WNBA Playoffs

The WNBA Playoffs is an elimination tournament between 8 teams in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), ultimately deciding the final two teams who will play in the WNBA Finals. Since 2016, Verizon is the official sponsor.

Current format

Following the WNBA regular season, eight teams in the entire league qualify for the playoffs and are seeded one to eight.

Regular season records determine the seedings of the teams. The team with the best record receives seed one, the team with the next best record receives seed two, and so on. The top two seeds get double byes, while the next two seeds get first-round byes.

These seedings are used to create a bracket that determines the match-ups throughout the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs consists of two match-ups based on the seedings (5-8 and 6-7). The two winners advance to the second round with a match-up between the number 3 seed and the lower of the advancing seeds and another match-up between the number 4 seed and the other first round winner. The winners of the first two rounds advance to the semifinals, where the lower ranked seed of the winners faces the number 1 seed, while the other remaining team faces the number 2 seed.

The first two rounds are single elimination games played on the higher ranking seed's home court. The semifinals and WNBA Finals are best-of-five series played in a 2-2-1 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage (better record) hosts games 1, 2, and 5 while their opponent hosts games 3 and 4.

Tiebreak procedures

1. Better winning percentage among all head-to-head games involving tied teams.
2. Better winning percentage against teams within conference (for Finals only: better record against teams in the opposite conference).
3. Better winning percentage against all teams with a .500 or better record at the end of the season.
4. Better point differential in games involving tied teams.
5. Coin toss (or draw of lots, if at least 3 teams are still tied after the first 4 tiebreakers fail).

Playoff series history

2016 season

Note: Teams re-seeded after second round and semi-finals.

Semifinals

WNBA Finals

2015 season

Bold Series winner
italics Team with home-court advantage

2014 season

There were 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2013 season

There were 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2012 season

There were 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2011 season

There were 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2010 season

There are 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference are seeded one to four. Starting in 2010, the first two rounds changed to a 1-1-1 format, with the higher-seeded team hosting games 1 & 3.

2009 season

There are 13 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference are seeded one to four.

2008 season

There were 14 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2007 season

There were 13 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2006 season

There were 14 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2005 season

There were 13 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2004 season

There were 13 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2003 season

There were 14 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2002 season

There were 16 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2001 season

There were 16 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

2000 season

There were 16 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.

1999 season

There were 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the three teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to three. The top seeded team in each conference got a bye for the first round.

1998 season

There were 10 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in the league were seeded one to four. Houston was switched to the Western Conference in 1998 so two Western Conference teams matched up in the WNBA Finals.

1997 season

This was the first year of existence for the WNBA. There were only 8 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in the league were seeded one to four. Houston was in the Eastern Conference in 1997 so two Eastern Conference teams matched up in the WNBA Championship.

See also

• Women's National Basketball Association
• WNBA Finals

External links

• WNBA Home Page
• WNBA Playoff History