WNBA Playoff Scenarios: Fever Dominate Sky and Aim for Postseason Spot
As the WNBA season wraps up, the Fever's victory over the Sky brings them closer to playoff qualification, while other teams vie for positions in the standings.
Less than a week remains in the 2025 WNBA season, and the playoff picture is still murky. The Minnesota Lynx have secured the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, but no other team is locked into a spot and two postseason berths remain up for grabs.
On Friday, the Atlanta Dream cruised past the Los Angeles Sparks to re-take second place from the Las Vegas Aces, while the Indiana Fever crushed the Chicago Sky to jump back into seventh ahead of the Seattle Storm, who fell to eighth with a loss to the reigning champion New York Liberty.
The playoff push will continue Saturday with two more games:
- Phoenix Mercury at Connecticut Sun, 1 p.m. ET – League Pass
- Minnesota Lynx at Golden State Valkyries, 8:30 p.m. ET – League Pass
As a reminder, the top eight teams in the league make the playoffs, regardless of conference. From there, they are placed into a standard eight-team bracket. The first round of the playoffs is a best-of-three series, while the semifinals are a best-of-five and the Finals, as of this season, are a best-of-seven.
The regular season will conclude on Sept. 11 and the playoffs begin on Sept. 14. The last possible Finals date is Oct. 19.
Standings
- Minnesota Lynx (32-9) – Clinched playoff berth
- Atlanta Dream (28-14) – Clinched playoff berth
- Las Vegas Aces (27-14) – Clinched playoff berth
- Phoenix Mercury (27-14) – Clinched playoff berth
- New York Liberty (25-17) – Clinched playoff berth
- Golden State Valkyries (23-18) – Clinched playoff berth
- Indiana Fever (22-20)
- Seattle Storm (22-21)
- Los Angeles Sparks (19-22)
- Washington Mystics (16-26) – Eliminated from playoff contention
- Connecticut Sun (10-31) – Eliminated from playoff contention
- Chicago Sky (10-31) – Eliminated from playoff contention
- Dallas Wings (9-33) – Eliminated from playoff contention
Note: Two-team ties are decided first by head-to-head record and then, if necessary, by better record against .500+ teams. Ties between more than two teams are determined by the combined head-to-head record against the other teams.
