After a week filled with schedule announcements, the Golden State Valkyries expansion draft and the Toronto Tempo name unveiling, there’s a lot of excitement building in the WNBA.
Teams embodied that hype for next season by flexing their social media chops with creative schedule reveal videos on Monday.
The Indiana Fever played mascot Pictionary, the Connecticut Sun gave their season "forecast," and the New York Liberty made their mascot take a lie-detector test, just to name a few.
In preparation for next season’s fast-approaching games, here’s a look at the top eight matchups to watch in 2025.
May 16: Los Angeles Sparks vs. Golden State Valkyries
The Valkyries will play their inaugural game at home against the Sparks on the first night of WNBA action. This matchup will be the birthplace of another great league rivalry, as California is the only state with two active WNBA teams.
The Seattle Storm will get a new regional rival when Portland joins as an expansion team in 2026 but this west-coast clash will set the bar for new rivalries in the league.
May 17: Chicago Sky vs. Indiana Fever
What would 2025 be without the next chapter in the league’s strongest rivalry: Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky vs. Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever? Fans won’t have to wait long to see these two sophomores in action, as they’ll meet on the second day of the season.
Reese, who suffered a season-ending wrist fracture on Sept. 6, is expected to play in the new Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball league this winter, so she should be more than ready to face her college rival come May.
This game will be the first of five between the Sky and Fever next season.
May 30: Los Angeles Sparks vs. Las Vegas Aces
As story as old as time itself, the old taking on the new.
The Aces, with two championships in the last three years, are led by dominant veterans like A'ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young.
Los Angeles, however, is a team rebuilding with young talent. Sophomore Cameron Brink is expected to make a full return for 2025 after tearing her ACL last June, and fellow 2024 draft pick Rickea Jackson will continue this season as a consistent option for the squad. On top of these young players, the Sparks will add more rookie talent with the second-overall pick in the 2025 draft.
July 30: New York Liberty vs. Minnesota Lynx
This game will be the first of four featuring last year’s finalists, with the Lynx looking for redemption after a Game 5 overtime loss cost them the championship.
Despite winning the title, Liberty stars Sabrina Ionescu, who shot 1-for-19 in that game, and Breanna Stewart, who was 4-for-15, will both enter this match hungry to improve on those performances.
June 27: Indiana Fever vs. Dallas Wings
Not one, not two, but the last three first-overall picks will meet on June 27.
Aliyah Boston (2023) and Clark (2024) will match up against whoever the Wings pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. It is widely projected that Paige Bueckers will go first overall, should she declare for the draft. However, the UConn guard could choose to stay in college one more year as she has leftover NCAA eligibility from redshirting and the pandemic.
July 15: Connecticut Sun vs. Indiana Fever
This game will venture outside the regular confines of the WNBA as the Sun will make the short trip to Boston to host the Fever in one of the most storied venues in all of sports, TD Garden.
The 19,580-seat arena will host a rematch from Round 1 of the 2024 playoffs where the Sun swept the Fever. And, for an added wrinkle, the Fever will now be coached by Stephanie White, the 2023 Coach of the Year who parted ways with Connecticut this off-season, to join the team she once played for.
Aug. 3: Washington Mystics vs. Atlanta Dream
Despite both these teams squeaking into the 2024 playoffs, the Mystics and Dream each quickly fired their head coaches following first-round exits.
The Dream got to work early in the off-season, snagging Karl Smesko as their head coach. Smesko left his gig coaching at Florida Gulf Coast to become the first WNBA coach without experience as a player or NBA coach since 2011.
The Mystics are in a slightly less stable scenario after firing their general manager Mike Thibault at the same time as their head coach Eric Thibault and have yet to find replacements for either.
This clash will put to the test how fruitful their personnel reshuffling was.
Aug. 13: New York Liberty vs. Las Vegas Aces
The Liberty will meet the Aces three times this season, allowing plenty of head-to-head opportunities for the 2023 and 2024 MVPs Stewart and Wilson.
The mid-August matchup will be the last meeting between the two in the regular season, so it could help determine who the more dominant player is, and perhaps if either would be deserving of the award again in 2025.
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