No. 3 New York will have one last shot at redemption against the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday, as the reigning champion Liberty look to upend the team they defeated in the 2024 WNBA Finals when the pair meet for the fourth and final time in 2025 regular-season play.
Even without injured leading scorer Napheesa Collier, Minnesota sits 3-0 against their rivals this season, following a truncated scheduling quirk that saw the Lynx and Liberty battle four times in less than three weeks.
"I'm super proud of us," Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said before Tuesday's matchup. "I'm super proud of those that have Phee's back. That makes Phee feel better."
Collier is currently listed as doubtful for Tuesday's powerhouse matchup, with Minnesota vying for top postseason seeding as New York looks to defeat the Lynx in Round 4 — and inch back toward their recently relinquished No. 2 spot on the WNBA table in the process.
New York will hope a few more whistles go their way as they hunt their season's first victory over Minnesota, unlike their Saturday clash in which the Lynx drew 33 free throws en route to an 86-80 win while officials only awarded the Liberty eight.
"It's tough to win a game in this league with eight free throws…. There are so many things out of our control," New York guard Sabrina Ionescu said afterwards, pointing to injured team leader Breanna Stewart. "Like the players we don't have and the free throws we didn't get."
How to watch the Minnesota Lynx vs. New York Liberty on Tuesday
The No. 3 Liberty will host No. 1 Minnesota at 7 PM ET on Tuesday, with live coverage of the game airing on NBA TV.
One of the newest WNBA additions made a big announcement on Tuesday morning, as incoming expansion side Cleveland named Allison Howard president of business operations ahead of the team's 2028 season tip-off.
Howard, the current EVP and chief commercial officer for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, previously helped launch the Kansas City Current as the 2022 NWSL expansion team's first-ever president, while also securing naming rights for the first purpose-built women's soccer stadium.
"Allison comes to this role with an extraordinary track record of leadership in premier sports organizations and expanding the reach of women's sports," said Nic Barlage, CEO of franchise owner Dan Gilbert's Rock Entertainment Group, in a team statement.
Cleveland will re-join the WNBA as the league's 16th team, part of a controlled expansion plan that will see the league grow to 18 franchises by 2030.
The city's original WNBA team — the Cleveland Rockers — played from 1997 to 2003, folding prior to the 2004 season.
Notably, the incoming team has already sold more than 6,000 season ticket packages since the WNBA announced the return of the Cleveland squad on June 30th.
"It has been energizing to feel the passion of Cleveland WNBA fans across Ohio and to see how quickly our community has already embraced our team," said Howard in Tuesday's announcement.
"We're committed to making this team a source of pride for our city and broader region, to inspire future athletes and to create an environment where everyone belongs and feels welcome."
A 2025 WNBA Playoffs preview is brewing in Las Vegas on Tuesday night, when the No. 2 Atlanta Dream will gamble on snapping the seven-game winning streak currently held by the No. 5 Aces.
"I told myself after All-Star break to just let the game come to me, like it's gonna be what it's gonna be," Aces superstar A'ja Wilson told reporters before dropping 34 points on the No. 11 Dallas Wings over the weekend. "If I try to harp it and force it because I want this win so bad for my team, it's like forcing a fart — all you get is s—t."
The Aces have shot up the WNBA standings since suffering an historic 53-point loss to the No. 1 Minnesota Lynx on August 2nd, but they'll next welcome a similarly motivated Atlanta team determined to keep up momentum.
The Dream bounced back from last Friday's loss to the No. 8 Seattle Storm with a 79-63 win over the No. 7 Golden State Valkyries on Sunday, with star center Brittney Griner contributing off the bench as she continues her return from injury.
"Our bench has been really good all year," said first-year Atlanta head coach Karl Smesko. "Right now BG is coming in for us, and usually within the first minute of coming in, she has a basket or two."
"I think we are a real contender to win [a championship]," he continued. "Anything can happen and we're definitely trying to position ourselves to give us the best chance to win the whole thing."
How to watch the Atlanta Dream vs. Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday
The No. 2 Dream will visit the No. 5 Aces at 10 PM ET on Tuesday, with live coverage of the clash airing on NBA TV.
The No. 6 Indiana Fever are laughing in the face of adversity, pulling off the biggest comeback win in team history on Sunday despite guard Sophie Cunningham exiting with a right knee injury following a second-quarter collision.
As Cunningham joined fellow guards Caitlin Clark (right groin), Aari McDonald (broken foot), and Sydney Colson (ACL tear) on the injured list, the Fever overcame a 21-point deficit to down the No. 13 Connecticut Sun 99-93 in overtime behind guard Kelsey Mitchell's 38-point performance.
"We came in at halftime, we talked about chipping away, being resilient," said Indiana forward Aliyah Boston, who notched 14 points and 13 rebounds for her 15th double-double of the year in Sunday's win, setting a new single-season Fever record. "That's kind of been our story this entire season."
