After beginning the WNBA’s 30th anniversary with 15 teams, only four remain to vie for the W’s most coveted prize.
The four teams remaining are the Las Vegas Aces, Atlanta Dream, New York Liberty and Golden State Valkyries.
When looking at the two semifinal series – Aces vs. Valkyries and Liberty vs. Dream, one cannot help but detect an obvious geographical distinction. Even though the WNBA does not place as much emphasis on the concept of conferences the way the NBA does, these two matchups essentially give us de facto Eastern and Western Conference Finals.
In addition, both of our western teams had to endure 11-round dogfights with the Indiana Fever and Dallas Wings, respectively, to earn berths into its semifinal matchups. The home team claimed all six contests on that side of the bracket.
The obvious storyline entering the Aces-Valkyries series is the coaching matchup. Natalie Nakase was a former assistant under Becky Hammon in Las Vegas and is now building her own coaching tree in the Bay Area.
It could also be a matchup of the irresistible force meeting an immovable object. We know the Aces’ names that can put crooked numbers on any scoreboard – including A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd. But the Valkyries’ calling card all season has been its “Valkatraz” defense that has stymied many a team’s offensive attack all season.
Also – because the Valkyries barely claimed the two seed over the Aces’ three seed, Golden State has home court advantage throughout this series. This means that Hammon’s Las Vegas assembling will have to win at least one game in Ballhalla in order to reach another WNBA Finals.
All three contests between the Aces and Valkyries took place prior to the All-Star break – and Las Vegas was victorious in all three contests – including a May 31 matchup in San Francisco and a Commissioner’s Cup get-together in early June.
By the standards of what a team may define a successful season as, it could already be one for the Valks as they have qualified for a semifinals in only its second season as a franchise. Gabby Williams, Veronica Burton, Kia Stokes, Tiffany Hayes, Kaila Charles, Cecilia Zandalasini, Janelle Salaün (Sixth Player of the Year) and company have set a new standard for new franchises. Only rings define successful seasons for the Aces as long as No. 22 is sporting its silver and black threads.
As for the Liberty and Dream, this will be a series where Atlanta has the home court as it is the higher seed as opposed to New York as an eighth seed.
Atlanta fans are all too familiar with what happens when New York teams pay it a visit. The Big Peach is full of New York sports aficionados, turning said contests into NYC South.
Unlike the Aces and Valks, the Dream and Liberty have become more acquainted with each other during the home stretch of the regular season. Back in June – in a Commissioner’s Cup contest – New York prevailed by a final score of 104-90.
Coach Karl Smesko’s Atlanta bunch and coach Chris DeMarco’s New York assembling did battle in a home-and-home prior to the playoffs. Both matchups went the way of the Dream.
Interestingly enough, both first-round series involving the Liberty and Dream were sweeps. Atlanta had to sweat a bit more as the Washington Mystics gave the Dream a battle in the first round but both games went the way of the Dream thanks to solid play from Rhyne Howard, Jordin Canada, Allisha Gray, Angel Reese, Naz Hillmon and DeWanna Bonner.
Bonner could end up being the best midseason acquisition of the season when all is said and done – general manager Dan Padover may have done it again. The Dream are in search of its first appearance in a Finals since 2018 – during the days when another Angel (McCoughtry) was blessing the ATL with her incredible hoops heroics.
As for the Liberty – New York sweeping the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx appears to be a byproduct of the FIBA World Cup break. It effectively turned the 2026 WNBA season into a sprint as opposed to a marathon.
While the FIBA break appeared to have sapped the Lynx’s momentum (Olivia Miles resembling a rookie under Brooklyn’s bright lights did not help), Breanna Stewart has clearly carried her momentum from winning MVP at FIBA stateside – and the seafoam, black and copper have been the biggest beneficiary.
Add in a Jonquel Jones (MVP from the 2024 Finals) that has shown up once again for the Lib in the playoffs plus a Sabrina Ionescu that may have found her groove again. Combine that with a solid supporting cast that includes Leonie Fiebich, Pauline Astier, Han Xu and Marine Johannès and this is a New York group that one has to treat like a one seed.
Liberty Loyals have given DeMarco plenty of flack throughout the season – particularly for how the Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (now with the Mystics) situation was handled. That blow may have been softened – for now – that after a regular season where the Liberty appeared to underperform at times, Ellie and Friends are seven wins shy of their second championship in three seasons.
It would also be a somewhat fitting conclusion to the WNBA’s 30th anniversary if the Liberty – an Original Eight team and the team that played in the W’s first-ever game in 1997 – were to be crowned 2026 champions.
Of course, given the Aces’ history, Las Vegas is also – technically – an Original Eight franchise even if Vegas began its history in Utah.
