WNBA: New York Liberty host Las Vegas Aces in 2025 season opener

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The 2025 WNBA regular season is in full swing, and we’ll have games all day this Saturday, May 17—two of which will be on national TV.

First, at 1 p.m. ET, the New York Liberty will get their 2024 championship rings before taking on the Las Vegas Aces in a matchup between two of the WNBA’s best teams. The Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever will follow at 3 p.m. ET, renewing their rivalry with some added firepower in both starting lineups. These games will be televised via ABC.

Finally, the Seattle Storm and Phoenix Mercury take the court for the first time this season at 10 p.m. ET. Some familiar faces and fan favorites will be missing, especially for Phoenix, but they have no time to dwell on the past; it’s going to be a highly competitive season, and both Seattle and Phoenix will be expected to make playoff runs down the line.

With that in mind, let’s run through how each of the teams playing on Saturday will be approaching their respective games, and what to watch for in those matchups.

Liberty open title defense against Aces

The Liberty won their first-ever WNBA championship last season, ending a 27-year drought that extended all the way back to the league’s inception. One of the WNBA’s original franchises, New York can now call itself one of its most successful, but the Liberty won’t have much time to celebrate when they open their season against the Aces, who will surely come into the game with revenge on their minds.

The Champs are back

The road to the repeat starts Saturday as the New York Liberty host the Las Vegas Aces for ‘Ring Night’.

Action begins May 17 at 1pm/ET on ABC. pic.twitter.com/WJ6U6mEOLb

— WNBA (@WNBA) May 13, 2025

Back in 2023, the Aces denied the Liberty’s previous shot at a championship, defeating New York in the Finals to win their second-straight title. The Liberty returned the favor in 2024, ousting Las Vegas in the semifinals. The stakes may not be that high in every Aces vs. Liberty game, but the amount of star power on both teams’ rosters makes each of their meetings a must-watch—and things will be no different this Saturday.

On one side, there’s reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, who put together one of the most statistically dominant seasons in league history in 2024. She’s flanked by a prolific passer and deadly shooter in Chelsea Gray, one of the league’s best three-level scorers in Jackie Young and, for the first time, former Storm great Jewell Loyd, who was traded to the Aces from Seattle in a blockbuster trade last offseason.

On the other side, you have Breanna Stewart, one of the most accomplished players in WNBA history, and Jonquel Jones, whose post play and rebounding are up there with the league’s best centers. Sabrina Ionescu rounds out the Liberty’s trio of stars, bringing fearless shot making to the backcourt.

With this much talent on both teams, it’s easy to see why the Aces and Liberty have routinely been a marquee matchup in recent years. Expect no less as New York begins its first-ever title defense this weekend.

Sky, Fever renew rivalry

There was a time when the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever were considered one of the WNBA’s bigger rivalries. Thanks to ascending stars Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark and the hype surrounding them, those days are here again.

Last season, matchups between the Sky and Fever were largely defined their big-name rookies, and while Reese and Clark will surely continue to be the center of attention in 2025, both teams added some key pieces in free agency that they hope will help them take that next step in the standings. Indiana loaded up by acquiring veteran forwards DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard, and also added key pieces in its backcourt like Sophie Cunningham and Sydney Colson, bolstering its young core of Clark, Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell with depth, defense and championship experience.

Chicago also made some major improvements. The Sky missed the playoffs in 2024, often struggling to create efficient offense due to a lack of outside shooting; the acquisitions of Ariel Atkins, Rebecca Allen and Kia Nurse over the offseason should help with that, as will the return of Courtney Vandersloot, whose playmaking and leadership have made her one of the WNBA’s top point guards for over a decade. First-year head coach Tyler Marsh will be relying on that group of perimeter players to space the floor around Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, both of whom will be looking to build upon promising rookie seasons.

Will these new additions be enough to take the Sky back to the playoffs? Playing at Indiana in their first game of the regular season will be a good test of just how much better their roster has gotten. The Fever are widely expected to make a deep playoff run this year, and we already know that the atmosphere in Indiana will be electric. No matter who wins this game, it will be considered an early-season statement.

New-look Mercury host Storm

A new era is underway in Phoenix. Without the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer Diana Taurasi, who was the face of the Mercury for two decades, and Brittney Griner, who is one of the best low-post players the league has ever seen, things might look more than a little different in Phoenix as the franchise builds around a new core of players.

It’s Kahleah Copper’s second season in Phoenix, and she’s now joined by Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally, who found their way to the Mercury in free agency. The trio projects to be a solid foundation for Phoenix moving forward, but until they show what they’re capable of together, the Mercury will be one of this season’s bigger question marks. The Mercury’s bench features several players with no prior WNBA experience, so the team may be leaning on Copper, Thomas and Sabally early and often until head coach Nate Tibbetts gets things figured out with his second unit.

The Storm, meanwhile, also had a somewhat chaotic offseason, lowlighted by Loyd’s exit. They remain a veteran, balanced group, however, and as long as Skylar Diggins and Nneka Ogwumike are healthy, Seattle will be a threat to whomever they play. This season, the Storm will add highly-touted rookie center Dominique Malonga into the mix, and though the 19-year old may take a few weeks to get adjusted to the WNBA, her amount of athletic potential makes her a must-follow player as her career takes off.