When Does the WNBA Season Start? Key Dates, Breaks and More

The 29th WNBA season might be the most anticipated since its inaugural campaign in 1997.

Coming off record attendance and TV ratings, the league is positioned to build off its 2024 success with a sensational '25 featuring the sophomore encores of Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese and the rookie year of No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers.

Overview of the WNBA season structure

The WNBA is regarded as the premier professional league in women's basketball. Founded in 1997, the WNBA gave college stars and top international talents the opportunity to compete at the highest level in major markets throughout North America.

The WNBA—which now comprises 13 teams with the 2025 debut of the expansion Golden State Valkyries—plays its regular season from May to September and holds a month-long postseason before crowning a champion in October with the WNBA Finals.

The 2025 WNBA regular season features a record 44 games, with each team playing 22 home contests and 22 road games. An in-season tournament called the Commissioner's Cup is contested with regular-season games that count toward Cup standings and regular-season standings.

The WNBA season is positioned perfectly for players to compete professionally year-round. Its schedule of late spring to late summer allows players to continue playing in the fall when overseas leagues start. These leagues, most notably in Europe, conclude their seasons in the spring.

Start date for the 2025 WNBA season

The WNBA begins its 2025 schedule of regular-season games on Friday, May 16.

Two 7:30 p.m. ET contests will share the honors of raising the curtain on the new campaign—Atlanta Dream at Washington Mystics and Minnesota Lynx at Dallas Wings. The three-game slate concludes with the Los Angeles Sparks against the expansion side Golden State Valkyries in San Francisco. Tip-off is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET.

“We look forward to tipping off the WNBA’s 29th season in May of 2025 and continuing to build on the success of last season, when the WNBA delivered its most-watched draft and All-Star Game, and set records for viewership, attendance, digital consumption and merchandise sales,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a press release in December.

Key Dates on the WNBA calendar

Training camps to prepare for the 2025 season opened on Sunday, April 27. The camps are held at each team's training facility, where conditioning drills, practices and intrasquad scrimmages take place. Also, players and coaches will speak to reporters at each team's media day.

The WNBA preseason schedule begins Friday, May 2. Fifteen games will be played over 10 days. The final exhibition contest will be on Monday, May 12.

The opening week of the regular season will be highlighted by two nationally televised games on ABC. The defending champion New York Liberty will play host to reigning league MVP A'ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces in Brooklyn at 1 p.m. ET. Then, at 3 p.m. ET, 2024 Rookie of the Year Clark and the Indiana Fever will take on Reese and the Chicago Sky in Indianapolis.

The regular season ends on Thursday, Sept. 11. The top eight teams in the standings qualify for the playoffs, which begin with a best-of-three first-round series on Sunday, Sept. 14. The winners advance to the best-of-five semifinals.

For the first time, the WNBA Finals will be contested over a best-of-seven series. The latest date for a Finals game is Monday, Oct. 17.

Here is a complete list of the WNBA's key dates in 2025.

Breaks and special events during the season

The WNBA season includes two special events—the Commissioner's Cup and All-Star Game.

The Commissioner's Cup is an in-season tournament that is contested with regular-season games. From June 1 to June 17, teams play every conference foe once. The six Eastern Conference squads have five Commissioner's Cup games, while the seven Western Conference teams play six tournament games. The results also count toward the regular-season standings.

The top finishers in each conference will meet on July 1 for the Commissioner's Cup Championship and a $500,000 prize pool. The team with the best winning percentage in tournament play will host the title game.

The WNBA takes a five-day break in mid-July to bring its biggest and brightest talents together to compete in the 21st WNBA All-Star Game, which will be held for the first time in Indianapolis at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, July 19. The league will pause the regular season for its All-Star break after games on Wednesday, July 16, and resume play on Tuesday, July 22.

Historical Context: Changes in the WNBA season start date

The WNBA played its first game on June 21, 1997. In those early years, opening night was gradually moved up to May to accommodate the addition of expansion franchises.

The earliest start date in WNBA history was May 6, 2022. Its latest start date ever is July 25, 2020, when the league delayed the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and played a reduced 22-game regular-season schedule and its entire postseason at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

With new franchises in Portland and Toronto beginning play in 2026 and multiple cities campaigning for expansion teams, the WNBA figures to have future start dates pushing into early May and perhaps even into late April.