Amid the myriad injuries causing the beleaguered Fever to lose steam in the WNBA standings, Cunningham's knock — which will reportedly undergo an MRI assessment on Monday — is just the latest blow in an expected banner year for the 25-year-old franchise.
Seeing increased playing time since Clark's mid-July injury, Cunningham is averaging 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game while shooting 46.9% from the field this season.
Looking to bolster their backcourt with Clark's return timeline still in question, Indiana signed veteran guard Odyssey Sims and rookie Kyra Lambert to hardship contracts last week.
"This group is tight.... They stay together," Fever coach Stephanie White told reporters following Sunday's game. "I think, for us, reiterating we've got to be where our feet are. We can't look too far behind us. We can't look too far in front of us. We've got to make sure that we're focused on one day at a time."
How to watch the Indiana Fever in this week's WNBA slate
Indiana will be thankful for a few days off this week, taking time to recover before hosting the seemingly unstoppable No. 1 Minnesota Lynx on Friday.
The Fever's clash with the league leaders will tip off at 7:30 PM ET, with live coverage airing on ION.
The WNBA's first-ever regular-season Canada Game was a hit, as the No. 8 Seattle Storm upset the No. 2 Atlanta Dream 80-78 in front of a sold-out crowd inside Vancouver's Rogers Arena on Friday.
Storm star Skylar Diggins registered 21 points and 11 assists in the matchup, combining with Nneka Ogwumike's 16 points to help end Seattle's six-game losing streak — and snap the Dream's six-game winning streak.
Seattle's 2025 No. 2 overall draft pick Dominique Malonga also showed out, with the 19-year-old tallying 12 points and eight rebounds over her 19 minutes of play.
"It was an incredible crowd tonight," Diggins said afterwards. "First time in Vancouver, they showed a lot of love. We just love coming out here, playing in front of this electric [crowd]... We really leaned on them tonight to help us lock in that victory."
As for Atlanta, the Dream's offense stuttered after losing guard Jordin Canada to a hamstring injury last week, with the team netting just two of 13 three-point shots despite entering the clash averaging 9.6 shots from behind the arc per game.
Canada will miss at least two weeks of action, with newly healthy Atlanta heavy-hitters Rhyne Howard and Brittney Griner expected to pick up the slack in her absence — and it appears they're already righting the ship: The Dream overcame the No. 7 Golden State Valkyries 79-63 on Sunday with a team victory that saw five players reach double-digit scoring.
How to watch the WNBA this week
After falling 85-82 to the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury on Sunday night, the No. 8 Seattle Storm will look to bounce back against the No. 12 Chicago Sky on Tuesday. The game will tip off at 8 PM ET, with live coverage on WNBA League Pass.
Later on Tuesday night, the No. 2 Atlanta Dream will battle the No. 5 Las Vegas Aces at 10 PM ET, airing live on NBA TV.
Seattle added some new hardware on Sunday, installing an eight-foot, 650-pound bronze statue of Storm icon Sue Bird outside Climate Pledge Arena — making Bird the first-ever WNBA player immortalized by a former franchise.
Unveiled ahead of Sunday's Storm clash with the Phoenix Mercury, the statue depicts Bird mid-layup in a nod to the legendary player's first and last made-shots for Seattle.
"People keep asking me what it feels like to be the first, and the truth is I never set out to be first at anything," Bird said during the ceremony. "But if being the first means that I won't be the last, if this statue means that 20 years from now there will be statues of other WNBA greats... then I'm proud to be the first."
Bird played her entire 21-year WNBA career with the Storm, leading the team to four championships (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020) before calling it quits at the end of the 2022 season. The 13-time All-Star still stands as the league's career assists leader.
"I hope [this statue] tells a simple story that greatness isn't about being perfect. It's about being persistent," added Bird, who purchased a minority stake in the 2000 expansion team after she retired. "That you can be true to yourself and still achieve extraordinary things, and that when a city believes in you, anything is possible."
"Sue's legacy isn't just written in championships — it's woven into the fabric of Seattle," Storm president and CEO Alisha Valavanis said in a statement. "Her leadership transcended basketball and helped shape a cultural shift — one that expanded who gets to lead, who gets seen, and who gets celebrated."
The WNBA is taking a weekend road trip, as the No. 2 Atlanta Dream and No. 8 Seattle Storm head across the border to Vancouver, British Columbia, for the league's first-ever in-season Canada Game on Friday night.
The game features a rematch of Atlanta's 85-75 win over the Storm on Wednesday, with the win propelling the Dream up the WNBA standings — and threatening to drop Seattle out of postseason contention entirely.
"Time is running out, and the team knows it," Seattle head coach Noelle Quinn said earlier this week. "I didn't want to put so much pressure on them, but they know the situation, and they understand the urgency."
