2024 WNBA Playoffs

2024 WNBA Playoffs

Dates	September 22 – October 20[1]
← 2023 2025 →

The 2024 WNBA Playoffs is the postseason tournament of the Women's National Basketball Association's 2024 season. The playoffs began on September 22, 2024, and will finish by October 20, 2024.^[2]

• The New York Liberty entered the postseason for the fourth consecutive season.
• The Minnesota Lynx entered the postseason for the second consecutive season.
• The Connecticut Sun entered the postseason for the eighth consecutive season, currently the longest streak in the WNBA.
• The Las Vegas Aces entered the postseason for the sixth consecutive season.
• The Seattle Storm returned to the postseason after missing the postseason in 2023.
• The Indiana Fever entered the postseason for the first time since 2016, breaking their seven-season playoff drought.
• The Phoenix Mercury returned to the postseason after missing the postseason in 2023.
• The Atlanta Dream entered the post season for the second consecutive season.
• The Washington Mystics missed the postseason for the first season, after making the postseason the previous two editions.
• The Chicago Sky missed the playoffs for the first season, ending a five-season playoff streak.
• The Dallas Wings missed the postseason for the first season, after making the postseason the previous three editions.
• The Los Angeles Sparks missed the postseason for the fourth consecutive season, the longest active postseason drought in the WNBA.

• The Indiana Fever broke their playoff drought, which was the longest in the WNBA, at seven seasons.
• An even number of Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams qualified for the playoffs.

The 2024 Playoffs continued to use the format that the WNBA Board of Governors approved prior to the 2022 season. In November 2021, the WNBA Board of Governors formalized a new playoff system that will structure the 2022 playoffs onward. The new playoff format scraps the single-elimination games of the first two rounds in favor of a best-of-3 quarterfinal round. As a result, all eight playoff teams, seeded according to overall regular season record regardless of conference (1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5), will begin postseason play in the first round. Since 2016, seeds 3 and 4 received a bye to the second round (single game) and seeds 1 and 2 received a bye to the semifinals (best-of-5). In the first round series, the higher seeded team will host games 1 and 2, and the lower seeded team will host game 3 if necessary. In the semifinal round, no reseeding will take place, which means the winners of the 1 vs. 8 series will be paired with the winner of the 4 vs. 5 series as will the winners of the 2 vs. 7 and 3 vs. 6 series. The semifinal and final rounds will remain best-of-5 series in which the higher seeded team hosts games 1, 2 and (if necessary) 5 while the lower seeded team hosts games 3 and (if necessary) 4.^[3]

All games will be aired across the ESPN family of networks, which includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ABC in the US and on TSN, Sportsnet, and NBA TV Canada in Canada.

Seed	Team	Record	Clinched
			Playoff berth	Top Record
1	New York Liberty	32–8	August 17[4]	September 17[5]
2	Minnesota Lynx	30–10	August 24[6]
3	Connecticut Sun	28–12	August 24[7]
4	Las Vegas Aces	27–13	August 30[8]
5	Seattle Storm	25–15	August 30[9]
6	Indiana Fever	20–20	September 3[10]
7	Phoenix Mercury	19–21	September 3[11]
8	Atlanta Dream	15–25	September 19

	Round One: Best-of-3					Semifinals: Best-of-5					Finals: Best-of-5
	1	New York Liberty	1
	8	Atlanta Dream	0
	4	Las Vegas Aces	1
	5	Seattle Storm	0
	2	Minnesota Lynx	1
	7	Phoenix Mercury	0
	3	Connecticut Sun	1
	6	Indiana Fever	0

Bold Series winner

The top-seeded New York Liberty will play the eighth-seeded Atlanta Dream in the first playoff series. The Liberty enter the post-season as the top overall seed after finishing two games ahead of the Minnesota Lynx during the regular season. The Liberty finished 7–3 in their final ten games of the season. The Dream secured a playoff spot after defeating the Liberty on the last day of the season. The Dream finished 5–5 in their final ten games of the season. During the regular season, the teams played 4 times, with the Liberty winning three times.

Game 1

In game one of the series, the Liberty got off to a hot start at home, winning the first quarter 29–16. They did not let up in the second quarter, winning 19–14 and taking a fifteen-point lead into halftime. The Liberty continued their winning ways in the third quarter, taking the frame 21–19. The Dream mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter, winning 20–14 but they were too far behind and the Liberty won game one by fourteen points. The Liberty had four players score in double figures, and were lead by Leonie Fiebich with twenty one points. Breanna Stewart was not far behind with twenty, Sabrina Ionescu added seventeen, and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton scored ten. Stewart added eleven rebounds to finish with a double-double. The Dream only had two players in double figures, lead by Rhyne Howard with fourteen, and Tina Charles added twelve.

Game 2

Game 3 (if necessary)

In the second playoff series, the second-seed Minnesota Lynx will play the seventh-seed Phoenix Mercury. Minnesota finished two games out of first place during the regular season, and defeated eventual first seed New York on September 15th. Minnesota enters the series after going 8–2 in their last ten games. Phoenix finished four games ahead of the eighth seed and only one game out of being the sixth seed. They struggled to end the season, finishing with a 3–7 record in their final ten games. The Western Conference teams played four times in the regular season with Minnesota winning three times.

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3 (if necessary)

The third-seed Connecticut Sun will play the sixth-seed Indiana Fever in the third playoff series. The Sun entered the postseason as the third seed for the third straight season. They finished the regular season one game ahead of the fourth-seeded Aces and two games behind the second-seed Lynx. They finished the season 6–4 in their final ten games. The Fever entered the postseason for the first time in seven years. They were five games behind the fifth-seed Storm and one game ahead of the seventh-seed Mercury. They also finished the season 6–4 in their final 10 games. The two Eastern Conference foes played four times during the regular season with the Sun winning three times to the Fever's one win.

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3 (if necessary)

The final first round series will see the fourth-seed Las Vegas Aces play the fifth-seed Seattle Storm. The two time defending champions Aces finished fourth in the regular season, one game behind the third-seed Sun, and two games ahead of their playoff opponents. The Aces enter the series after going 9–1 in their last ten games, with their only loss coming at first-seed New York. The Storm enter the post season after finishing two games behind the Aces and five games ahead of the sixth-seed Fever. They finished 6–4 in their final 10 games, but did win five of their last six. The Western Conference foes played four times during the regular season, with the Aces winning three times and the Storm winning once.

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3 (if necessary)

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4 (if necessary)

Game 5 (if necessary)

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4 (if necessary)

Game 5 (if necessary)

Game 1

Game 2

Game 3

Game 4 (if necessary)

Game 5 (if necessary)