The Indiana Fever advanced to the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup championship on Tuesday night, clinching their franchise-first Cup final berth following a tense battle with the Connecticut Sun that saw three ejections and two flagrant fouls.
In the game's first half, Sun guard Jacy Sheldon committed a Flagrant 1 on Fever guard Caitlin Clark, with Sheldon and teammate Marina Mabrey receiving a pair of technicals for shoving after the call.
With Indiana dominating late in the matchup, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham committed a Flagrant 2 on Sheldon, spurring a scuffle that ended with Cunningham, Sheldon, and Sun guard Lindsey Allen all being ejected.
The rest of Tuesday's Commissioner's Cup action played out mostly as expected, with New York securing an 86-81 comeback victory over the Atlanta Dream. However, because of the Fever's victory, the Liberty fell just short of returning to the Cup final.
The Minnesota Lynx also launched a comeback to take down Las Vegas 76-62, successfully punching their ticket to defend their 2024 Cup title — despite star forward Napheesa Collier exiting the showdown with an apparent back injury.
Ultimately, while on-court performances should have driven the narrative, lack of referee control overshadowed the night.
"Everyone is getting better but the officials," Indiana head coach Stephanie White said after the Fever's win. "We need to remedy that. I mean, we've heard every coach talk about it. I don't know what the answer is."
How to watch the WNBA Commissioner's Cup Championship
The grand finale of the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup between the Indiana Fever and Minnesota Lynx will tip off at 8 PM ET on July 1st, with live coverage on Prime.
The Golden State Valkyries are flying high, following up last weekend's blowout win over the Las Vegas Aces with an 89-81 overtime victory against the LA Sparks on Monday, pushing the 2025 expansion side to an early season record of 4-5.
Five Valkyries scored in the double digits on Monday night, with forward Janelle Salaün's team-leading 21 points contributing to the team's 11-3 overtime advantage.
The first-ever WNBA team to average more than 18,000 fans through their first three home games, Golden State has already made an outsized mark on league culture — but the Valks' on-court product is also trending ahead of schedule.
"We could tell in both the third and fourth quarter, they had each others back," head coach Natalie Nakase said after the win. "That's what we’re trying to do. We got to continue to rely on each other and hold each other accountable, so that was really cool to see."
Monday's results boosted Golden State to eighth place in the WNBA standings, while a skidding 10th-place Los Angeles side struggles to find their form.
Sparks guard Kelsey Plum, who led LA with 24 points on Monday night, expressed her frustration with the game's officials, saying "I'm going to get fined for saying this… they're fouling the s—t out of me every single play."
How to watch upcoming WNBA games
While Golden State doesn't return to the court until Saturday, the Valkyries' last two victims — the Las Vegas Aces and Los Angeles Sparks — will square off at 10 PM ET on Wednesday, with live coverage airing on CBS Sports.