There will probably be no scarcity of compelling storylines for the 2025 WNBA season.
A brand new franchise. Playoff rematches. Star-studded showdowns and rookie debuts.
Carry it on.
WNBA free company, which continues to be months away, will certainly add much more intrigue to regular-season matchups.
Breanna Stewart, Brittney Griner, Alyssa Thomas, Satou Sabally, Kelsey Plum and Nneka Ogwumike are all unrestricted free brokers. Will they stick with their present groups? Or will they placed on new threads subsequent season?
Groups can start speaking with them — together with different free brokers — Jan. 21, however offers can’t be formally signed till Feb. 1. The common season is ready to tip off Might 16 and can conclude Sept. 11.
With the WNBA revealing its 2025 regular-season slate Monday, listed below are a number of video games you gained’t need to miss:
Los Angeles Sparks at Golden State Valkyries, Might 16
The Golden State Valkyries, the thirteenth franchise within the WNBA, will tip off their inaugural season on the primary day of the WNBA season. There’s a pure in-state rivalry at play between the Valkyries and Sparks, making it an excellent first recreation for Golden State. The sport can even characteristic two first-time WNBA head coaches: Los Angeles’ Lynne Roberts and Golden State’s Natalie Nakase.
Las Vegas Aces at New York Liberty, Might 17
The Liberty are opening their title protection towards a group they’ve confronted in every of the previous two postseasons. The Aces knocked off New York within the 2023 WNBA Finals to win their second straight title. Final 12 months, the Liberty had the Aces’ quantity, beating them within the semifinals earlier than profitable the franchise’s first championship. These two tremendous groups don’t lack star energy with three-time league MVP A’ja Wilson and Stewart, a two-time MVP, solely scratching the floor. The Liberty are additionally planning to commemorate their 2024 WNBA championship at that recreation.
Phoenix Mercury at Minnesota Lynx, June 3
Whether or not Diana Taurasi will retire forward of the 2025 season has but to be seen. But when Taurasi decides to join one final run — and a farewell tour — then anticipate each Mercury highway recreation to have particular which means. Even when Taurasi decides 2024 was her final season, this Commissioner’s Cup recreation needs to be attention-grabbing as a result of it’s the primary assembly between the 2 groups because the Lynx despatched Phoenix house within the first spherical of the playoffs.
Indiana Fever at Chicago Sky, June 7
The rivalry between the Sky and Fever — and maybe extra particularly between second-year sensations Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark — will stay a recurring storyline. The 2 groups will go head-to-head 5 instances, beginning with every group’s season opener. The June 7 recreation will probably be a Commissioner’s Cup recreation including to the significance of it. Reese and Clark little question have quite a lot of mutual respect, going again to their younger faculty enjoying days. In their very own methods, they helped elevate girls’s basketball and made it extra mainstream. The 2 groups at all times appear to deliver an added stage of depth when enjoying one another, making this recreation — and the opposite 4 conferences — no-brainers to look at.
Indiana Fever at Dallas Wings, June 27
How in regards to the 2024 and 2025 prime picks going at it towards each other? That’s what this late June recreation is slated to serve up. The Wings have the rights to the No. 1 general choose within the 2025 WNBA Draft. It’s extensively believed that Dallas will take Connecticut star Paige Bueckers — that’s, if she declares for the draft quite than use her ultimate 12 months of NCAA eligibility. Nonetheless, even when it’s not Bueckers, it needs to be enjoyable watching one other promising rookie go up towards Caitlin Clark, the reigning Rookie of the 12 months, who made a close to seamless transition from faculty to the professionals.
Minnesota Lynx at New York Liberty, Aug. 10
A winner-takes-all Sport 5 of the WNBA Finals that includes the Lynx and Liberty was essentially the most watched WNBA finals recreation in 25 years. The sequence was stuffed with drama — from eye-popping game-winning photographs and significant missed free throws to controversial whistles and roaring comebacks. The Aug. 10 recreation at Barclays Heart would be the second of 4 conferences between the Lynx and Liberty this season and the primary time Napheesa Collier and the Lynx return to Brooklyn since they fell wanting profitable a title.
