Ballislife has 30 games you can’t miss as the WNBA announces a tentative schedule for its 30th anniversary season.
Time will tell if they make it to the altar…but the WNBA has asked you, at the very least, to save the date(s).
Photo by David Becker/NBAE via Getty Images
The WNBA released the schedule for its landmark 30th season on Wednesday, a sign of life from a league whose offseason has been rendered silent by ongoing, if not tense, collective bargaining agreement negotiations. When (or, worst case, if) the 2026 season gets underway, it will be the WNBA’s longest yet: all sides will play 44 games with expansion clubs in Portland and Toronto, and the slate includes breaks for both the All-Star Game in Chicago and the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Germany.
“As we prepare to tip off the WNBA’s historic 30th season, this schedule reflects both how far the league has come and the momentum that continues to drive us forward,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in the league’s release of the schedule. “From welcoming two new organizations in Toronto and Portland, to honoring our history with marquee matchups that connect the league’s first game to today’s stars, the 2026 season will celebrate the WNBA’s past, present, and future. With a record number of games, growing global reach, and unprecedented momentum, this milestone season will help define the next chapter of the WNBA.”
“Releasing the 2026 schedule is a key step as we prepare for the WNBA’s 30th season,” a WNBA spokesperson told Alexa Philippou of ESPN. “[It] allows teams, partners, broadcasters, and fans to begin the essential planning for the year ahead.”
While it might be hard to fully analyze the schedule and its contents with the league at a relative standstill through its impasse with its players, Ballislife has 30 for the 30th, a triple-decade of games you can’t miss once the ball is finally tipped.
The matchups are set.
The dates are locked.
The 2026 WNBA schedule is here — check it out now at https://t.co/VdfNvDbFkS pic.twitter.com/WGPSJu1xa4
— WNBA (@WNBA) January 21, 2026
May 8: Washington Mystics at Toronto Tempo
The headliner of the official opening day slate is the birth of the Toronto Tempo, the WNBA’s first international club set to take the floor in Ontario. While the rebooted Portland Fire has garnered its own rightful hype, this could be a true test of the WNBA’s lasting power as it expands to a second nation that has received it fairly well on previous exhibition showings.
While Washington has struggled to retain its usual standards, the presence of young talents Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen should make for an incredible debut, even with Tempo’s empty roster as of press time.
May 9: Dallas Wings at Indiana Fever
The first Saturday on the W docket opens will presumably show that the kids are way more than all right: a battle between the most recent fantastic freshmen is set to be staged at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, as Caitlin Clark makes her presumed return against Paige Bueckers. Provided the Fever doesn’t subside, Clark won’t be the only Indianapolis rep making an anticipated return: eyes would likely turn to Kelsey Mitchell, who literally kept the Fever in contention until her body shut down on her, as well as other ailing fan favorites like Sydney Colson, Sophie Cunningham, and Aari McDonald.
It’s possible that Bueckers and Clark’s successor in the Rookie of the Year race will also be partaking, as the Wings hold the top pick in the WNBA Draft for the second consecutive occasion.
May 9: Phoenix Mercury at Las Vegas Aces
Contrasting its approach to last year’s Liberty-Lynx sequels, the league wasted no time arranging a de facto Game 5 between the Aces and Mercury after last fall’s Finals fracas. Time will tell exactly who will be reprising her role, but it stands to reason that A’ja Wilson will likely look to defend her latest MVP honors.
Despite falling in four, Phoenix gave the Aces a challenge that has no doubt lingered in the minds of desert fans throughout this offseason.
May 10: Atlanta Dream at Minnesota Lynx
The 30th opening weekend ends with two teams carrying the bittersweet burden of having plenty to prove: Atlanta’s dreamy debut under Karl Smesko (franchise-record 30 wins) yielded only an upset loss to Indiana in the opening round. Up north, the Lynx seemed destined to atone for their championship heartbreak in New York as the top seed, but a heartbreaking defeat to Phoenix ended their return trip early.
This game will also serve as the debut for the second pick in the draft, which is currently held by the Lynx after a trade with Chicago during last year’s selections.
