Welcome to the W
A guide for new fans on the WNBA’s structure, rules and biggest storylines entering the 2024 season
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With record-breaking viewership for this year’s NCAA Tournament, all eyes are on women’s basketball. Luckily for fans of the sport, there’s no need to wait until next November: the WNBA season begins in less than a month.
New to the league? Don’t worry. This edition of the Her Hoop Stats newsletter breaks down everything new fans need to know before the upcoming season, from how the in-season tournament works to the biggest storylines entering the season.
League structure
The WNBA has 12 teams in 2024, the final season before the league expands to 13 teams, with the Golden State franchise joining in 2025. Teams play 40 games, split equally between home and road games. The eight teams with the best records (regardless of conference) make the playoffs.
Play will pause this season from July 21 to Aug. 14 to accommodate players representing their country in the Paris Olympics.
Where to Watch
WNBA League Pass is the best way to watch games from teams around the league. League pass allows you to view every game with a few exceptions: games on national broadcasts and Amazon Prime Video are blacked out, along with those in your local market.
League Pass costs $34.99 for newcomers and $24.99 for returning customers. On top of live games, it also includes exclusive content and replays of games, which is great for new fans who want to learn more about previous seasons. The WNBA also offers a discounted annual price of $19.99 for U.S. college students.
Games will also frequently air on national television. ABC will broadcast nine games, ESPN will air 14, CBS has eight games, and Prime Video will show 21. ESPN networks, including ABC, will air the WNBA playoffs. All three games between the champion Las Vegas Aces and runners-up New York Liberty will be nationally televised.
Last season also marked the beginning of a new broadcast partnership with ION, which airs Friday night games with pregame and halftime studio shows. In 2023, ION increased the league’s female viewership by 29%, according to the WNBA.
Commissioner’s Cup
Starting in the 2021 season, the Commissioner’s Cup is the WNBA’s in-season tournament that provides extra intrigue to regular season games with a $500,000 prize pool for the winning team, $5,000 for the MVP of the Commissioner’s Cup championship game and donations to the winning team’s charity of choice.
In 2024, each team will play five games that count toward the Commissioner’s Cup against conference rivals from June 1 to 13. The top team from the Eastern and Western conferences will advance to the championship game on June 25. The team with the better Commissioner’s Cup record will host.
In 2023, the New York Liberty took home the Cup, winning the prize pool and donations to the Callen-Lorde Health Center for LGBTQ+ healthcare in New York City. The Liberty beat the Las Vegas Aces 82-63, heightening the rivalry between the teams before they met again in the WNBA championship.
Salary Cap
Like most sports leagues, the WNBA has a salary cap or the maximum amount a team can spend on player salaries. However, unlike other leagues, it’s a hard salary cap, which means that there’s little to no wiggle room to go above the cap. The salary cap for 2024 is $1,463,200 and will increase to $1,507,100 for the 2025 season. The one exception that allows teams to spend more than the salary cap is hardship contracts, which are awarded to teams with players out due to injury or illness.
The current collective bargaining agreement runs through 2027, but both the WNBA and the player’s association have the option to abandon the agreement and renegotiate after 2025. This option is likely given the rise in popularity and investments over the last few seasons.
In 2023, viewership on national TV games rose by 21%. This year’s draft averaged 2.45 million viewers. With the current media rights deal expiring in 2025, the increasing popularity of women’s basketball means that WNBA commissioner Cathy Englebert wants to “at least double” the rights fees. For players, renegotiating in 2025 means they will stand to benefit more from the new media deal.
Rosters
WNBA teams start the season with 11 to 12 players. The maximum roster size is 12, but teams frequently keep just 11 players because of the constraints of the salary cap. The Connecticut Sun, Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, and Washington Mystics all had 11 players last season.
As previously mentioned, teams can add to their rosters with hardship contracts in the case of injury. These contracts are usually awarded to players previously cut by teams in preseason training camps.
Karlie Samuelson spent the entirety of last season on hardship contracts with the Los Angeles Sparks due to the number of inactive players on the team. Playing regularly allowed Samuelson to have her best season since entering the league and resulted in a multi-year deal with the Washington Mystics this offseason. So if fan favorites get cut in training camp, there’s still a significant chance that they can return later in the season.
Legends in the making
After being the third team to win back-to-back titles in league history, the Las Vegas Aces are once again the favorites to take home the trophy in 2024. Only the now-disbanded Houston Comets have won at least three straight championships. They won the league’s first four titles with legendary players Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, and Tina Thompson.
With a core of Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum and A’ja Wilson, the Aces are made of the same legendary stuff that the Comets were. Two-time league MVP Wilson is one of the biggest stars in the league. She was the 2023 Finals MVP and was recently named to Time’s list of the 100 most influential people. Whether you’re a fan of dynamite offense or outstanding defense, Wilson is one to watch. She tied Liz Cambage’s single-game record of 53 points on Aug. 23, 2023, and has led the league in blocks for two straight seasons.
Not a rebuild, a reload
Two teams who missed the playoffs last season made major acquisitions in the offseason to boost their chances for 2024. The Seattle Storm spent one season without Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird and decided that rebuilding wasn’t for them. They brought in 2016 MVP Nneka Ogwumike and four-time All-Star Skylar Diggins-Smith. With Diggins-Smith in the backcourt with the league’s leading scorer, Jewell Loyd, and Ogwumike paired with rising star Ezi Magbegor in the post, the Storm are in a position to compete this season.
The Phoenix Mercury finished the 2023 season with a 9-31 record, the worst in the league. Through two trades and two free agent signings, the Mercury now have one of the most intriguing groups of players in the W. The Mercury re-signed center Brittney Griner and brought in Natasha Cloud while also trading for Rebecca Allen and Kahleah Copper. Diana Taurasi and Sophie Cunningham are back with Phoenix for one more season before both are free agents. Those six players are under protected veteran contracts, and the rest of the roster will be decided in training camp. One thing to keep an eye on, Griner is the only post player of the six veterans on the team.
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Thanks for the primer. Am I correct that if you buy the league pass, you won't be able to watch the nationally televised games? And not even for replay? If so, I don't see a point in buying the league pass b/c I want to watch a lot of the Clark games and those will be nationally televised.