The first round of the 2025 WNBA playoffs is underway with no shortage of surprises. The Indiana Fever were facing elimination on Tuesday night but they forced a Game 3 with a dominant home win over the Atlanta Dream. The Seattle Storm will try to do the same while hosting a red-hot Las Vegas Aces team, who are currently on a 17-game winning streak.
The Fever will face the Dream again on Thursday, this time in Atlanta.
The New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx have 1-0 leads on the other side of the bracket. The Phoenix Mercury will need to win a road game against the defending champion Liberty on Wednesday to stay alive, while the top-seeded Lynx will look to end the inaugural season of the Golden State Valkyries.
The best-of-three first round will wrap up on Friday or earlier, and the best-of-five semifinals will begin on Sunday (Sept. 21).
The Lynx entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed after being the WNBA’s most dominant team throughout the 44-game regular season. The Lynx, looking for the fifth championship in team history and their first since 2017, will have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
Below is a look at the first-round matchups and the full schedule for the 2025 playoffs.
WNBA playoff bracket
Keytron Jordan, CBS Sports
Here are the four first-round matchups and seeding:
- No. 1 Lynx vs. No. 8 Valkyries
- No. 2 Aces vs. No. 7 Storm
- No. 3 Dream vs. No. 6 Fever
- No. 4 Mercury vs. No. 5 Liberty
Teams will play a best-of-three series in the first round, a best-of-five series in the semifinals, and — in a new change this year — a best-of-seven affair in the Finals.
In 2024, the first round had a 2-1 format, which meant the higher seed got the first two games at home, while the lower seed only got to host if they made it to Game 3. This year it will be a 1-1-1 format, with Games 1 and 3 hosted by the higher seed while the lower seed hosts Game 2.
All games on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 are streaming on fubo (Try for free).
First-round schedule, scores (best-of-three)
All times Eastern
Sunday, Sept. 14
Tuesday, Sept. 16
Wednesday, Sept. 17
- Game 2: No. 4 Mercury at No. 5 Liberty, 7:30 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
- Game 2: No. 1 Lynx at No. 8 Valkyries, 9:30 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Thursday, Sept. 18
- *Game 3: No. 6 Fever at No. 3 Dream, TBD — ESPN2/fubo
- *Game 3: No. 7 Storm at No. 2 Aces, TBD — ESPN2/fubo
Friday, Sept. 19
- *Game 3: No. 8 Valkyries at No. 1 Lynx, TBD — ESPN2/fubo
- *Game 3: No. 5 Liberty at No. 4 Mercury, TBD — ESPN2/fubo
Semifinals schedule (best-of-five)
Sunday, Sept. 21
Tuesday, Sept. 23
Friday, Sept. 26
Sunday, Sept. 28
Tuesday, Sept. 30
- *Game 5: TBD vs. TBD, TBD
- *Game 5: TBD vs. TBD, TBD
Finals schedule (best-of-seven)
Friday, Oct. 3
- Game 1, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Sunday, Oct. 5
- Game 2, 3 p.m. — ABC/fubo
Wednesday, Oct. 8
- Game 3, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Friday, Oct. 10
- Game 4, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Sunday, Oct. 12
- *Game 5, 3 p.m. — ABC/fubo
Wednesday, Oct. 15
- *Game 6, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
Friday, Oct. 17
- *Game 7, 8 p.m. — ESPN/fubo
* If necessary