May 17: Chicago Sky at Minnesota Lynx
One week after her debut, that aforementioned No. 2 pick (Azzi Fudd? Awa Fam? Lauren Betts? Flau’jae Johnson?) will get a glimpse of what might’ve been when the Chicago Sky visits for a Midwestern melee.
There may be some remorse on Chicago’s end: while there’s hope in building blocks, Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese, the Sky’s rebuild shared the WNBA basement last time around. Chicago used the pick acquired in the potentially fateful deal to select the well-traveled Hailey Van Lith, one of several intriguing Windy City projects under contract.
May 20: Dallas Wings at Chicago Sky
It’s not often that a matchup at the league’s caboose even somewhat resembles must-see TV. But when over 80 percent of the league is trapped in a free agency holding pattern, one is drawn to the young talent under contract with the Sky and Wings.
With Cardoso, Reese, and Van Lith repping Chicago and Dallas bringing in Bueckers, Diamond Miller, and Maddy Siegrist, the lineup in this early-season treat resembles something out of a Final Four.
May 23: Portland Fire at Toronto Tempo
The WNBA’s first expansion extravaganza features two teams that currently have nary a woman on their active roster. That’s a stark contrast to where their sisters in maiden WNBA voyages, the Golden State Valkyries, were at this point last year, as they at least had a full purple contingent ready to roll with their debut looming.
With that in mind, it’ll be worth seeing where both the Tempo and the rebooted Fire stand at this point of the year.
May 27/29: Phoenix Mercury at New York Liberty
The Liberty will get an early opportunity to do what they couldn’t last fall: defeat the Phoenix Mercury twice. New York earned a big Game 1 victory in the two sides’ opening-round set before Phoenix took the latter pair, with the first half a dominant victory at Barclays Center.
This series could serve as a tone-setter for the Chris DeMarco era, which will face a subplot on the other side: Phoenix assistant Kristi Toliver was said to be one of the contenders for the job before DeMarco prevailed.
June 3: Toronto Tempo at New York Liberty
Despite a staunch vote of confidence from Breanna Stewart and others, Sandy Brondello was relieved of duty from her post as New York Liberty head coach after a disappointing follow-up to the franchise’s first postseason championship defense.
It didn’t take long for Brondello to find a new gig, as she is now the original coach of the Tempo. The Liberty’s new seafoam sovereign is DeMarco, a staple of the Golden State Warriors’ NBA dynasty. The past, present, and potential future of the Liberty does Brooklyn battle to open Commissioner’s Cup play.
June 4: Atlanta Dream at Indiana Fever
Not to steal clicks from Ballislife resident betting expert Sara Jane Gamelli, but… you’d be wise to take the over here. Gainbridge Fieldhouse’s scoreboard operator will likely get some overtime with Clark, Chelsea Gray, Rhyne Howard, Naz Hillmon, Mitchell, and Jordin Canada all presumably in tow in this rematch of last year’s first-round fracas.
In its Boston/Mitchell-led shorthanded form, the Fever infected the Dream’s historic season with a bout of bittersweetness, taking the best-of-three set in upset fashion.
June 4: Golden State Valkyries at Minnesota Lynx
While somewhat buried by the hullabaloo over new and familiar locales alike, the Golden State Valkyries got the WNBA’s quest to 18 teams off to a sterling start. Buoyed by breakouts from Veronica Burton and Kayla Thornton, Golden State became the first freshman team to appear on a WNBA playoff bracket before bowing out to the top-seeded Lynx.
The way that things ended no doubt sticks with Natalie Nakase‘s group: forced to move from San Francisco to San Jose due to scheduling conflicts, the Valkyries led Game 2 by as much as 17 before Minnesota stormed back to secure the sweep. An early sophomore barometer awaits the Valkyries in the form of their first trip back to Target Center since that bittersweet finale.
June 8: Seattle Storm at Las Vegas Aces
The early Unrivaled yields have placed Laces BC atop the premature playoff bracket, its antics led by the dueling scoring antics of Brittney Sykes and Jackie Young. Provided everything works out in free agency, the Michelob Ultra Arena scoreboard could resemble a pinball machine with those backcourt mavens in tow, and that doesn’t even account for the presence of the lasting MVP Wilson.
The Pacific Northwest’s resistance to the latter is headlined by a homegrown post contingent in Ezi Magbegor and Dominique Malonga.
