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The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league based in the United States and is composed of 12 teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA). League play began in 1997. The regular season runs from May to September, with each team playing 40 games. The top eight teams qualify for the playoffs, culminating in the WNBA Finals, which is played in October. The All-Star game occurs midway through the season in July. The league hosts an annual mid-season competition, The Commissioner's Cup, which dates vary from year to year.
The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). One of eight original franchises, it was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began.
The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two teams in the WNBA that are undefeated in the WNBA Finals; the Seattle Storm are the other. The Comets were the first dynasty of the WNBA and are tied with the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm for the most championships of any WNBA franchise, and despite all of their success, the team was folded and disbanded by the league in 2008 during the height of the Great Recession because new ownership could not be found.
The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began. Like some other WNBA teams, the Sparks have the distinction of not being affiliated with an NBA counterpart, even though the market is shared with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers.
The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as part of the league's Eastern Conference. The team was founded in 1997 and is one of the eight original franchises of the league. The team is owned by Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai, the majority owners of the NBA's Brooklyn Nets. The team's home games are played at Barclays Center.
The Sacramento Monarchs were a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. They played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) from 1997 until folding on November 20, 2009. They played their home games at ARCO Arena.
Tamika Devonne Catchings is an American retired professional basketball player who played her entire 15-year career for the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Widely considered as one of the greatest female basketball players and one of the most decorated players in WNBA history, Catchings has won a WNBA championship (2012), WNBA Most Valuable Player Award (2011), WNBA Finals MVP Award (2012), five WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Awards, four Olympic gold medals, the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award (2002), and an NCAA championship with the University of Tennessee Lady Vols (1998). She is one of only 11 women to receive an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA Championship, a FIBA World Cup gold and a WNBA Championship. She has also been selected to ten WNBA All-Star teams, 12 All-WNBA teams, 12 All-Defensive teams and led the league in steals eight times. In 2011, Catchings was voted in by fans as one of the WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time, and would be named to two more all-time WNBA teams, the WNBA Top 20@20 in 2016 and The W25 in 2021.
The WNBA Finals is the championship series of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and the conclusion of the league's postseason each fall. The series was named the WNBA Championship until 2002.
Tina Marie Thompson is an American former professional basketball player and coach. Most recently, she served as the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team from 2018 to 2022. Thompson was inducted into both the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Van Winston Chancellor is an American former college and professional basketball coach. He coached University of Mississippi women's basketball, Louisiana State University women's basketball, and the professional Houston Comets. He was named head coach of the Lady Tigers on April 11, 2007, replacing Pokey Chatman. In 2001, Chancellor was elected to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville, Tennessee. He was enshrined as a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2007. Chancellor currently serves as an analyst for Southland Conference games on ESPN3.
The WNBA playoffs is an elimination tournament among 8 teams in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), ultimately deciding the final two teams who will play in the WNBA Finals.
The Eastern Conference is one of two conferences that make up the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the other being the Western Conference. Both conferences consist of 6 teams.
The Western Conference is one of two conferences that make up the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the other being the Eastern Conference. Both conferences consist of 6 teams.
The 1997 WNBA Championship was the championship game of the 1997 WNBA season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Houston Comets, top-seeded team of the league, defeated the New York Liberty, second-seeded team, 65-51 to win the league's inaugural championship.
Cheryl Reeve is an American basketball head coach and President of Basketball Operations for the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA. Reeve has coached the Lynx to four league championships. In WNBA history, she has the highest winning percentage, she has won the most games of any female coach, and she has won the most postseason games of any coach. Reeve was named the WNBA Coach of the Year in 2011, 2016, 2020, and 2024 and WNBA Basketball Executive of the Year in 2019 and 2024. She is the first coach in WNBA history to be named Coach of the Year four times.
The 2011 WNBA Playoffs was the postseason for the Women's National Basketball Association's 2011 season. Four teams from each of the league's two conferences qualified for the playoffs seeded 1 to 4 in a tournament bracket, with the two opening rounds in a best-of-three format, and the final in a best-of-five format. The finals were won by the Minnesota Lynx who defeated the defending Eastern Conference Champion Atlanta Dream.
The 2015 WNBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the WNBA's 2015 season.
The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team plays their home games at Michelob Ultra Arena in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, and is headquartered in Henderson, Nevada. The Aces won the 2022 WNBA Commissioner's Cup and WNBA Championship. The Aces also won the 2023 WNBA Championship, becoming the first team to win back-to-back championships since 2001-2002, when the Los Angeles Sparks completed that feat.
The 2020 WNBA Finals, officially WNBA Finals 2020 presented by YouTube TV for sponsorship reasons, was the best-of-five championship series for the 2020 season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Finals feature the top seeded Las Vegas Aces facing off against the second seed Seattle Storm. Despite losing both regular season meetings against Las Vegas, the Storm dominated the series, sweeping the Aces in three straight games. Led by Finals MVP Breanna Stewart, Seattle won all three games by double-digits, claiming their second title in three years and fourth in franchise history.