2025 WNBA Regular Season Opens Friday, May 16 with WNBA Tip-Off 2025 Presented by CarMax

– Opening Night Includes Golden State Valkyries Playing First Regular-Season Game as They Host Los Angeles Sparks, and Dallas Wings and No. 1 Draft Pick Welcoming 2024 Finals Runner-Up Minnesota Lynx –

– Day Two Spotlights Defending WNBA Champion New York Liberty Hosting Two-Time Champion Las Vegas Aces, and Chicago Sky Visiting Indiana Fever – 

– Regular Season Features Record-High 44 Games Per Team and the Fifth WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Presented by Coinbase – 

NEW YORK, Dec. 2, 2024 – The WNBA today released its game schedule for the 2025 regular season, it’s 29th, which will begin on Friday, May 16.  The regular season will conclude on Thursday, Sept. 11, followed by the WNBA Playoffs presented by Google.

The regular season will feature a record-high 44 games per team, with each team playing 22 home games and 22 road games. In addition, the fifth annual WNBA Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase will include a 17-day period in June when the league’s schedule will consist entirely of Cup games.

The WNBA will unveil its complete television and streaming schedule at a later date.

“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,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. “The upcoming free agency period and the 2025 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm® will create a tremendous level of excitement, and we are also looking forward to the expansion Golden State Valkyries taking the court for the first time.”

All 13 teams will be in action during the opening weekend of the season as part of WNBA Tip-Off 2025 presented by CarMax.

WNBA Tip-Off 2025 presented by CarMax will begin with three games on Friday, May 16, highlighted by Golden State’s inaugural game. The Valkyries, who will conduct the 2024 WNBA Expansion Draft presented by State Farm on Friday, Dec. 6 (ESPN, 6:30 p.m. ET), will host the Los Angeles Sparks, who were led last season by three-time WNBA All-Star Dearica Hamby and 2024 WNBA All-Rookie Team selection Rickea Jackson, and who own the No. 2 overall draft pick in 2025 (10:00 p.m. ET).

That game on May 16 will be preceded by the Minnesota Lynx, which reached the WNBA Finals presented by YouTube TV last season behind 2024 Kia WNBA Defensive Player of the Year and Kia WNBA MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier, visiting 2024 All-WNBA Second Team pick Arike Ogunbowale and the Dallas Wings, who have the first overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm (7:30 p.m. ET).

Also on opening night, the Atlanta Dream, which was led last season by two-time WNBA All-Star Allisha Gray, 2022 Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year Rhyne Howard and WNBA career rebounds leader Tina Charles, visits two-time WNBA All-Star Ariel Atkins and the Washington Mystics, owners of the fourth pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm (7:30 p.m. ET).

Action continues on Saturday, May 17, when six more teams tip off their seasons. Reigning Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year and 2024 All-WNBA First Team selection Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever host 2024 WNBA All-Rookie Team pick Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky (1:00 p.m. ET). In addition, the WNBA champions from the past two seasons will meet when the reigning champion New York Liberty, which was led last season by 2024 All-WNBA Team selections Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart, host unanimous 2024 Kia WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces (3:00 p.m. ET). Also on Saturday, the Phoenix Mercury, which was led last season by WNBA career points leader Diana Taurasi and four-time WNBA All-Star Kahleah Copper, welcomes the Seattle Storm, which reached the WNBA Playoffs presented by Google last season behind nine-time WNBA All-Star and 2024 All-WNBA Second Team selection Nneka Ogwumike and six-time WNBA All-Stars Skylar Diggins-Smith and Jewell Loyd (10:00 p.m. ET).

On Sunday, May 18, the Connecticut Sun will be the last team to tip off its 2025 schedule when it hosts the Mystics (1:00 p.m. ET). Behind 2024 All-WNBA First Team selection Alyssa Thomas, 2024 Kia WNBA Most Improved Player Dijonai Carrington, and DeWanna Bonner, the fourth-leading scorer in league history, the Sun last season reached the WNBA Semifinals for the sixth straight year.

Commissioner’s Cup Presented by Coinbase

The Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase will feature a 36-game schedule from June 1-17. Every team will play one game against each of the other teams in its conference – a total of five games for each of the six Eastern Conference teams and six games for each of the seven Western Conference teams.

Eastern Conference teams will play either three Commissioner’s Cup games at home and two on the road, or two at home and three on the road. Western Conference teams will play three games each at home and on the road. All intraconference Cup games will count toward a team’s regular-season win-loss record.

The team from each conference with the top record in Commissioner’s Cup games will compete for a $500,000 prize pool in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship presented by Coinbase. In addition, Coinbase has committed $120,000 in cryptocurrency to the prize pool, which includes $5,000 for each player in the championship game. The title game will be played on Tuesday, July 1 hosted by the team with the best winning percentage in Cup play.

AT&T WNBA All-Star 2025

The 2025 AT&T WNBA All-Star Game, the 21st All-Star Game in league history, will be played on Saturday, July 19 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, home of the Indiana Fever. This marks the first time that Indianapolis will host the league’s midseason showcase.

Additional Schedule Highlights

New York and Minnesota, the opponents in a memorable five-game, WNBA Finals presented by YouTube TV last season, will meet four times – in Minneapolis on Wednesday, July 30 and Saturday, Aug. 16, and in New York on Sunday, Aug. 10 and Tuesday, Aug. 19.
Las Vegas and New York, who met in the 2023 WNBA Finals presented by YouTube TV and the 2024 WNBA Semifinals, and whose rosters feature the 2023 and 2024 Kia WNBA MVPs – Wilson and Stewart, respectively – will go head-to-head three times. In addition to their opening weekend matchup in New York on May 17, the teams will tip off again at Barclays Center on Tuesday, July 8 and in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
Indiana, which used the No. 1 overall selection in the 2023 and 2024 drafts to pick Aliyah Boston and Clark, each of whom went on to win the Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year award, will face Dallas, which owns the top pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm, four times. The teams will meet in Dallas on Friday, June 27 and Friday, Aug. 1, and in Indiana on Sunday, July 13 and Tuesday, Aug. 12.

Below is the game schedule for the opening week of WNBA Tip-Off 2025 presented by CarMax and the schedule for all 36 games of the Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase.

2025 WNBA SCHEDULE: SEASON TIP OFF PRESENTED BY CARMAX

2025 WNBA SCHEDULE: COMMISSIONER’S CUP GAMES

Additionally, WNBA teams can begin negotiating with free agents on Sunday, Jan. 21. Free agents can begin signing contracts with teams on Thursday, Feb. 1.

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