It will feel a lot like 2023 when the New York Liberty play host to the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup championship game Tuesday.
The teams clashed for both the Commissioner’s Cup title and the league championship in 2023 with the Liberty winning the midseason tournament, while the Aces came out on top in four games for the overall league title.
The teams have combined to win the last four WNBA championships, with the Aces also winning in 2022 and 2025 while the Liberty won in 2024. The Aces won the Commissioner’s Cup title in 2022 before New York denied them a repeat in 2023.
Both teams were considered favorites to win this year’s championship as well, although New York has lost four of its past five games. The Liberty fell 76-67 to the host Golden State Valkyries on Sunday while scoring just 29 points in the first half.
More than just the loss, the Liberty were outhustled on several plays, especially on Golden State’s seven offensive rebounds, and New York star Breanna Stewart admitted as much.
“You can’t play with heart and have great effort (only) when things are going (well),” Stewart said. “It’s the moments when you are at your lowest (that hustle is needed).”
New York does have a reason to feel good about Tuesday’s matchup. The Liberty’s only win during their recent struggles was at Las Vegas last Tuesday when they earned an 87-76 victory.
The Liberty’s issues were evident when they followed the victory at Las Vegas by losing 99-88 at Seattle two days later as the Storm ended their 11-game losing streak.
The Liberty have been slowed by injuries all year, but they are relatively healthy now, except for Satou Sabally, who is in concussion protocol.
New York’s overall performances from its stars has been lacking with Stewart’s shooting 21.1% from 3-point range, while Sabrina Ionescu is scoring 9.5 points after she averaged 18.2 points last season. Ionescu is shooting 27% from 3-point range.
Las Vegas is riding a two-game win streak as it tries to avenge last week’s loss to New York.
“I feel like we’ll have a greater sense of urgency,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said.
In five years of the WNBA’s midseason tournament, no team has won the title twice.
That will change on Tuesday. In addition to titles for the Aces and Liberty, the Seattle Storm, Minnesota Lynx and Indiana Fever have won it as well.
Tuesday’s game will also carry a financial incentive. There’s a $500,000 prize pool, with players from the winning team earning $30,000 apiece while players from the losing team will each receive $10,000.
The MVP of the game gets an extra $10,000, and the winning team gets $10,000 to donate to its charity of choice.
The game will also feature the three players who have won the league MVP award over the past six seasons. A’ja Wilson of Las Vegas has won the award four times in those six seasons and New York’s Stewart and Jonquel Jones have one each.
Wilson leads the league in scoring at 25.7 points per game but she was held to 16 points on 7-of-18 shooting last week by New York.
–Field Level Media
