The WNBA has used many different playoff formats in its thirty years of existence. It started with single-elimination games before implementing best-of-three series between the top four teams in the league. They then changed it to an East-West conference format for several years, but abandoned the conferences in 2015. Until 2022, the top two seeds got a bye to the semifinals.
Since 2022, all eight seeds have to play in the first round, with the top four teams getting home-court advantage and being “rewarded” by facing the lower seeds. That reward has worked out well for the top seeds so far. In four years, no number-one seed has ever lost in the first round. In fact, all of them swept their first-round opponents in two games. In 2022, the Las Vegas Aces swept the Phoenix Mercury. A year later, they did the same to the Chicago Sky. In 2024, the New York Liberty swept the Atlanta Dream, and the Golden State Valkyries suffered the same fate at the hands of the Minnesota Lynx in 2025.
That could change this year with the Liberty occupying the final playoff spot. They could give the Lynx some trouble.
The New York Liberty can at least win one first-round game
New York is not a tradition...