Alyssa Thomas #25 of the Phoenix Mercury and Napheesa Collier #24 of the Minnesota Lynx look on during the game

Phoenix Mercury v Minnesota Lynx - Game Two

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - SEPTEMBER 23: Sami Whitcomb #33 of the Phoenix Mercury shoots the ball against Courtney Williams #10 of the Minnesota Lynx 

 Alanna Smith #8 and Napheesa Collier #24 of the Minnesota Lynx looks on 

Kahleah Copper #2 of the Phoenix Mercury celebrates her three-point basket against the Minnesota Lynx

Kayla McBride #21 of the Minnesota Lynx during the game against the Phoenix Mercury

Satou Sabally #0 of the Phoenix Mercury celebrates with teammate Alyssa Thomas #25 against the Minnesota Lynx

A'ja Wilson #22 of the Las Vegas Aces looks on during the game

Indiana Fever v Las Vegas Aces - Game Two

Jackie Young #0 of the Las Vegas Aces shoots the ball during the game against the Indiana Fever

Shey Peddy #5 of the Indiana Fever looks on during the game against the Las Vegas

NaLyssa Smith #3 of the Las Vegas Aces grabs the rebound during the game against the Indiana Fever

NaLyssa Smith #3 of the Las Vegas Aces shoots against Lexie Hull #10 of the Indiana Fever

A'ja Wilson #22 of the Las Vegas Aces celebrates after making a 3-point basket against the Indiana Fever

2025 Playoffs

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&#8211;USA Network to Present at Least 50 WNBA Regular-Season and Playoff Games Each Year, As Well As Portions of WNBA Semifinals and Finals in Select Years Beginning in 2026&#8211;
&#8211;WNBA Schedule on USA Network to Primarily Feature Wednesday Night Doubleheaders&#8211;
STAMFORD, Conn. – September 30, 2025 – VERSANT and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) today announced an 11-year media rights agreement for USA Network to present WNBA games – including the regular-season and portions of the Playoffs and WNBA Finals in select years – beginning with the 2026 season.
As part of the multi-year agreement which runs through 2036, USA Network will present at least 50 WNBA games annually, including coverage of the WNBA Playoffs and WNBA Finals games in select years beginning in 2026. The new agreement expands the game package that was to be distributed by USA Network under the WNBA’s historic national media deals signed in 2024.
“We’re incredibly proud to expand our multi-year partnership with the WNBA,” said Matt Hong, President of Sports, VERSANT. “USA Network will be a destination for WNBA viewers all season long, as we showcase the star power across the league in our marquee Wednesday night doubleheaders and build toward the intensity of the WNBA Playoffs and WNBA Finals.”
“Partnering with VERSANT and USA Network marks another significant milestone for the WNBA’s continued growth,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. “As demand for women’s basketball continues to rise, partnerships like this expand the visibility and accessibility of our game. By establishing a weekly primetime destination for fans, this agreement will showcase the excitement of the WNBA to more households than ever before and further elevate the incredible athletes in this league.”
USA Network’s WNBA coverage will be anchored by Wednesday night doubleheaders featuring marquee matchups across the league. Each broadcast night will also include dedicated pre-game and post-game studio programming, establishing USA Network as a weekly destination for WNBA fans.
The complete 2026 WNBA on USA Network programming schedule, including production details and on-air game and studio commentary teams, will be announced in the coming months.
About VERSANT
VERSANT, Comcast Corporation’s (NASDAQ: CMCSA) planned spin-off, will be a leading independent publicly traded media company comprised of most of NBCUniversal’s cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel along with complementary digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass, and SportsEngine. The well-capitalized company will have significant scale as a pure-play set of assets anchored by leading news, sports and entertainment content. The spin-off is expected to be completed in early 2026, subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions.
About the WNBA
Currently in its 29th season, the WNBA celebrates and elevates the game of basketball and the culture around it. The league was ranked by Morning Consult as the fastest-growing brand in 2024, and No. 4 on Fast Company’s list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies of 2025, on its way to setting records for engagement on social and digital platforms, attendance, merchandise sales and unique viewers across its broadcast partners. The WNBA’s commitment to societal impact is supported by the first-of-its-kind WNBA Changemaker Collective, a group of purpose-driven companies that have partnered with the WNBA to enhance the player experience, build the brand of the league and players, inspire innovation and connectivity, increase media coverage and visibility, and help drive the league’s business transformation. Ally, AT&amp;T, CarMax, Deloitte, Google, and Nike are part of the WNBA Changemaker Collective. The WNBA is a bold, progressive basketball league that stands for the power of women in sport.
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VERSANT Announces Media Rights Agreement to Broadcast WNBA Games

