half resuming on July 22.
Other changes are more subtle. Because of the Valkyries, the Commissioner’s Cup will feature an additional game for Western Conference teams. Each of the Western Conference teams will play six games, up from five last season, while those in the Eastern Conference will still play five. Additionally, because of the added games, the Fever and Sky will face off five times, as will the Dream and Sun.
The Commissioner’s Cup will run from June 1-17, with a $500,000 prize pool awarded to the winner. The title game will be played on Tuesday, July 1, hosted by the team with the best winning percentage in Cup play.
The playoffs will also feature a revised format, as the first round will include a 1-1-1 setup for the best-of-three series, with the higher seed hosting Games 1 and 3, if necessary, and its opponent hosting Game 2. It’s a change from the current format, which has the highest seed hosting the first two games and its opponent hosting Game 3 if the series extends.
The WNBA Finals will also be longer, as the league is going to a best-of-seven format. The finals will have a 2-2-1-1-1 structure in which the higher seed will host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7, and its opponent will host Games 3, 4 and 6.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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