The 2023 WNBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the WNBA's 2023 season. The playoffs began on September 13, 2023 and culminated with the Las Vegas Aces successfully defending their WNBA title by defeating the New York Liberty three games to one in the finals.
Overview
Updates to postseason appearances
The Las Vegas Aces entered the postseason for the fifth consecutive season and also clinched the best record in the WNBA for the third time in the last four seasons. The New York Liberty entered the postseason for the third consecutive season. The Connecticut Sun entered the postseason for the seventh consecutive season, currently the longest streak in the WNBA. The Dallas Wings entered the postseason for the third consecutive season. The Minnesota Lynx entered the postseason for the first time since 2021. The Washington Mystics entered the postseason for the second consecutive season. The Atlanta Dream entered the postseason for the first time since 2018. The Chicago Sky entered the postseason for the fifth consecutive season. The Los Angeles Sparks missed the postseason for the third consecutive season. The Phoenix Mercury missed the postseason for the first time since 2012. The Seattle Storm missed the postseason for the first time since 2015. The Indiana Fever missed the postseason for the seventh consecutive season, currently the longest active postseason drought in the WNBA.
Notable occurrences
For the first time since the WNBA switched playoff formats in 2016, the Eastern Conference had more teams qualify for the playoffs than the Western Conference. This season marked the first time since the 2021 season that the league's top scorer (Jewell Loyd) failed to reach the playoffs. By winning the WNBA title, the Las Vegas Aces were the first team since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2002 to win back-to-back titles.
Format
The 2023 Playoffs continued to use the format that the WNBA Board of Governors approved prior to the 2022 season. In November 2021, the WNBA Board of Governors formalized a new playoff system that will structure the 2022 playoffs onward. The new playoff format scraps the single-elimination games of the first two rounds in favor of a best-of-3 quarterfinal round. As a result, all eight playoff teams, seeded according to overall regular season record regardless of conference (1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5), will begin postseason play in the first round. Since 2016, seeds 3 and 4 received a bye to the second round (single game) and seeds 1 and 2 received a bye to the semifinals (best-of-5). In the first round series, the higher seeded team will host games 1 and 2, and the lower seeded team will host game 3 if necessary. In the semifinal round, no reseeding will take place, which means the winners of the 1 vs. 8 series will be paired with the winner of the 4 vs. 5 series as will the winners of the 2 vs. 7 and 3 vs. 6 series. The semifinal and final rounds will remain best-of-5 series in which the higher seeded team hosts games 1, 2 and (if necessary) 5 while the lower seeded team hosts games 3 and (if necessary) 4.
Broadcast
All games will be aired across the ESPN family of networks, which includes ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, and ESPNU.
Playoff Qualifying
Atlanta earned the fifth seed by virtue of its combined record against Minnesota and Washington (5-2), while Minnesota came in second place in the three-way tiebreak and earned the sixth seed by virtue of their record (3-3) against Atlanta and Washington. By contrast, Washington's record against Atlanta and Minnesota put them at the seventh seed (2-5).
For the first time since eliminating conferences for the playoffs, the Eastern Conference qualified more teams than the Western Conference. Six of the eight playoff teams were the same as in 2022. The Atlanta Dream and Minnesota Lynx qualified this season, while the Seattle Storm and Phoenix Mercury did not.
Playoffs and Finals
Bracket
Bold Series winner
Round One
(1) Las Vegas Aces vs. (8) Chicago Sky
The first seed Las Vegas Aces played the eighth seed Chicago Sky in the first playoff series. Las Vegas entered the series having won seven of their last ten games. Las Vegas secured the first seed on the last day of the season by virtue of defeating the Phoenix Mercury. The Chicago Sky entered the series having won six of their last ten games. Chicago secured the eighth and final playoff spot on the penultimate day of the season by defeating Minnesota. The teams played three times during the regular season, and Las Vegas won all three games.