AP Recap

PHOENIX (AP) — Alyssa Thomas scored 23 points, DeWanna Bonner made two late 3-pointers and the Phoenix Mercury overcame a 13-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat the short-handed Minnesota Lynx 86-81 in Game 4 on Sunday to advance to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2021.
Phoenix will face the Indiana-Las Vegas winner. Indiana forced a Game 5 earlier Sunday with a 90-83 home victory.
“We knew they were going to challenge us today and I’m just proud of how we responded,” Thomas said. “We could have easily given up and be headed to Minnesota right now. But we stuck together and dug deep on defense.”
The Mercury won the final three games of the best-of-five semifinal series. The top-seeded Lynx were playing without Cheryl Reeve, <a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/article/lynx-reeve-officials-rant-a763f97451322cbd02a80f532445177a" data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA">who was suspended for Game 4</a> because of her behavior and comments toward officials in Game 3. Minnesota also was without All-Star guard Napheesa Collier, <a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/article/lynx-collier-injury-706b1a8309362992433870d1a1aa288a" data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA">who suffered an ankle injury</a> near the end of the Game 3 loss.
Down 68-55 after three quarters, Phoenix pulled to 70-69 on Sami Whitcomb’s 3-pointer with 4:46 left. Bonner’s 3-pointer pushed them ahead 72-70 and she hit another 3 with 2:03 left for a 77-73 lead.
Minnesota’s Kayla McBride hit a 3-pointer — her sixth of the second half — to cut it to 77-76 with 1:04 left. The 38-year-old Bonner then made a pair of free throws to push the Mercury ahead 79-76.
Bonner scored 11 points in the fourth — part of the Mercury’s 31-point outburst in the final quarter.
“We didn’t have much of a choice,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbets said. “We were down 13, needed to get stops. And when we get stops, we’re pretty good offensively because we’re playing free and we don’t have time to overthink it.
“We made some great plays, some really good passes. That’s what it took.”
Phoenix’s Satou Sabally scored 21 points.
Phoenix will play for the title for the first time in four years in a bid for its first championship since 2014.
McBride led Minnesota with 31 points on 6-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. Courtney Williams added 20 points. The Lynx’s fourth- quarter collapse was a common theme in the series.
“Got to give Phoenix credit for the way they defended in the fourth quarters,” Lynx associate head coach Eric Thibault said. “They switched and made it hard on us. We didn’t get enough quality shots down the stretch.”
Phoenix’s Kahleah Copper hit a 3-pointer early in the third quarter to give the Mercury their first lead of the game at 41-38. But the Lynx responded with a 23-9 run, highlighted by three 3-pointers from McBride.
The Lynx jumped out to an early 12-1 lead but the Mercury slowly chipped away at the deficit. Thomas hit Bonner for a layup just before the halftime buzzer to tie it 38.
“It was ugly at times,” Tibbets said. “But we kept fighting.”
The Mercury had just two players on this year’s roster — Copper and Natasha Mack — who were with the team in 2024. They are the first team in WNBA history to make two Finals in a five-year span without any of the same players on the two teams.

