WNBA Finals expanding to best-of-seven in 2025

LOS ANGELES – The WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) Finals will expand to a best-of-seven series for the first time in 2025, the league announced on Oct 10 ahead of Game 1 of the best-of-five 2024 championship series between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx.

The WNBA has never seen a best-of-seven play-off series, but the 2025 Finals will mark the first and utilise a 2-2-1-1-1 format – meaning the higher seed will host Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 and the lower seed will host Games 3, 4 and 6.

Among other changes on the way for the burgeoning league, the regular season will grow from 40 to 44 games for each team as the Golden State Valkyries begin play.

“We are seeing an incredible demand for WNBA basketball, as reflected in the number of cities pursuing expansion franchises, fans attending games and engaging with our social and digital platforms in record fashion, and game broadcasts and streams being consumed like never before,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.

“The incredible demand for WNBA basketball makes this the ideal time to increase the regular season to 44 games per team and expand the (Finals) to a best-of-seven series.

“These changes will create more opportunities to watch the best players in the world compete at the highest level and give our fans a championship series format that they are accustomed to seeing in other sports.”

The league is also tweaking the format of the best-of-three first round of the play-offs.

Rather than the higher seed hosting Games 1 and 2, it will be the home team for Games 1 and 3, with the lower seed getting a chance to host Game 2.

“The new 1-1-1 structure for the first round of the WNBA play-offs presented by Google will guarantee a home game for both teams in a series, which was a priority based on discussions with the WNBA’s team presidents, head coaches, general managers and the competition committee,” head of league operations Bethany Donaphin said.

The league’s surge in popularity, fuelled in large part by Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark, helped it land a new media rights deal with ESPN, NBC and Amazon worth US$2.2 billion (S$2.9 billion) over 11 years. Under the new deal, the semi-finals and the WNBA Finals will rotate among Disney, NBC and Prime Video.

Back to the action on the court, there is one silver lining for Breanna Stewart to her Liberty team blowing an 18-point lead in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Oct 10.

“The beauty is, we have another game on Sunday, and we’ll be ready,” said Stewart, who missed a lay-up at the buzzer that would have sent the game into a second overtime.

“I had a look at the end and didn’t make it.”

Instead, her former University of Connecticut teammate Napheesa Collier’s shot with 8.8 seconds to play – a turnaround, fadeaway mid-range jumper with Jonquel Jones’ hand in her face – stood as the game-winner as the visiting Lynx began the series with a 95-93 victory.

Collier, the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, had 21 points, eight rebounds and six blocks for Minnesota. Courtney Williams had 23 points and five assists, and connected on a handful of timely shots late, while Kayla McBride added 22 points.

Jones led the Liberty with 24 points and 10 rebounds, while Sabrina Ionescu had 19 points, Stewart scored 18 and Leonie Fiebich tallied 17.

With the loss, Stewart will have to take her steadfastness and optimism into Game 2, which is set for Oct 13 in New York. She said: “We just take it on the chin.”

Added Liberty coach Sandy Brondello: “We missed a lot of shots. But look, defensively, they executed better than us. We have to be better. We’re a better team than what we showed today.”
REUTERS