WNBA 2026 regular season finale and playoff seeding

As the WNBA regular season enters its final days before the September 27 postseason, the race for playoff seeding has intensified. Eight teams have officially secured postseason berths: the Minnesota Lynx, Golden State Valkyries, Las Vegas Aces, Atlanta Dream, Indiana Fever, New York Liberty, Dallas Wings, and Washington Mystics.

The Minnesota Lynx (32-10) currently lead the standings, but face mounting pressure from the Golden State Valkyries (31-11), who sit just one game behind and are riding a six-game winning streak. Minnesota holds the head-to-head tiebreaker for the number one seed.

In the fight for top-four positioning, the Atlanta Dream’s victory over the New York Liberty has moved Atlanta closer to clinching a top-four seed and home-court advantage. This result has mathematically eliminated the Liberty from contention for a top-four spot and stripped them of home-court advantage for the opening round. During that matchup, Breanna Stewart’s nine-year streak of avoiding technical fouls ended.

The Indiana Fever (27-15), currently fifth in the standings, face a critical two-game series against the Lynx to determine their final seeding. The Fever’s offense continues to be led by Caitlin Clark and Kelsey Mitchell. Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Aces are on a recent surge as they prepare for the postseason, and the Chicago Sky recently snapped a five-game losing streak by defeating the Toronto Tempo 97-85.

Individual milestones continue to define the season. Olivia Miles has broken the WNBA rookie scoring record previously held by Caitlin Clark. A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces has become the first player in league history to score 1,000 or more points in a single season multiple times.