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Game Recap: Minnesota Lynx vs. Phoenix Mercury (Semi-Finals, Game 4)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — All-Star center Aliyah Boston finished with 24 points and 14 rebounds and <a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://x.com/i/status/1972410287933571333" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA">Kelsey Mitchell scored 25 points</a> to help the Indiana Fever avoid elimination in the WNBA semifinals with a 90-83 victory over the second-seeded Las Vegas Aces on Sunday.
The best-of-five series is now tied 2-2 with a winner-take-all Game 5 set for Tuesday in Las Vegas. The winner faces either top-seeded Minnesota or fourth-seeded Phoenix.
Sixth-seeded Indiana closed it out after Las Vegas mistakenly called an extra timeout with 30.1 seconds left in the game. The ensuing technical foul gave Indiana one free throw and possession of the ball, which forced Las Vegas to foul after the ball was inbounded. The Fever made all three free throws to extend the lead to 87-77.
“It was a good old-fashioned mistake,” Aces coach Becky Hammon explained after the game.
The television broadcast also showed Hammon telling her team in a late huddle they had two timeouts and a reset timeout remaining. She reiterated that point after the game.
The Fever used their “Stranger Things” uniforms, perhaps trying to send a message it wouldn’t let the high-powered Aces run roughshod over a team still missing four key, injured players — <a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/article/caitlin-clark-indiana-fever-05ca033f9a3c5f3aca656980871bb2e2" data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA">Caitlin Clark</a>, <a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/article/indiana-fever-sophie-cunningham-injury-ac59327be1fb25e5464fd55347850315" data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA">Sophie Cunningham</a>, Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald.
Boston and Mitchell then delivered it by leading the Fever to their third straight elimination-game victory in this year’s playoffs. They won the final two games <a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://apnews.com/article/fever-dream-score-6f4823e740c39c107689b3487377633a" data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA">against Atlanta</a> after losing Game 1 in the best-of-three first-round series.
Boston went 10 of 13 at the free-throw line while Mitchell had four assists. Odyssey Sims had 18 points and made four key free throws to close it out. Lexie Hull added seven points, seven rebounds and four steals.
“It’s just being confident,” Boston said. “The fans were great, everyone showed out, and we were confident shooting the ball.”
The Aces were led, as usual, by four-time league MVP A’ja Wilson, who had 31 points after a poor shooting performance in Game 3. Wilson had her 17th career playoff 30-point game to move within one of the league record that is shared by Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart. She became the seventh player in league history to hit the 1,000-point mark in her playoff career with 1,024 and added nine rebounds, four steals, three blocks and three assists.
Jackie Young had 18 points and nine assists, and Chelsea Gray was the only other Las Vegas player to reach double figures. She had 12 points.
This time, though, the Fever played it differently.
“I think we were the aggressor,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “And usually, when we’re the aggressive and move the ball, good things happen for us. We attacked. We played with a sense of urgency, we made the right reads and the right plays. The ball moved really well and we found the open player.”
It showed.
Indiana led nearly the entire first quarter and retook the lead for good when it closed the first half on an 11-2 spurt to take a 46-38 halftime lead. The Fever never trailed in the second half, but the Aces certainly made it difficult.
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Game Recap: Las Vegas Aces vs. Indiana Fever (Semi-Finals, Game 4)

Press Release

NEW YORK, Sept. 27, 2025 – Minnesota Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve has been suspended for one game for her conduct and comments during and following the Lynx’s 84-76 loss to the Mercury at PHX Arena in Phoenix on Friday, it was announced today by the WNBA.  Her conduct and comments included aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing a game official on the court, failure to leave the court in a timely manner upon her ejection with 21.8 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, inappropriate comments made to fans when exiting the court, and remarks made in a post-game press conference. Reeve will serve the suspension tomorrow when the Lynx play the Mercury in Game 4 of the teams’ semifinals series in Phoenix.
In addition, Reeve and assistant coaches Eric Thibault and Rebekkah Brunson have each been fined.  Thibault was fined for his inappropriate interaction with an official on the court. Brunson was fined for an inappropriate social media comment directed at WNBA officials.

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Minnesota Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve Suspended

