2026 WNBA Playoffs Preview: Why Each of the 8 Teams Could Win It All

The biggest WNBA regular season comes to a close on Thursday. This is the second year with 44 regular-season games, but with the addition of two new franchises, the total rose to a record high. Yet, the 2026 WNBA season only paves the way to the WNBA postseason, which starts on Sunday.

While teams are still jockeying for seeding over the last couple of nights, the eight teams who qualified for the playoffs are known and have been known for weeks.

With a best-of-three format in the first round, a best-of-five in the semis, and a best-of-seven in the WNBA Finals, one franchise is just nine victories away from calling itself a champion.

Just six games separate the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx from the No. 8 seed New York Liberty, so parity is upon us. Here is why each of the eight WNBA playoff teams can win it all.

Minnesota Lynx

The Lynx have been the best team all year, despite four-time All-WNBA selection Napheesa Collier missing two-thirds of the season.

But Minnesota’s success goes beyond the five on the floor as it has the most accomplished head coach in WNBA history.

Cheryl Reeve has a record-tying four championships on her resume, is the all-time winningest regular-season coach, and has more playoff victories than anyone else.

Golden State Valkyries

The Valkyries burst onto the scene in their inaugural season in 2025, made the playoffs, and now expect an extended postseason run.

The team had the No. 1 scoring defense last season, and they’re giving up even fewer points this season, also ranking first. The bigger improvement has come on the offensive end as Golden State is averaging nearly five more points per game than a year ago.

The Valkyries are an analytics-heavy team that both takes and makes the most 3-pointers but also cherishes the rock, averaging the fewest turnovers.

With five of their top eight players, in terms of minutes per game, 30 or older, this is a young franchise but an old roster that’s ready to win now.

Las Vegas Aces

The reigning champs already have a dynasty with three titles over the last four years, but a fourth championship would mean no WNBA franchise has more rings.

They have the league’s best player in A’ja Wilson—who Dawn Staley has labeled the WNBA G.O.A.T.—and Wilson should lock up her fifth MVP award.

Vegas is playing its best when it matters most, entering the regular-season finale riding a season-high-tying six-game win streak.

No team has the championship pedigree throughout its roster quite like the Aces, and one also can’t forget Becky Hammon as head coach. She won an NBA championship as an assistant, a Summer League title as head coach, multiple championships overseas as a player, and three WNBA titles as a coach.

Atlanta Dream

Atlanta went toe-to-toe with the WNBA’s best team, the Lynx, as the Dream are one of two squads that have winnings records (2-1) against Minnesota.

Atlanta’s big three of Rhyne Howard, Allisha Gray, and Angel Reese became a big four when DeWanna Bonner joined the squad late in the year, and Bonner’s only the third-leading scorer in WNBA history.

The Dream have been bounced in the first round in each of the last three postseasons, but a renewed effort on the defensive end, where the team leads the league in steals, could allow it to go far beyond the first round in 2026.

Indiana Fever

The catalyst behind the best offense in the WNBA—and, perhaps, in league history—isn’t Caitlin Clark but rather Kelsey Mitchell. The Fever are averaging 96.7 points— the most in the 30-year history of the WNBA—with Mitchell setting the single-season scoring mark last week.

Clark is no slouch herself, and Indiana has two of the top three scorers, while Aliyah Boston is a two-way force, giving the Fever a big three that can rival anyone.

Indiana was just one playoff win away from the WNBA Finals last season, so if this juggernaut offense can maintain, then the franchise could win its second title ever.

Washington Mystics

This rookie-laden team doesn’t know what it doesn’t know, and that might be a good thing come playoff time.

With five of their top seven players in their first or second year, they haven’t experienced postseason failure and may not have the same doubts as others who have come up short.

From an on-court standpoint, they have a skill that is certainly conducive to winning, and that’s attacking the glass. The Mystics grab the most boards, allow the fewest rebounds, and have the best rebounding differential.

Dallas Wings

The Wings were dealt a blow when they lost No.1 draft pick, Azzi Fudd, for the season, but they still have Paige Bueckers running the show. She operates a highly efficient offense that leads the W in assist-to-turnover ratio and has a pair of 40 percent shooters from 3-point land in herself and Maddy Siegrist.

Plus, they have one of the best deterrents in the league with Awak Kuier occupying the paint on the other end, as since being reinserted into the starting lineup, she’s averaged 4.0 blocks per game over her last seven outings.

Add in the veteran leadership of three-time WNBA champion Alysha Clark, and Dallas has more than enough to offset the loss of Fudd.

New York Liberty

The 1 v 8 first-round matchup is set, with the Lynx having home-court advantage over the Liberty. However, the Liberty have two things that no other team has.

One, they won the Commissioner’s Cup earlier this season.

Secondly, and this is pertinent to their first-round series, they’ve handed the Lynx two of their four double-digit losses this season.

New York also possesses one of the greatest players ever in Breanna Stewart, who elevates her game when it matters the most. Stewart averages more points, rebounds, and assists in the postseason than in the regular season.

With four players knocking down 40percent from downtown, and with the Liberty leading the W in free-throw percentage, they just need the defense to be average to give coach Chris DeMarco a ring in his first year in charge.