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Dream wind up as No. 3 seed for WNBA playoffs, face Fever

AP photo by Terrance Williams / Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard, a former Chattanooga-area prep basketball standout at Bradley Central, dribbles during a game against the host Washington Mystics on May 16.
AP photo by Terrance Williams / Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard, a former Chattanooga-area prep basketball standout at Bradley Central, dribbles during a game against the host Washington Mystics on May 16. AP photo by Terrance Williams / Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard, a former Chattanooga-area prep basketball standout at Bradley Central, dribbles during a game against the host Washington Mystics on May 16.

By The Associated Press 4 min read

NEW YORK — The WNBA playoffs are set.

Heading into Thursday, the last day of games in the 2025 regular season, all eight playoffs teams were known, but three of the four matchups for the opening round were still up in the air due to unsettled seeds.

Now there’s a clear picture for the postseason that tips off Sunday.

The Minnesota Lynx, who clinched the No. 1 seed a few weeks ago, finished the regular season 34-10 after closing with a 72-53 win against the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday night. That dropped the Valkyries (23-21) — an expansion club whose addition this season pushed the number of teams in the league to 13 — to the eighth spot and sets up a first-round rematch with the Lynx, who reached the WNBA Finals last season but lost to the New York Liberty in a best-of-five series that went the distance.

All of the first-round matchups will be best-of-three series, with the semifinals (which start Sept. 21) a pair of best-of-five series and the title round (which starts Oct. 3) now featuring a best-of-seven format for the first time.