June 13: Minnesota Lynx at Las Vegas Aces
The WNBA Finals probably could’ve lived up to its freshly installed best-of-seven billing if the presumed matchup between the top seeds played out. Alas for the league-leading Lynx, an emotionally draining second-round series produced only Mercury mastery and a Napheesa Collier injury, one that has kept her sidelined from the second season of her Unrivaled league.
It’s unknown at this point whether Collier and/or Kayla McBride will be able to partake in this Commissioner’s Cup clash. If they do, then this game should be an intriguing look into an alternate universe where Collier and Wilson swung for seven.
June 21: New York Liberty at Los Angeles Sparks
Three decades after Kym Hampton and Lisa Leslie took the WNBA’s literal opening tip at The Great Western Forum, Dearica Hamby and Jonquel Jones will potentially follow in their sneakers at Crypto.com Arena, opening a rematch 30 years in the making.
The Liberty and Sparks will commemorate the league’s debut match out west, even if the status of veterans is up in the air, the league’s future will likely be on display: Los Angeles’ contingent figures to feature Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson, the top-heavy Liberty still have Finals heroines Leonie Fiebich and Nyara Sabally on hand.
June 22/24: Phoenix Mercury at Indiana Fever
Had the Fever somehow flushed the mighty Aces in round two, would they have been any match for the scorching Mercury group that emerged on the other side of the bracket? Clark and Co. will get two early opportunities at home to make their case when Phoenix comes in for a de facto doubleheader.
June 24/26: Atlanta Dream at Golden State Valkyries
For all Smesko accomplished in his first year at the Atlanta (which included guiding Allisha Gray and Howard to All-Star berths and Hillmon to a Sixth Woman of the Year win), he was denied Coach of the Year honors, as what Nakase had accomplished with her box of relative scraps was simply too good to pass up.
If Smesko’s still feeling raw about it, he’ll get three opportunities at the top of the summer, including a back-to-back set in the Bay Area. Golden State makes the trip Southeast on Independence Day.
June 25: New York Liberty at Seattle Storm
Normally, this list would be packed with “reunions” brought about by offseason free agency and trades. But with those affairs at a standstill thanks to the blank spaces on CBA paperwork, the league will settle for coaching reunions for the time being. That has the Liberty facing several former mentors who were plucked from their recent staffs, including one-year wonder Sonia Raman.
The former Memphis Grizzlies assistant has been brought in to lead the continued endeavors of the postseason-Stewart Storm, which has not won a playoff series since her move back east in 2023.
June 28: New York Liberty at Golden State Valkyries
The Liberty themselves get to play up the coach reunion trope three days after facing Raman. A trip out west will give DeMarco a chance to return to Chase Center, the site of some of his recent triumphs as a tenured Warriors assistant. Branded as “Ballhalla” during the women’s season, however, it’s unlikely that such affairs will be appreciated this time around.
The Liberty-Valkyries series also potentially features Thornton squaring off against her fellow metropolitan champions while Sabrina Ionescu and her signature sneakers return home to the Bay Area as well.
July 2: Dallas Wings vs. Connecticut Sun (@ Hartford, CT)
If this is truly the end for the Connecticut Sun, the franchise is embarking on a literal farewell tour of New England: in addition to running the tables at Mohegan Sun Arena (at least) one more time, the Sun also has dates at TD Garden in Boston and PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.
The latter, of course, is known for hosting high-profile University of Connecticut basketball games, and it is set to host the latest return of hallowed Husky and reigning Rookie of the Year Bueckers, when the Wings seek to set off early Independence Day fireworks.
With Dallas also holding the first overall pick at the upcoming WNBA Draft, there’s a chance that the sneakers of Bueckers’ fellow Storrs standout Azzi Fudd could also touch the Civic Center floor.
July 3: Minnesota Lynx at New York Liberty
The Liberty and Lynx never truly got a proper follow-up to their dramatic close to the Finals’ best-of-five era: their four matchups in 2024 were crammed into a mid-summer stretch. By the time the awaited rematches came, each side was banged up. New York, for example, didn’t have Betnijah Laney-Hamilton for the whole season, while Ionescu, Jones, and Stewart also faced literal bumps along the way.
