Who goes into the WNBA playoffs on the hottest note?
Smokin’ Aces? A Dream come true? Minnesota nice? A contagious Fever? You’ll find it all in the WNBA playoffs.
The league’s long-anticipated 30th postseason gets underway on Sunday, as the first 15 has been culled to an elite eight. Seven are chasing the mighty Las Vegas Aces, winners of three of the last four championships, while Sin City boasts its own impressive case for another title run … though this road to a repeat is bumpier than usual thanks to the emergence of sterling contenders.
The question is, however, who’s No. 1? Who goes into the postseason with the hottest reputation and the rights to be the proverbial “team you don’t want to see come October”? BIL investigates, ranking the contenders one-through-eight below …
1. Atlanta Dream (30-14)
September Record: 4-0
September MVP: Angel Reese (19.3 points, 60.4%, 9.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, 1.3 steals)
Last Championship: N/A
No one enters the tournament playing better-balanced basketball than the Dream, who have been an absolute nightmare to go up against since Reese, Isobel Borlase, Rhyne Howard, and Sika Kone got back from Berlin.
Atlanta ended the year on a five-game winning streak (one that featured wins over fellow title chasers Minnesota and New York) that saw it post the defensive rating in the league in that span. Going into her maiden postseason voyage with sizable momentum, Reese has added to the offensive firepower with an average of over 21 points in the penultimate four games before she sat out of a good bit of the finale in Brooklyn.
It’s thus hard to deny Atlanta the title of “hottest team entering the playoffs” thanks not only to the winning streak but through the serendipity it was formed. The final surge allowed Atlanta to instantly tie its franchise record of 30 victories set last season. Georgian minds only hope that there’s a different ending in this familiar sequel, as the Dream dropped last year’s opening round set to the Caitlin Clark-less Indiana Fever.
2. Golden State Valkyries (32-12)
September Record: 3-1
September MVP: Kaitlyn Chen (11.3 points, 47.1 three-point percentage, 2.0 assists)
Last Championship: N/A
Defense wins championships? No one hopes than axiom still rings true than the Valkyries, who have made it their entire personality in a super sophomore season. Recent history frowns upon the relatively muted Golden State offense: the last champion to average under 83 points a game is a 2015 Minnesota Lynx group that had Sylvia Fowles on its side.
After the World Cup, the Valkyries fell just short of stealing the No. 1 seed from Minnesota and dropping an overtime decision to Portland on Tuesday certainly wasn’t ideal for pre-playoff morale. Nonetheless, Golden State put on a showcase of heart and depth over the final sessions.
Seven different women, for example, led the team in scoring over the final seven showings and they maintained their stranglehold on the best conventional and advanced defensive tallies in the league during that span thanks in no small part to post presence Kiah Stokes, the leader in defensive rating in the sensational seven.
3. Las Vegas Aces (31-13)
September Record: 4-0
September MVP: A’ja Wilson (27.8 points, 56.5%, 8.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.3 blocks, 1.3 steals)
Last Championship: 2025
It feels like the league is due for a new champion but it still feels foolhardy to doubt the Aces, who enter the tournament on a seven-game winning streak.
Granted, the output likely wouldn’t impress anyone on a hypothetical WNBA playoff selection committee (none of the seven victims are joining the Aces on the bracket) but it no doubt offered a sense of reassurance after defensive standout NaLyssa Smith was lost for the season. Since Smith went down with a leg injury in Aug. 23’s win over Toronto, the Aces are second in defensive rating and the sizable Kalani Brown has been a serviceable replacement.
Losing Smith should no doubt affect the Aces’ defensive and depth fortunes. But Wilson has done a lot more with more packed injury reports (i.e. the 2023 Finals finale that lacked Stokes and Chelsea Gray) and she’s armed with something even more dangerous: Wilson made headlines for her late medically-induced exit from Team USA and the subsequent critical firestorm gave the MVP mainstay clearance to take things extra personally.
4. Minnesota Lynx (33-11)
September Record: 2-2
September MVP: Natasha Howard (14.0 points, 71.9%, 6.8 rebounds, 1.5 blocks)
Last Championship: 2017
The Lynx’s seemingly-season-long supremacy at the top of the WNBA standings seemed threatened at the end but they staved off the Valkyries and Aces to maintain the top spot for the second consecutive season.
Closing things out with a 20-point win over an Indiana team that still had plenty to play for, the Lynx probably stand as the team most grateful for a league-wide rest to 0-0, frankly. A team that dropped four of its final six posted a negative net rating, a turnover percentage that was sandwiched by non-playoff teams, and an injury report that featured likely Rookie of the Year and potential MVP Olivia Miles.
