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Western Conference (WNBA)
WNBA Western Conference From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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 currently consist of 6 teams, until 2025, when the Golden State Valkyries will join the Western Conference.[1][2]
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (August 2024) |
From the league's second season in 1998 through 2015, the WNBA operated separate playoff brackets for its Eastern and Western Conferences. Each conference's playoff was divided into two playoff rounds, the Conference Semi-Finals and the Conference Finals, with the Conference Finals winners receiving Conference Championships and advancing to the WNBA Finals to determine the WNBA champion. In the final years of this playoff scheme, all in-conference playoff series were best-of-three.
Since 2016, the league has abandoned separate conference playoffs in favor of a single league-wide playoff bracket. The top eight teams in the regular season, without regard to conference affiliation, advance to the playoffs, which are seeded based strictly on regular-season record (with tiebreakers as needed). The bottom four playoff teams play single-elimination games (5 vs. 8, 6 vs. 7) in the first round, with the higher seeds (5 and 6) hosting the games. The first-round winners advance to the second round, where they play the 3 and 4 seeds in single-elimination games. The 3 seed hosts the lower seed among the first-round winners, with the 4 seed hosting the other first-round survivor. The winners of these games advance to the WNBA Semifinals, where they face the top two seeds in best-of-five series. In this round, the 1 seed plays the lower seed among the second-round winners, and the 2 seed plays the other second-round winner. Both series are best-of-five and played in a 2–2–1 formet, with the higher seeds (1 and 2) hosting the first two games plus a possible fifth game. The winners of these series advance to the best-of-seven WNBA Finals.
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Teams
Former teams
Defunct
- Houston Comets (1997–2008)
- Portland Fire (2000–2002)
- Sacramento Monarchs (1997–2009)
Relocated
- Utah Starzz to San Antonio Silver Stars (2003)
- Detroit Shock (East) to Tulsa Shock (2010)
- Tulsa Shock to Dallas Wings (2016)
- San Antonio Stars to Las Vegas Aces (2017)
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Western Conference champions
The WNBA awarded conference championships between 1998 and 2015 to the winners of the Conference Finals in the playoffs. Conference championships were not awarded in the 1997 inaugural season, and they were again discontinued since the WNBA adopted its current single-table playoff format in 2016.
- WNBA champions in bold
- 1998: Houston Comets
- 1999: Houston Comets (2)
- 2000: Houston Comets (3)
- 2001: Los Angeles Sparks
- 2002: Los Angeles Sparks (2)
- 2003: Los Angeles Sparks (3)
- 2004: Seattle Storm
- 2005: Sacramento Monarchs
- 2006: Sacramento Monarchs (2)
- 2007: Phoenix Mercury
- 2008: San Antonio Silver Stars
- 2009: Phoenix Mercury (2)
- 2010: Seattle Storm (2)
- 2011: Minnesota Lynx
- 2012: Minnesota Lynx (2)
- 2013: Minnesota Lynx (3)
- 2014: Phoenix Mercury (3)
- 2015: Minnesota Lynx (4)
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All-time regular-season conference standings
2024 season
Notes
- (#) – League Standing
- c – Commissioner's Cup winners
- y – Regular Season Champion
- x – Clinched playoff berth
- e – Eliminated from playoff contention
- Source: Overall standings and Commissioner's Cup Standings
2023 season
Notes
- (#) – League Standing
- x – Clinched playoff berth
- e – Eliminated from postseason contention
- Source: Overall standings and Commissioner's Cup Standings
2022 season
Notes
- (#) – League Standing
- x – Clinched playoff berth
- e – Eliminated from playoff contention
- Source: Overall standings and Commissioner's Cup Standings
2021 season
Notes
- (#) – League Standing
- x – Clinched playoff berth
- e – Eliminated from playoff contention
- Source: Overall standings and Commissioner's Cup Standings
2020 season
Notes
- x – Clinched playoff berth
- e – Eliminated from playoffs
- Home and Away records not shown, as all games played at a neutral location.
- Updated to include results from September 13, 2020
- Source
2019 season
Notes
- (#) – Conference Standing, Playoff Seeds shown to the right of team name
- e – Eliminated from playoffs
2018 season
Notes
- (#) – Conference Standing, Playoff Seeds shown to the right of team name
- x – Qualified for playoffs
- e – Eliminated from playoffs
2017 season
Notes
- (#) – Conference Standing
- Playoff Seeds shown next to team name
- e – Eliminated from playoffs
2016 season
Notes
- # – Playoff seed
- e – Eliminated from playoffs
2015 season
2014 season
2013 season
2012 season
2011 season
2010 season
2009 season
2008 season
2007 season
2006 season
2005 season
2004 season
2003 season
2002 season
2001 season
2000 season
1999 season
1998 season
1997 season
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References
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