🎱 Layup Lines: Playoff field is set

Plus, more big Unrivaled news.

Author

Everett Cook
September 10, 2025

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to Layup Lines, your quick recap of what’s going on in the WNBA. We’ve got our eight playoff teams!

This 491 word newsletter should take about 2 minutes to read.

⛈ Tuesday night heaters

Courtesy @wnba

  • The biggest game of the night was Seattle edging out Golden State with this beautiful Erica Wheeler midrange jumper to finally clinch the league’s last playoff spot.

    • The Storm did everything they could to hit an early vacation, including being 1-7 at home since the start of August before last night, but have now earned the right to get smoked in the first round.

  • It was fitting for the Sparks to get one of their biggest road wins of the season after already being eliminated.

  • Yes, it was against the Sky, but the Aces winning their 15th straight game is pretty wild. They lock up the No. 2 seed with a win at the Sparks tomorrow, which seemed inconceivable in July.

  • Also of note: The Fever are going to finish with their best regular season win percentage since 2015 despite injuries to Caitlin Clark and almost every other guard.

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👀 Potential playoff scenarios

  • Phoenix losing last night guarantees a very fun Mercury / Liberty first round matchup. Every other series is still up in the air!

☹️ Today’s games

  • There’s one rough game on today — Atlanta @ Connecticut (7:00pm ET, League Pass).

    • These two also played an island game on Monday night, with Atlanta winning by 25 at home. During the last four days of the regular season, we’re going to get this isolated matchup twice and then nine games on the other two days. Make it make sense.

  • And no, all five legs of our +1300 parlay did not hit last night, so we are now 86-103 on the season and out of money. I’ll make some playoff picks coming up here, but this game isn’t worth spending time on.

🌴 Take of the day

  • I’ll be very curious what L.A. does this off-season. Vets like Kelsey Plum, Dearica Hamby and Azurá Stevens are free agents, while Rickea Jackson and Cameron Brink both didn’t make a big jump this year.

    • The Sparks are probably going to talk themselves into just running the whole thing back, but the vibes were off this year and a culture change is needed. L.A. has not made the playoffs since 2020, which should be impossible in a league where 2/3 of teams make the playoffs.

3️⃣ Unrivaled update to go

Courtesy @Unrivaledwbb

Layup Lines is written 100% by a human being. I very much appreciate you reading and will see you back here tomorrow.

— Everett Cook, Founder & Editor