Commissioner Cathy Engelbert during the 2024 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm (Photo by Gabriella Ricciardi / ESPN Images)
Now that the 2024 WNBA season has ended, fans can begin looking forward to the 2025 season, which will include numerous changes to game formats and a new team joining the league.
Expansion Draft
The Golden State Valkyries are the newest WNBA team and will play their first games in 2025. Before the next season begins, they have to create a roster for their team, which they can do in part by drafting current WNBA players. The Expansion Draft will take place on December 6th, according to the WNBA, and is different from the traditional draft in the sense that Golden State can take one player from each of the 12 WNBA teams instead of drafting them from a college team.
10 days before the draft begins each team is required to submit to the league a roster list of all players they have rights to, including active, suspended, reserved, or retired players. Of that roster, each team chooses six “protected players” who will be unavailable for the Valkyries to draft. The Valkyries can choose one unprotected player from any of the 12 teams with one caveat - they can only choose one unrestricted free agent in total.
Unrestricted free agents are players who don’t have contracts signed with any team for the 2025 season. Notable free agents going into the Expansion Draft include Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury, Kelsey Plum of the Las Vegas Aces, Nneka Ogwumike of the Seattle Storm, and Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun. However if any of these players are given a “core player” contract, similar to the NFL Franchise Tag, they become ineligible to be drafted by the Valkyries.
Once the free agency period opens in February of 2025, the Valkyries are free to negotiate with any free agents they want to fill their roster. The WNBA announced last week that the team will also have the fifth overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
Regular Season Games
The WNBA will increase its regular season game schedule to 44 games per season instead of the usual 40. While it’s still only a little more than half the 82-game NBA regular season, the league says it will give fans more chances to see their favorite players in action.
Commissioner Engelbert said, “The incredible demand for WNBA basketball makes this the ideal time to increase the regular season to 44 games per team.”
Playoff Schedule
The league will also be adopting a 1-1-1 game structure for the 2025 playoffs. In all previous seasons, the higher-seeded team played both the first two games of the series at home, and if a game three was necessary it was played at the home court of the lower-seeded team. The new system allows each team to have at least one home game in the first-round series.
This comes after complaints from players and fans of the Indiana Fever that the team was not given a home game in their postseason matchup against the Connecticut Sun. The Sun, being the higher-seeded team, had the first two games at home and won both, knocking Indiana out of the playoffs without the chance to play a final home game.
Head of WNBA League Operations Bethany Donaphin described the move as a “priority based on discussions with the WNBA’s team presidents, head coaches, general managers, and the Competition Committee.”
The Finals
Ahead of the 2024 Finals, the league announced that the 2025 Finals would switch to a best-of-seven format, which is already used in the NBA. The games per series for the first round and the semifinals will remain the same, best-of-three and best-of-five respectively. In a best-of-seven final, the higher-seeded team hosts games one, two, five, and seven, and their opponent will host games three, four, and six.
“These changes will create more opportunities to watch the best players in the world compete at the highest level and give our fans a championship series format that they are accustomed to seeing in other sports,” Commissioner Engelbert said.
Edited by Emily Tsipis
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