While Friday marks the first regular-season WNBA matchup played outside the US, the league has previously staged two preseason games in Canada, tipping off in Toronto in 2023 and Edmonton in 2024 — both in front of sold-out crowds.
Toronto's 2023 exhibition appeared to serve as a trial run for expansion, with the league awarding the Canadian city its first franchise — the 2026-incoming Toronto Tempo — earlier this year.
While plans for a formal move to Vancouver hasn't yet surfaced, the WNBA's explosive popularity and rapid growth outlook provide plenty of room for new markets to enter the conversation.
How to watch the 2025 WNBA Canada Game
The No. 8 Seattle Storm and No. 2 Atlanta Dream will square off inside Vancouver's Rogers Arena at 10 PM ET on Friday night.
Live coverage of the WNBA Canada Game clash will air on ION.
Coming off a series of strategic transactions, the No. 10 Washington Mystics will forge ahead on Friday night, taking on the short-staffed No. 6 Indiana Fever with a chance to play spoiler as they reshape their 2025 expectations from below the postseason cutoff line.
"There's just so many different success stories with this group," Mystics head coach Sydney Johnson said following Washington's 88-83 loss to the No. 7 Golden State Valkyries on Wednesday.
The Mystics have lost five of their last six games, and will take the court on Friday without injured new addition Jacy Sheldon and starting center Shakira Austin.
While Washington exceeded this year's early-season projections — skyrocketing above the playoff line behind leading scorer Brittney Sykes and the dynamic rookie duo of Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron — the now-fading Mystics chose to shift gears at the trade deadline, sending Sykes to the No. 8 Seattle Storm and shipping second-year forward Aaliyah Edwards off to the No. 13 Connecticut Sun.
With their natural 2026 draft pick secured, Washington has a shot at adding a top first-round prospect should they play out the rest of the regular season at the bottom of the WNBA standings — in other words, by strategically tanking the final weeks of 2025 play.
On the other hand, the injury-laden Indiana enters Friday's action eyeing a win after falling to the No. 11 Dallas Wings by just one point on Tuesday.
How to watch the Washington Mystics vs. Indiana Fever on Friday
The No. 10 Mystics will take on the No. 6 Fever in Indianapolis at 7:30 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage airing on ION.
NBA 2K is going all in on the WNBA, with the popular video game expanding its MyTEAM mode this week to allow athletes from both leagues to star on the same team when the 2K26 edition drops next month.
"MyTEAM is where competition meets a basketball fan's wildest imagination," explained Visual Concepts VP of NBA development Erick Boenisch. "By integrating the WNBA into one of our most popular modes, we're not only giving players the opportunity to customize their all-time dream rosters but shining a spotlight on some of the game's most iconic hoopers. We're looking forward to giving our players a new and deeper way to engage with the WNBA."
"Players can now mix and match current superstars and legends from both leagues, and compete with more dream lineup combinations than ever before," NBA 2K said in Thursday's release.
"Pair Paige Bueckers with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, throw a lob from Sheryl Swoopes to Shaquille O'Neal, or run a pick-and-roll with Angel Reese and Carmelo Anthony," the franchise continued.
NBA 2K has ramped up its WNBA integration significantly since the league's debut in the 2K20 edition, expanding from Play Now and Season modes to the upcoming 2K26 version's virtual press conferences, pre-draft interviews, social media refreshes, and Top-10 player ratings.
How to buy the WNBA Edition of NBA 2K26
With Chicago Sky sophomore Angel Reese playing cover star, the WNBA Edition of NBA 2K26 will be sold exclusively in physical form at GameStop, dropping along with the other versions of the popular video game on September 5th.
Fans can purchase the WNBA version through the gaming retailer's presale now.
UConn guard Azzi Fudd wears many hats.
She’s a sharp-shooter on the court and a rising superstar off the court. She's an NCAA national champion and a top WNBA prospect. She's a graduate student at one of college basketball’s preeminent programs. And she's already one of the most famous athletes in the women’s game.
But this week she adds a new title to her growing resume: co-host of Instagram’s latest episode of Close Friends Only along with Dallas Wings rookie Paige Bueckers.
The podcast features Fudd chopping it up with Bueckers. The former UConn teammates chat about their immediate connection on and off the court, swapped style influences (Fudd is apparently a chronic clothes-stealer and listens to all of Bueckers’s Spotify playlists), who’s got the prettiest jump shot, and their favorite WNBA player. (“Probably Paige Bueckers,” Fudd answers readily.)
The two also discuss Meta Quest’s newest WNBA collaboration, a technology which gives fans a courtside view without having to leave the house.
“I was honestly shocked by how real it felt,” Fudd told Just Women’s Sports earlier this week. “Sometimes getting to a game is just unrealistic, so being able to have that as an option is incredible, and can open the game up to so many more people and fans.”