That final bit may have been precautionary but the numerical efforts will be harder to mask once the tournament tips. Only adding to the tepid feeling around the Lynx is the fact that they were played reasonably well by their first-round opponent from New York, one that previously bested them in the 2024 Finals.
5. Indiana Fever (28-16)
September Record: 2-2
September MVP: Kelsey Mitchell (21.3 points, 41.2 three-point percentage, 2.3 assists)
Last Championship: 2012
The Fever figured to be contagious when they went into the FIBA break as winners of seven of their previous nine before that. They lashed the Lynx by a 19-point decision in their penultimate showing but the immediate follow-up didn’t go so well. As a result, Indiana finds itself in the uncomfortable sixth seed, forced to go up against an Aces group that not only stands as the defending champions but as one of the few squads capable of stifling the Fever’s relentless offense and making them pay for porous defense on the other.
The good news that Indiana is well-equipped to both act like it has been there before and play with a sharpened chip on its shoulder: Mitchell and Aliyah Boston dragged the squad to within an inch of last year’s Finals until the former could literally no longer stand while Clark is not the only difference who can make a difference, as she’ll be joined by Monique Billings, Sophie Cunningham, and a promoted Makayla Timpson. Fellow emergence Tyasha Harris had a chance to join that list before enduring an ankle injury in the season finale.
6. Washington Mystics (28-16)
September Record: 4-0
September MVP: Shakira Austin (18.0 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.0 steals)
Last Championship: 2019
One of the WNBA’s best stories of the season became even more magical during the final surge: the Mystics were perfect in their post-FIBA quartet, partly fueled by Austin’s last push for the Most Improved Player title. The sixth slot would’ve been impressive enough for the young Mystics but they floated all the way up to the fifth seed, where they’ll face an Atlanta group they took two of three from.
The spots are locked and the teams are ready to go
Check out the official bracket for the 2026 WNBA Playoffs presented by @madebygoogle.
See you Sunday for the First Round! pic.twitter.com/mlwZrm9xxI
— WNBA (@WNBA) September 25, 2026
It may be a little to much to ask these postseason rookies, more likely destined for the Sorting Hat rather than the Finals, to make any traction on the bracket. A sense of healthy reckless abandon has gotten them farther than anyone would’ve expected and it’ll make them dangerous for even the hottest squads still standing. The addition of championship heroine Betnijah Laney-Hamilton to oversee the novices should only make things more interesting though Washington is likely equally enthused by the late blooming of delayed debutante Georgia Amoore.
7. New York Liberty (26-18)
September Record: 2-2
September MVP: Breanna Stewart (26.0 points, 58%, 10.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists)
Last Championship: 2024
Eyes of the metropolitan masses and beyond focus closer on the Liberty as distance continues to grow between their 2024 title and the modern day. Having dropped from fifth to eighth from last season to this, this postseason could’ve become a case study of just how viable its current set-up. Injuries to headlining talents (Satou Sabally is done for the year while Jonquel Jones left the season finale with an ankle injury) should take a little bit of the pressure off but there’s no doubt a sense of urgency hovering over this trip.
The New Yorkers seem fairly content with their eighth-place fate, which gives them a chance to make things right against a familiar foe: the Liberty stands as one of two teams (next to Atlanta) to defeat the Lynx twice this season and Stewart spent the latter portions of the summer proving that she’s still capable of being the difference in a championship run. As a team, the Liberty was capable of rising for big moments this year, notably taking another in-season title home at the end of the Commissioner’s Cup festivities back in June.
8. Dallas Wings (27-17)
September Record: 3-1
September MVP: Jessica Shepard (15.0 points, 11.8 rebounds, 8.8 assists)
Last Championship: 2008 (as Detroit Shock)
Dallas took advantage of an easy closing quartet, winning three of four to post seventh on the bracket. It was part of a 7-1 streak to finish the year, one that tipped off with a win over the aforementioned Fever. Even so, Dallas enters its first postseason showing since 2023 on a bit of an awkward note for reasons beyond its matchup with a Golden State group that beat them thrice this year.
The Wings have lost depth stars Alysha Clark and Alanna Smith recently and they’ve long been without franchise cornerstone and recent No. 1 draft pick Azzi Fudd. Shepard has been able to mask the loss of Smith (doomed by a World Cup injury with Australia’s Opals) fairly well and it’ll be interesting to see how last year’s fleeting postseason work with Minnesota set her up for this new opportunity. If anything, the Wings’ situation sets up a consequence-free debut playoff debut for Paige Bueckers, which will be worth watching no matter how long it lasts.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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