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2024 WNBA Playoffs

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2024 WNBA Playoffs
DatesSeptember 22 – October 20[1]
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The 2024 WNBA Playoffs will the postseason tournament of the WNBA's 2024 season. The playoffs will begin on September 22, 2024, and will finish by October 20, 2024.[2]

Overview

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Updates to postseason appearances

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  • The Las Vegas Aces entered the postseason for the sixth consecutive season.
  • The New York Liberty entered the postseason for the fourth consecutive season.
  • The Connecticut Sun entered the postseason for the eighth consecutive season, currently the longest streak in the WNBA.
  • The Minnesota Lynx entered the postseason for the second consecutive season.
  • The Phoenix Mercury returned to the postseason after missing the postseason in 2023.
  • The Seattle Storm returned to the postseason after missing the postseason in 2023.
  • The Indiana Fever entered the postseason for the first time since 2016, breaking their seven-season playoff drought.
  • The Dallas Wings missed the postseason for the first season, after making the postseason the previous three editions.
  • The Los Angeles Sparks missed the postseason for the fourth consecutive season, the longest active postseason drought in the WNBA.

Notable occurrences

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  • The Indiana Fever broke their playoff drought, which was the longest in the WNBA, at seven seasons.

Format

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The 2024 Playoffs continued to use the format that the WNBA Board of Governors approved prior to the 2022 season. In November 2021, the WNBA Board of Governors formalized a new playoff system that will structure the 2022 playoffs onward. The new playoff format scraps the single-elimination games of the first two rounds in favor of a best-of-3 quarterfinal round. As a result, all eight playoff teams, seeded according to overall regular season record regardless of conference (1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5), will begin postseason play in the first round. Since 2016, seeds 3 and 4 received a bye to the second round (single game) and seeds 1 and 2 received a bye to the semifinals (best-of-5). In the first round series, the higher seeded team will host games 1 and 2, and the lower seeded team will host game 3 if necessary. In the semifinal round, no reseeding will take place, which means the winners of the 1 vs. 8 series will be paired with the winner of the 4 vs. 5 series as will the winners of the 2 vs. 7 and 3 vs. 6 series. The semifinal and final rounds will remain best-of-5 series in which the higher seeded team hosts games 1, 2 and (if necessary) 5 while the lower seeded team hosts games 3 and (if necessary) 4.[3]

Broadcast

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All games will be aired across the ESPN family of networks, which includes ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC in the US.

Playoff qualifying

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As of games on September 17, 2024

Seed Team Record Clinched
Playoff berth Top Record
1 New York Liberty August 17[4] September 17[5]
2 Minnesota Lynx August 24[6] No
3 Connecticut Sun August 24[7] No
4 Las Vegas Aces August 30[8] No
5 Seattle Storm August 30[9] No
6 Indiana Fever September 3[10] No
7 Phoenix Mercury September 3[11] No
8 TBD September 19 No

Playoffs and Finals

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Bracket

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Round One:
Best-of-3
Semifinals:
Best-of-5
Finals:
Best-of-5
         
1 New York Liberty
8  
 
 
4  
5 Seattle Storm
 
 
2 Minnesota Lynx
7 Phoenix Mercury
 
 
3  
6 Indiana Fever

Bold Series winner

Round One

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(1) New York Liberty vs. (8)

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Game 1
Game 2
Game 3 (if necessary)

(2) Minnesota Lynx vs. (7) Phoenix Mercury

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Game 1
Game 2
Game 3 (if necessary)

(3) vs. (6) Indiana Fever

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Game 1
Game 2
Game 3 (if necessary)

(4) vs. (5) Seattle Storm

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Game 1
Game 2
Game 3 (if necessary)

Semifinals

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TBD vs. TBD

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Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Game 4 (if necessary)
Game 5 (if necessary)

TBD vs. TBD

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Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Game 4 (if necessary)
Game 5 (if necessary)

Finals

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TBD vs. TBD

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Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
Game 4 (if necessary)
Game 5 (if necessary)

References

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  1. ^ "Key Dates: 2024 WNBA Season". wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  2. ^ "WNBA playoffs tracker: Who's in? Who's making the biggest impact and more". ESPN. September 5, 2024. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  3. ^ "WNBA Approves New Playoff Format". WNBA. NBA Media Ventures. Retrieved August 4, 2022.
  4. ^ Stumbaugh, Julia (August 17, 2024). "Sabrina Ionescu, Liberty Clinch Spot in 2024 WNBA Playoff Bracket; Updated Standings". Bleacher Report. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  5. ^ Michael Voepel (September 17, 2024). "Liberty clinch top seed in WNBA playoffs with win vs. Mystics". ABC News. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
  6. ^ Wald, Jeff (August 24, 2024). "Lynx beat Caitlin Clark, Fever behind Napheesa Collier's 31 points, clinch playoff spot". KMSP-TV. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  7. ^ Feinberg, Doug (August 24, 2024). "Mabrey helps Sun end Liberty's 8-game winning streak with 72–64 victory, clinch spot in Playoffs". Washington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  8. ^ Williams, Jack (August 30, 2024). "Aces defeat Dream to clinch WNBA Playoff berth". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  9. ^ "Breanna Stewart scores 32 points, Sabrina Ionescu adds 25 as Liberty defeat Storm 98-85". ESPN. Associated Press. August 31, 2024. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  10. ^ Mordoh, Hannah (September 4, 2024). "Indiana Fever clinch 2024 playoff spot". WISH-TV. Retrieved September 6, 2024.
  11. ^ "Kahleah Copper scores 28 points, Mercury clinch playoff berth with 74-66 win over Dream". Washington Post. Associated Press. September 4, 2024. Retrieved September 6, 2024.