For the vast majority of the year, the WNBA conferences hold no significance. But over 17 days in June, those conference foes go head to head for a cash haul worth one-third of a team’s season-long salary cap.
The fifth annual WNBA Commissioner’s Cup tips off on Sunday with four games that will begin to set the table for the Cup championship game on July 1. The Minnesota Lynx are reigning champions up against history, albeit over a short timeline: no team has repeated as the in-season tournament winner over the course of the competition.
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While the bragging rights are nice, it’s really “all about the money,” as Lynx guard Natisha Hiedeman summed it up ahead of the 2024 title game held in New York. The Cup came out of the then-landmark 2020 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that set out to increase player compensation through special competitions. Its 2021 debut was later than intended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The winning team receives a $500,000 cash prize pool to divvy up, a significant sum given the hard salary cap for 2025 is $1.5 million and the player supermax is approximately $250,000. Players on rookie or vet minimum contracts can earn half of their base salary by winning the tournament. Beginning last year, Bitcoin committed to give $5,000 in cryptocurrency to each player in the championship game ($120,000 total).
The in-season tournament — a format common in European leagues — is also a way to rejuvenate those old conference rivalries that fell away when the league changed its postseason format. In 2016, the league seeded the top eight teams in winning percentage, notwithstanding conference affiliation. And so far, it’s proven to be a barometer of realistic Finals contenders.
How does the Commissioner’s Cup work?
Each team plays one game against each of the other teams in their conference. For the Eastern Conference, that’s five games. For the Western Conference, which added expansion team Golden State, it’s six.
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All 36 Cup games are played between June 1 and June 17 in a streamlined format the WNBA adopted a year ago. And all games count in the regular season standings, lending double the significance to that early-season stretch.
The teams in each conference with the best record will face each other in the Cup championship game on July 1. The tiebreaker, if needed, is head-to-head record. The team with the best winning percentage will host. If they have the same winning percentage, the tiebreaker begins with average point differential in all games played, then head-to-head record, and, if still no winner, a coin flip.
What significance is there beyond money?
The Commissioner’s Cup title game participants can preview the Finals, as it has the past two seasons in the new format. The Lynx and Liberty squared off in 2024; the Aces and Liberty the year prior.
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Yet, only once has the Cup winner gone on to win the WNBA title. The 2022 Aces won the Cup, 93-83, over reigning champion Chicago in July and ousted the Sun, 3-1, in the Finals.
The Lynx beat the Liberty to win the 2024 Commissioner’s Cup before losing a thrilling, five-game WNBA Finals series to New York. (Photo by Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
(Erick W. Rasco via Getty Images)
They couldn’t repeat as Cup winners, losing to the Liberty in 2023. It was New York’s first title since they had yet to win a WNBA championship, and they lost to Las Vegas, 3-1, in the Finals. A year ago, the Liberty lost to the Lynx in the Cup title game, but went on to defeat the Lynx in Game 5 of the Finals for their first WNBA championship.
The inaugural Cup championship, which the Storm won over the Sun, was an outlier in many ways. The Cup footprint consisted of 10 games stretched out over the first half of the season in a format that was confusing to track. Players often did not know they were playing in a Cup game. The title game was played as the very first game after the Olympic break, resulting in a rusty return that wasn’t enjoyable to watch. The league moved away from that structure in last season’s Olympic year.
Eastern Conference outlook
Favorite: New York Liberty
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All systems are a go with the reigning champions, and there’s nothing to indicate they can’t sweep their Cup schedule to win a record third consecutive Cup title game berth. Their net rating (20) is nearly double that of second-place Minnesota (10.6), they’re shooting 49.8% as a team through four games and point guard addition Natasha Cloud adds another dimension to their offense.
Their Cup schedule is backloaded with the Fever — whom they already defeated with Caitlin Clark in the lineup — and Dream finishing out the five-game slate. That will be beneficial since Jonquel Jones (hamstring) landed on the status report this week. The 6-foot-6 center is on pace to annihilate her season-high 3-point mark
Challengers: Atlanta, Indiana
The Dream are the season’s most surprising team so far, although three of their four wins are against Dallas, Connecticut and Los Angeles. The first matchup with New York is likely to be a 3-point extravaganza. The Fever are in contending limbo. Without Clark, they struggled with pace and feeding Aliyah Boston in the post. Their Cup start is light, but for the Fever to contend, they’ll need Clark back for the Dream and Liberty games during the second week of Cup play.
The rest: The young Mystics could create chaos atop the Eastern Conference, especially if they can pull off another win over the Fever. But they realistically can’t lose more than a game — two if they’re lucky — to force a tie at the top. Each of their six games (3-3) has come within six points. The Sky and Sun don’t stand much of a chance given their winless starts to the season. They rank last in net rating at -24 and -21.3, respectively, with a long way to 11th-place Golden State (-10.2)
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Games to watch (All times ET)
Liberty at Fever (Saturday, June 14 at 3 p.m. on ABC)
Fever at Dream (Tuesday, June 10 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN3)
Dream at Liberty (Tuesday, June 17 at 7 p.m. on League Pass)
Western Conference outlook
Favorite: Minnesota Lynx
Kayla McBride is back just in time for the Lynx to defend their Cup title, Napheesa Collier hasn’t missed a beat from her MVP-worthy season, and Courtney Williams continues to fill up the scoresheet in the midrange. Rolling out the same lineup as their Finals runner-up squad, the Lynx move the ball around at a league-best clip (77.9 assist rate), but haven’t yet found their defensive stride. Four of the Lynx’s five wins to start the year are against conference foes.
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Challengers: Phoenix, Seattle
Any of the three could rise above and be the team to challenge the Lynx by stealing a game from the favorites. They would have to take care of the rest of their Cup schedule to have a chance at the berth.
Phoenix is currently the second-best team in the West, faring fine while Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally holding down the court without Kahleah Copper. In the small early-season sample size, they’re relying on defense to stack wins and are drawing offensive production from a duo of undrafted rookies. It’s the same for Seattle, a roster that so far lacks a consistent offense (the 20-point demolishing of Las Vegas so far an outlier).
The rest: The Aces’ start to the season drops them into fringe challenger status for the 17-day Cup schedule. With all due credit to New York and Seattle, the Aces allowing two teams to score at least 90 points is concerning. They’re allowing the most points in the paint (41.5 ppg) and can’t protect the perimeter, either (opponents are shooting 46.2%, better than only the Sky). None of it instills confidence in knocking off the Lynx, who won the season series, 3-1, a year ago.
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Kelsey Plum, who is averaging a career-best 25.2 ppg, could lead Los Angeles to play spoiler to the above squads. (Look first and foremost at her return to Las Vegas on Friday.) The Sparks have been too inconsistent and beset by injuries to contend. Golden State is similarly figuring itself out, and the Wings, who earned their first win in their fifth game, are far from the well-oiled machine it will take to compete with the Lynx.
Games to watch
Mercury at Lynx (Tuesday, June 3 at 8 p.m. on ESPN3)
Lynx at Storm (Wednesday, June 11 at 10 p.m. on League Pass)
Aces at Lynx (Tuesday, June 17 at 8 p.m. on League Pass)