PHOENIX (AP) — Satou Sabally scored 23 points — including 15 in a stellar fourth quarter — and the Phoenix Mercury beat the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx 84-76 in Game 3 on Friday night to take control of their WNBA playoff semifinals series.
The Mercury have a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series and can reach the Finals on Sunday with a win in Game 4 in Phoenix.
Sabally hit a 3-pointer to give the Mercury a 78-76 lead with 3:05 remaining and added two free throws with 2:01 left to push the advantage to 80-76. Alyssa Thomas had a steal and layup with 21.8 seconds left that sealed the win, capping a 21-9 advantage in the fourth quarter.
Sabally said it was the team’s defense that made the difference in the final minutes.
“We closed them out, we knew what they were running,” Sabally said. “So we were really well prepared and just trusted each other.”
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A furious Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve was ejected following the Mercury’s final layup, getting her second technical foul.
Napheesa Collier also got hurt on the play, rolling her ankle. She had to be helped to the locker room. Reeve blasted the officiating after the game, saying the game became too physical and Collier “probably has a fracture” though she didn’t give any more details.
Thomas and Kahleah Copper both scored 21 points, highlighting a balanced Mercury offense. It was a tight game throughout with 15 lead changes.
“This is a team that believes in each other — been overlooked a little all year,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbets said. “But one thing we are is tough and we fight, we compete and we did that in the fourth. We made it hard on every possession and that’s what good defensive teams do.”
Minnesota was led by Natisha Hiedeman’s 19 points off the bench. Collier added 17 points on 8 of 15 shooting while Courtney Williams added 14.
Minnesota trailed by four at halftime but rallied for a 67-63 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The 5-foot-8 Heideman gave the Lynx a big boost in the final five minutes of the third, scoring eight points.
The Mercury bounced back from an early deficit, shooting 54.3 % from the field in the first half to take a 48-44 halftime lead. Copper had 17 points before the break on 8 of 9 shooting while Thomas added 11 points and 5 rebounds. Minnesota was led by Collier’s 13 points.
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The Mercury were riding high coming into Game 3 after a 20-point comeback win in Tuesday’s Game 2 that evened the series. It was tied for the third-largest comeback in WNBA playoff history.
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Game Recap: Minnesota Lynx vs. Phoenix Mercury (Semi-Finals, Game 3)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jackie Young scored 25 points in her home state, NaLyssa Smith added 16 points against her former team and the Las Vegas Aces beat the short-handed Indiana Fever 84-72 on Friday night in Game 3 of a best-of-five WNBA semifinal series.
The Aces lead 2-1 and would reach their third WNBA Finals in four years with a win Sunday in Indianapolis.
“We just have to get the job done Sunday,” said Young, who played on Las Vegas’ championship teams in 2022 and 2023 and finished her prep career as the Indiana girls’ basketball career scoring leader with 3,268 points. “The job’s not finished yet. Second round, right?”
To achieve its biggest goal, Las Vegas will need A’ja Wilson to shoot better than she did Friday. Wilson opened the game with a 3-pointer, then missed her next 11 shots. <a class="Link AnClick-LinkEnhancement" href="https://x.com/i/status/1971752113048027167" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA">The four-time MVP</a> finished with 13 points on 6-of-20 shooting and had eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Chelsea Gray had 15 points and six assists.
Kelsey Mitchell led Indiana with 21 points and Lexie Hull finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Aliyah Boston had 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Fever, who held a 16-4 edge in offensive rebounds.
The Fever got through the first round of the playoffs and beat Las Vegas in Game 1 despite having lost Caitlin Clark, Sydney Colson, Aari McDonald and Sophie Cunningham to season-ending injuries during the regular season.
Indiana wore down late on Friday, going nearly nine minutes between baskets, a stretch that began late in the third quarter. The Aces took full advantage by scoring eight straight to extend a four-point lead to 71-59 midway through the fourth.
“I thought we got a lot of good shots. Didn’t make a lot of them, you know,” Fever coach Stephanie White said. “We missed some opportunities at the free-throw line and then got a little stagnant. They were still in a good spot, though, because we were still getting stops until about the middle of the fourth quarter.”
Las Vegas controlled most of the first half, scoring the first six points of the second quarter to take a 26-16 lead.
But another boisterous home crowd — and Wilson closing the half with 10 straight misses — buoyed the Fever. Three straight 3-pointers helped Indiana charge back within 35-34 at halftime.
The Fever took their first lead on Boston’s layup to open the second half and led most of the third until the Aces clamped down on defense and pulled away.
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“We know how important defense is for us, that’s something that we’ve been really dialed into, something we’ve been focused on,” said Smith, who was traded from Indiana to Dallas during the offseason before landing in Las Vegas. “Defense is like our core focus. When our defense is on, our offense is 10 times better.”

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