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WNBA Commissioner's Cup
In-season competition From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The WNBA Commissioner's Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the WNBA Commissioner's Cup Presented By Coinbase, is an in-season competition of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) that begins at the start of the regular season and continues throughout the first half of the season. The final is played between the top teams from the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. A total of 60 regular-season contests involving all 13 teams count toward the Cup standings.[1]
The Commissioner's Cup was originally scheduled to begin in the 2020 WNBA season, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cup was first awarded in the 2021 season.
In October 2021, the WNBA announced that Coinbase had acquired the naming rights to the Cup starting with the 2022 tournament.[2]
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Format
The Commissioner's Cup consists of regular-season games designated to count toward Cup play. The team from each conference with the top record in designated “Cup games” will then compete for the Commissioner's Cup title and a special prize pool. Beginning in 2024, Cup games are a series of home or road games against its five conference rivals. From 2021 to 2023, Cup games were the first home game and first road game each team plays against its five conference rivals.[3] The Cup restores the Eastern–Western Conference rivalry that WNBA used in its playoff tournament until the 2015 WNBA Playoffs.
The first Commissioner's Cup Final game was held at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.[4]
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Prize
The total compensation tops out at $500,000, with the winning team making around $30,000 per player and the game's MVP taking home an additional $5,000. On the losing team's side, players earn $10,000 each.[5]
The winning team also receives the Commissioner's Cup Trophy.
History
Final appearances
Statistics for cumulative annual finals wins and losses, not Commissioner's Cup qualifying games:
Cup final records
Summarize
Perspective
This table shows a list of records through the history of the Commissioner's Cup final.
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Controversy
During the 2nd quarter of the 2025 Indiana Fever vs. Minnesota Lynx game, sports conglomerate ESPN's Youtube channel's postgame show preemptively was titled "Lynx dominate Fever to win Commissioner's Cup". Many on social media were baffled by the title, as the game hadn't reached halftime yet. The Fever went on to win and the postgame show's title was edited to say "Fever stun Lynx to win Commissioner's Cup".
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See also
References
External links
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