WNBA releases schedule: Sparks open May 10 vs. Aces
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
NEW YORK — The WNBA is set to begin its season on May 8, assuming the league and the players’ union can come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement.
Teams will play 44 games over a five-month period with a 17-day break for the FIBA World Cup in early September. The league said last year that with the World Cup this season they would keep the schedule at 44 games despite adding two new teams in Portland and Toronto.
“As we prepare to tip off the WNBA’s historic 30th season, this schedule reflects both how far the league has come and the momentum that continues to drive us forward,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.
The Sparks are scheduled to open the season with a four-game homestand at Crypto.com Arena, beginning May 10 against the defending champion Las Vegas Aces. The Sparks will also host the expansion Toronto Tempo on May 15.
“Releasing the 2026 schedule is a key step as we prepare for the WNBA’s 30th season and allows teams, partners, broadcasters, and fans to begin the essential planning for the year ahead,” a WNBA spokesperson said.
All but two teams have at least one back-to-back set of games. Overall, the average of games on consecutive nights is down from 2.4 per team in 2025 to 1.6 this year.
A WNBA spokesman said the league will “continue to negotiate in good faith with the goal of reaching a deal as quickly as possible.”
The WNBA hopes to expand the number of games teams play in future years, but that would come in a new CBA.
Training camp is slated to begin April 19, six days after the college draft. The league will have its sixth annual Commissioner’s Cup games in June with the championship game slated to take place on June 30. The All-Star Game is set for Chicago on July 25 with games to resume three days later.
The WNBA will go on break from Aug. 31-Sept. 16 for the World Cup, which will be played in Berlin this year. Teams will have a handful of games after that tournament finishes with the playoffs set to begin on Sept. 27.
The two sides agreed to a moratorium on free agency, which was supposed to begin earlier this month. The moratorium was needed after no new extension was reached on Jan. 9 to negotiate a new CBA. The WNBA and union are now in a “status quo” period where the old CBA is still in effect and the two parties are negotiating on good faith.
Besides free agency, the WNBA also still has to hold an expansion draft for Portland and Toronto.
Other highlights of the schedule include:
— All 15 teams will play opening weekend, highlighted by a WNBA Finals rematch between Las Vegas and Phoenix as well as a matchup of the last two No. 1 picks with Paige Bueckers and Dallas visiting Indiana and Caitlin Clark.
— The Sparks hosting New York on June 21 on the anniversary of the original matchup between the teams that was the first game in league history.
— Toronto will play two games in Montreal and Vancouver.
— Connecticut will have two games in Hartford and one game in Boston.