Minnesota also did not have Collier, Stewart’s fellow UConn legend and partner in forming Unrivaled, in one of the matchups. Again, it’s hard to know how much will have changed by July 4th weekend, considering even the Memorial Day edition has an aura of uncertainty. But we’ve seen enough of the Liberty and Lynx in recent tours to know that they’ll put on a show no matter who’s on the floor.
July 5: Indiana Fever at Las Vegas Aces
Fireworks for the red, white, and blue give way to further sparks from the red, yellow, and blue. The holiday weekend closes out with the first meeting between the Aces and Fever since the two sides engaged in an epic five-game semifinal set. The severely shorthanded Fever gave Sin City all it could handle before it put Mercury in retrograde.
The finale at Michelob Ultra Arena on Sept. 30 was an epic overtime thriller, one that saw top cards Wilson and Young unite for 67 tallies in a 107-98 clincher. This time, however, the Fever will presumably be stocked up, with Clark and the injury report joining the reliable Aliyah Boston.
July 6: Golden State Valkyries at Washington Mystics
Despite growing hype around the league, the kids, once again, have been quite all right. Bueckers earned the top rookie title, Malonga found a groove late in the year, while the Mystics enjoyed the antics of Citron and Iriafen...and that’s just the top four from last year.
Immediately behind that quartet, however, there is a lingering case of wondering what might’ve been: the Valkyries had fifth choice Justė Jocytė remain overseas, while yet another Washington first-rounder, Georgia Amoore, missed her freshman tour with an ACL injury.
With hyped player matchups relatively limited in the league’s current state, it’ll be interesting to see whether Amoore and Jocyte are ready for action by then. If anything, it should be a strong showing for W playoff darkhorses: the Valkyries’ early success with castoff veterans denied Citron and Iriafen a chance to go to the playoffs in their first season.
July 17: Los Angeles Sparks at Chicago Sky
The Sky’s last home game before it plays the role of All-Star hostess comes against a Los Angeles group that’s also looking for some form of footing in its rebuild. With Brink and Jackson squaring off against Cardoso and Reese, progress among the youngsters will likely be strictly analyzed in this showdown and beyond.
The Sparks currently carry the league’s longest playoff drought at five seasons, and the Sky is one of four teams behind them at two years apiece.
August 8: Las Vegas Aces at Minnesota Lynx
It’s a matchup so nice that we had to list it twice … if only to make up for the fact we were denied such a showdown last fall. In its current incarnation, the Aces-Lynx series has something to offer every basketball fan. The offensive potential speaks for itself, but these meetings could also feature the first get-togethers between Wilson and Alanna Smith since they shared the most recent WNBA Defensive Player of the Year title.
August 29: Toronto Tempo at Phoenix Mercury
The WNBA’s push for the playoffs will be interrupted by the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup, where five teams (Australia, Belgium, Nigeria, USA, and host Germany) have clinched their tickets for the FIBA bracket. One of the more intriguing finales will probably be the Australian Opals boss Brondello, working with assistant, husband, and German leader Olaf Lange, going into her former locale of Phoenix, which currently boasts the talents of recent American Olympic heroine Kahleah Copper and fellow gold medalist Alyssa Thomas.
August 30: Los Angeles Sparks at Seattle Storm
While the United States will once again be the FIBA favorites, observers looking for a World Cup darkhorse to keep an eye on would do well to watch this matchup in the dwindling hours before the second break: in addition to potential Americans Brink and Jackson, the Sparks’ roster also features Belgian cats Julie Allemand and Julie Vanloo, who have helped bring home each of the last two EuroBasket titles.
For Seattle, French phenom under contract Malonga is poised for a sophomore surge and will likely look to avenge Les Bleu’s loss on Parisian turf to Team USA at the end of the most recent Olympics.
September 24: Toronto Tempo at Connecticut Sun
Roster situations are shaky enough on the modern WNBA landscape, but it’s fully stable compared to the solar flares in Uncasville. The Sun’s management situation has been a subplot of sorts on the W landscape to the point where fans would be encouraged to cherish every last season they have under Mohegan Sun Arena’s roof.
The potential finale comes against the Tempo on what’s currently pegged as the final day of the regular season.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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