Azzi Fudd steps into the social media spotlight
Emerging from a college career previously defined by injury, Fudd and her UConn teammates finally reached their peak last April, winning the program’s 12th national championship — and its first since 2016. And while the victory checked a longtime bucket list item for the guard, she’s most grateful for her health.
“This has been my first offseason in a little while where I've been completely healthy,” she continued. “So that's been a fun change, getting to be healthy, work on some stuff, travel, relax with family — it's been great.”
Through it all, she’s certainly kept busy. If you’ve been following women’s basketball at all this summer, Fudd has been hard to miss. After the NCAA season ended, she made a high profile appearance accompanying No. 1 pick Bueckers to the 2025 WNBA Draft, going on to become a sidelines mainstay at Dallas games. She also made a splash at All-Star Weekend, and even started her own podcast, Fudd Around and Find Out.
The life of a burgeoning celebrity can be isolating, but Fudd represents a new generation of players ready to utilize social media to their advantage, both professionally and personally. There’s a light, lived-in touch to Fudd and her peers’ ability to connect with friends and family via social media channels while also maneuvering the booming cult of personality forming around the WNBA.
Fudd and Bueckers compare social media habits on 'Close Friends Only'
On Close Friends Only, Fudd and Bueckers banter about the benefits (and necessary etiquette) of labeling an Instagram story “close friends,” as well as their own social media habits.
“You post 10 times in the time it takes me to get one post up,” Fudd tells Bueckers, with her co-host copping to being the heavier Instagram user of the pair.
But beyond sharing with close friends, today’s women’s sports athletes are navigating an industry where follower counts can open sponsorship doors. And that’s clear whether players are promoting multi-million dollar brand deals or partying on a 72-hour All-Star Weekend livestream.
“I’m not the best poster,” Fudd admitted. “I do want to make my Instagram a little more casual. [There are] some great pictures in my camera roll that aren’t professional photographer-taken, done up like some Instagrams look.”
“I want it to be very much who Azzi Fudd is, and not just the great side,” she said of her online presence, describing herself as a lowkey person who wants to intuitively let people in on the real highs and lows of life.
But for someone who also calls herself a bad texter, Fudd’s grounded approach to social media does help her keep up with connections despite her packed calendar.
“I love talking on the phone, but who does that these days?” she laughed. “Being able to keep in touch, whether it's a teammate you played with a year ago or from middle school, just getting to get those updates through Instagram is amazing.”
From hard-launching Pazzi to special shared moments
Social media can be a powerful career builder, but young stars also have to figure out how to protect their peace amidst a firestorm of commentary, access, and speculation.
Fudd is no stranger to the dynamics of keeping private moments private while still finding ways to live their public lives authentically. She and Bueckers have threaded that needle with precision, with Bueckers only recently calling Fudd her girlfriend during July’s WNBA All-Star Weekend after months of soft-launch hints.
“I'm definitely someone who tends to keep more private,” Fudd said, noting that the impulse to document everything on social media can take away from staying present. “I don't mind sharing, but just naturally I'm more of a ‘share less’ person.”
Despite her inclinations, the duo has remained a remarkably open book. Fudd and Bueckers are easygoing about the fandom they’ve inspired, from laughing about watching their own fan edits on TikTok to sharing selfies containing clues about their relationship. As Fudd told JWS, she doesn’t think so much about the public’s response — she just enjoys capturing the little things.
“There’s so many special moments, whether you're sharing for other people or just for yourself,” she explained. “Your favorite meal, or your favorite sunset — things that make me happy and I get excited about.”
Azzi locks in ahead of final UConn season
Fudd is approaching her final college season, preparing to step up as UConn pushes for a repeat title. But if the 22-year-old is feeling pressure to stretch herself too thin these days, she isn’t letting it show.
She’s been in the gym, staying healthy and gearing up to take on an even larger role at UConn now that former on-court centerpiece Bueckers has flown the college coop.
She’s focusing on a routine social media followers don’t often get to see: rehab and recovery, eating and sleeping right, getting shots up, and hitting the weight room.
“I'm keeping the main thing basketball,” she said. “Without basketball, without putting in the time in the gym, making sure I’m getting my stuff done, I wouldn’t have all these opportunities.”
“I’m always taking care of [basketball] first,” she continued. “And then getting to enjoy all those things that come with it.”
And she won’t be alone when she heads back to Storrs this fall. The Huskies are returning a number of key national title run contributors, this time taking the court with Fudd leading the way from day one.
“Embracing that vocal leadership role is something I'm working on,” she said “Doing anything and everything I can to make sure that I'm helping my team, putting them in the best position to win and have a great season.”
As for social media, fans can be sure that wherever the season takes Fudd, they’ll be along for the ride.