tamil yogi
Every WNBA team has 10 or fewer games left in the 2026 regular season. But with the schedule break for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup from Aug. 31 through Sept. 16, key games that could determine playoff position are spread out over the next five weeks.
Three teams — the Minnesota Lynx, Golden State Valkyries and Las Vegas Aces — have clinched a playoff berth.
Editor’s Picks
The Lynx are solidly atop the league at 29-7, but they also have the most difficult schedule remaining. Seven of their eight games will be against teams who are in playoff position and have a .500 record or better, and five of the eight games are on the road.
That hasn’t bothered the Lynx this season, as they’ve been even better away from Target Center. They are 14-5 at home and 15-2 on the road. Overall, the tough schedule might not worry the Lynx so much as the teams that have to face them while battling for their own playoff position.
That includes the Indiana Fever, who play five of their eight remaining games against teams that are .500 or better. Two of those games are against the Lynx, both in the final days of the regular season. In all, the Fever have five games left on the road and three at home; they are 13-6 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse and 11-6 on the road.
The defending champion Aces, by contrast, have the easiest remaining schedule: All seven games they have left are against teams that currently have losing records.
Here is a look at the dozen games for the rest of the WNBA season that might have the biggest impact on playoff berths and seeding.
The Lynx won the first two meetings in June — 87-84 and 81-75 — with each team shooting below 40% from the field in both games. Golden State has two more chances against the top team in the standings.
The first two meetings were at Indiana, with the Wings winning 107-104 in the season opener May 9 and the Fever winning 98-87 on Friday. This will be their only regular-season meeting at Dallas. The teams have had very different outcomes since the All-Star Game, with the Fever going 7-2 and the Wings 2-7.
The Fever have a 2-1 series lead this season, and they topped the 100-point mark in both victories against the Liberty, July 18 and Aug. 11. New York won the first matchup, when it held the Fever to 75 points June 6 in Brooklyn. This last matchup will also be on the Liberty’s home court. With both teams battling to be in the top four, which gives teams the right to host first-round games, this game could be pivotal from a tiebreaking standpoint.
This meeting in Minneapolis comes five days after the teams face off in San Francisco. The Valkyries and the Lynx currently are first and third in the league in defensive rating (estimate of points allowed per 100 possessions), so we’ll see whose offense has the most success in this game.
The Valkyries won both previous matchups: 87-70 on May 21 and 76-67 on June 28. This game will be on Liberty forward Breanna Stewart’s 32nd birthday as New York hopes to get into the top four in the league and stay there.
Remember when the Lynx lost their season opener 91-90 to the Dream on May 9? It’s OK if that has slipped your mind. The Lynx have played so well this season that it is strange to think they started with a loss at home. They beat Atlanta at Target Center 96-81 in their second meeting May 27. The Dream have a chance to take the season series if they can win this final matchup with the Lynx.
This will be both teams’ first game after the FIBA World Cup break. The Liberty had one of their best wins of the season July 3 when they beat the Lynx 99-86 at New York. The Lynx won the second matchup 90-85 at Minnesota on July 11. Coming into this season, many thought this could be a WNBA Finals matchup. It still could be, but the Lynx have been better and more consistent in the regular season.
Breaking news from Alexa Philippou
Download the ESPN app and enable Alexa Philippou’s news alerts to receive push notifications for the just in updates first. Opt in by tapping the alerts bell in the top right corner. For more information, click here.
The Mystics have been one of the best surprise teams of the season. They appear headed to the playoffs after missing the postseason the last two years. This matchup pits several young stars, with Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston for the Fever vs. Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen and Shakira Austin for the Mystics. Both previous matchups have been decided by two points: The Mystics won 104-102 in overtime on May 15 at Indiana, and the Fever won 78-76 on June 8 at Washington.
The teams play back-to-back in Brooklyn in the season’s final week, and playoff position could be on the line. In their first matchup, New York won 104-90 on June 11 at Atlanta. That was one of 13 games Liberty forward Satou Sabally played this season, and one of her best: She had 19 points and made 5 of 6 3-pointers. Sabally, who last played June 23, has been dealing with ongoing concussion issues since the WNBA Finals last season and it is uncertain if she will return this season.
8 p.m. ET, ESPN
Like the Dream and the Liberty, the Lynx and Fever meet back-to-back to end the regular season. But while the Dream and Liberty play both games at New York, this series goes between Indianapolis and Minneapolis. Minnesota won this season’s first meeting with Indiana 108-100 at home Aug. 2, when both teams shot well: 57.4% for the Fever and 56.6% for the Lynx. Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell had a season-high 37 points in the game.
This will be the Dream’s and Liberty’s second meeting in three days, and their third of the season. If Atlanta wins the Sept. 21 game, this one will decide the season series and could be important for playoff position tiebreaking purposes.
The playoffs might be set going into the final day of the regular season. But it’s also possible that there still might be some battles for seeding with 10 teams playing this day. If the second scenario is in place, this game could have a playoff feel.
✔ today silver rate
✔ 2026 winter olympics
✔ chat gtp
✔ silver rate today
✔ silver rate today live
✔ 2030 winter olympics
Sports
