Breaking down the WNBA playoff race: Six teams vying for final spot
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Washington Mystics hold the eighth spot at 17-12 with a five-game lead and the league's second-longest active winning streak (five games), giving them 16 games to clinch a playoff return for the first time since 2023.
- Los Angeles Sparks traded five-time All-Star Kelsey Plum to the Phoenix Mercury for a 2027 first-round pick and Monique Akoa Makani, despite sitting 11-18 and six games back in the playoff race.
- Kelsey Plum scored 20 points in 20 minutes off the bench in her Mercury debut, a 106-101 win over the Sky, then started the following game in a 96-82 loss at Atlanta.
- Phoenix Mercury (12-20) would need to go undefeated in their final 13 games to reach 25 wins or 11-2 to reach 23, and face the Mystics three times and the Sparks once to make up ground directly.
- Chicago Sky (12-19) are playing shorthanded with Skylar Diggins out (right knee injury), Azura Stevens missing four games for personal reasons, and rookie Sydney Taylor nursing a groin injury, yet coach Tyler Marsh said the postseason 'absolutely remains the goal.'
- Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, the two expansion franchises, have combined to lose 12 straight games heading into their head-to-head matchup Thursday, with the Tempo unable to even reach 25 wins.
Why it matters: The Mystics are the only contender in a comfortable position, holding a five-game cushion with 16 games left; every other team in the race needs to go undefeated or near-perfect to reach 25 wins. The Sparks' decision to cash in Plum for a 2027 first-round pick effectively concedes this season while reshaping their timeline around a younger core, and the expansion franchises' simultaneous 12-game losing streak underlines how thin the WNBA's competitive middle is right now.
