 | |
| Founded | April 24, 1996 |
|---|---|
| First season | 1997 |
| Country | United States |
| Number of teams | 12 (13 in 2025 and 15 in 2026) |
| Domestic cup(s) | Commissioner's Cup |
| Current champions | Las Vegas Aces (2nd title) |
| Most championships | Houston Comets Minnesota Lynx Seattle Storm (4 titles each) |
| Commissioner | Cathy Engelbert |
| TV partners |
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| Website | WNBA.com |
 2024 WNBA playoffs | |
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 (regardless of conference) 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 (except in Olympic years). The league hosts an annual mid-season competition, The Commissioner's Cup, which dates vary from year to year.
Five WNBA teams have direct NBA counterparts and normally play in the same arena: Indiana Fever (Indiana Pacers), New York Liberty (Brooklyn Nets), Minnesota Lynx (Minnesota Timberwolves), Los Angeles Sparks (Los Angeles Lakers), and Phoenix Mercury (Phoenix Suns). The Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Connecticut Sun, Dallas Wings, Las Vegas Aces, Seattle Storm, and Washington Mystics do not share an arena with a direct NBA counterpart, although four of the seven (the Dream, the Sky, the Wings, and the Mystics) share a market with an NBA counterpart, two (Mystics and Dream) play in NBA G League arenas, while the Storm shared an arena and market with an NBA team, the SuperSonics, at the time of its founding. The Dream, Sky, Sun, Wings, Aces, Sparks, and Storm are all independently owned.