WNBA 2018

Women's National Basketball Association
◄ previous	2018 season		next ►
Duration		May 18 - August 19, 2018
Season games per team		34
Number of teams		12
Regular season
Playoffs
Eastern - Champion		Atlanta Dream (Regular Season)
Western - Champion		Seattle Storm (Regular Season)
Finals
WNBA champion		Seattle Storm
Runner-up		Washington Mystics

The 2018 season was the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) 's 22nd season . The regular season began on May 18, 2018. After the regular season, which ran until August 19, 2018, the playoffs for the WNBA championship were carried out.

Draft

On November 13, 2017, a lottery was held to determine the order in which the first four picks were selected. In the lottery, the Las Vegas Aces secured the first draft pick ahead of the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky . The Chicago Sky participated in the draft draw twice. With their own lottery ticket they received the fourth draft pick. The third draft pick they received after a trade with the Atlanta Dream . The probability of winning was determined on the basis of the balance sheets for the last two seasons.

The 2018 WNBA Draft took place on April 12, 2018 at the Nike Headquarters in New York , New York . The first player to be drafted was A'ja Wilson . She was followed by Kelsey Mitchell and Diamond DeShields . In total, the 12 franchises secured the rights to 36 players in three rounds. The United States made up the majority with 29 players .

Top 5 picks

Abbreviations: Pos = Position, G = Guard, F = Forward, C = Center

#	Player	nationality	Item	WNBA team	College / professional team
1.	A'ja Wilson	United States	F.	Las Vegas Aces	University of South Carolina
2.	Kelsey Mitchell	United States	G	Indiana Fever	Ohio State University
3.	Diamond DeShields	United States	G	Chicago Sky (from Atlanta Dream )	University of Tennessee
4th	Gabby Williams	United States	F.	Chicago Sky	University of Connecticut
5.	Jordin Canada	United States	G	Seattle Storm	UCLA

Regular season

mode

The 12 WNBA teams are divided into two conferences, with the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference each comprising six teams. Overall, each team should play 34 season games during the regular season, each team half of the games at home or away. Due to the introduction of the conference-wide playoff system in 2016, the distribution of opponents in the regular season was also adjusted. Within their own conference, the teams play against one team a total of four times and against the remaining four teams three times against each other. In addition, each team plays three more games against each team from the other conference.

Eastern Conference

rank	total	team	S.	N	PCT
1	2	Atlanta Dream	23	11	0.676
2	3	Washington Mystics	22nd	12	0.647
3	4th	Connecticut Sun	21st	13	0.618
4th	10	Chicago Sky	13	21st	0.382
5	11	New York Liberty	7th	27	0.206
6th	12	Indiana Fever	6th	28	0.176

Western Conference

rank	total	team	S.	N	PCT
1	1	Seattle Storm	26th	8th	0.765
2	5	Phoenix Mercury	20th	14th	0.588
3	6th	Los Angeles Sparks	19th	15th	0.559
4th	7th	Minnesota Lynx	18th	16	0.529
5	8th	Dallas Wings	15th	19th	0.441
6th	9	Las Vegas Aces	14th	20th	0.412

All-Star Game 2018

The 15th All-Star Game of the WNBA is scheduled to take place on July 28, 2018 at the Target Center in Minneapolis , Minnesota .

Playoffs

mode

The eight teams in the league with the most successes in the regular season start in the playoffs. These are set from one to eight according to the balance sheet. In the first round the number 5 receives the number 8 and the number 6 receives the number 7 each in a decisive game. The top four have a bye this round. In the second round, number 3 receives the lower seeded winner from the first round and number 4 receives the higher seeded winner from the first round. This round will also be decided in a one game and the two top teams also have a bye. In the third round (semifinals) number 1 meets the lower seeded winner from the second round and number 2 the higher seeded winner from the second round. The winner of this playoff series will reach the WNBA finals. The semi-finals and the final are played in the best-of-five mode, which means that a team needs three wins to be successful. The team with the better record always has the home advantage in all duels. For games that are tied after the regular playing time of 40 minutes, overtime follows. The quarters continue to last ten minutes and play continues until one team has scored more points than the opposing team at the end of an overtime.

Playoff tree

1 round					2nd round					Semifinals					WNBA finals
										1	Seattle Storm	3
5	Phoenix Mercury	1								5	Phoenix Mercury	2
8th	Dallas Wings	0			4th	Connecticut Sun	0
					5	Phoenix Mercury	1
															1	Seattle Storm	3
															3	Washington Mystics	0
					3	Washington Mystics	1
6th	Los Angeles Sparks	1			6th	Los Angeles Sparks	0
7th	Minnesota Lynx	0								2	Atlanta Dream	2
										3	Washington Mystics	3

WNBA championship team

(Participation in at least one playoff game)

WNBA champions Seattle Storm

Guards: Sue Bird , Jordin Canada , Jewell Loyd , Noelle Quinn , Mercedes Russell Guard forwards: Sami Whitcomb Forwards: Alysha Clark , Natasha Howard , Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis , Breanna Stewart (Finals MVP) Forward Centers: Crystal Langhorne Center: Courtney Paris Head Coach: Dan Hughes   General Manager: Alisha Valavanis

Awards

Award	Player	team	comment
WNBA Finals MVP Award	Breanna Stewart	Seattle Storm	-
WNBA Most Valuable Player Award	Breanna Stewart	Seattle Storm	33 out of 39 votes
WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award	Alana Beard	Los Angeles Sparks	16 out of 39 votes
WNBA Most Improved Player Award	Natasha Howard	Seattle Storm	29 out of 39 votes
WNBA Peak Performer (points)	Liz Cambage	Dallas Wings	23.0 points per game
WNBA Peak Performer (Rebounds)	Sylvia Fowles	Minnesota Lynx	11.9 rebounds per game
WNBA Peak Performer (Assists)	Courtney Vandersloot	Chicago Sky	8.6 assists per game
WNBA Rookie of the Year Award	A'ja Wilson	Las Vegas Aces	39 votes out of 39
WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year Award	Jonquel Jones	Connecticut Sun	20 out of 38 votes
Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award	Sue Bird	Seattle Storm	16 out of 38 votes
WNBA Coach of the Year Award	Nicki Collen	Atlanta Dream	37 out of 39 votes
WNBA Basketball Executive Of The Year Award	Chris Sienko	Atlanta Dream	42 points

All-WNBA teams

All-WNBA First Team
Guards:	Diana Taurasi - Tiffany Hayes
Forwards:	Breanna Stewart - Elena Delle Donne
Center:	Liz Cambage

All-WNBA Second Team
Guards:	Skylar Diggins-Smith - Courtney Vandersloot
Forwards:	Candace Parker - Maya Moore
Center:	Brittney Griner

All-rookie team

All-rookie team

( LVA ) A'ja Wilson - Ariel Atkins - Diamond DeShields Azurá Stevens - Kelsey Mitchell

All-Defensive Team

All-Defensive First Team
Guards:	Alana Beard - Jasmine Thomas
Forwards:	Natasha Howard - Jessica Breland
Center:	Brittney Griner

All-Defensive Second Team
Guards:	Tiffany Hayes - Ariel Atkins
Forwards:	Rebekkah Brunson - Nneka Ogwumike
Center:	Sylvia Fowles

Web links

• Official homepage of the WNBA (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Key Dates: 2018 WNBA Season. WNBA, March 12, 2018, accessed April 20, 2018 . 
2. ^ WNBA Draft Board. WNBA, April 12, 2018, accessed September 3, 2019 .