2022 WNBA season
Sports season / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2022 WNBA season was the 26th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Chicago Sky were the defending champions.
| 2022 WNBA season | |
|---|---|
| League | Women's National Basketball Association |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Duration | May 6 – September 18 |
| Number of games | 36 |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Total attendance | 1,215,359 |
| Average attendance | 5,679 |
| TV partner(s) | ABC, ESPN, ESPN2,[1] CBS, CBSSN, NBA TV[2] |
| Top draft pick | Rhyne Howard |
| Picked by | Atlanta Dream |
| Season MVP |  A'ja Wilson (Las Vegas) |
| Finals champions | Las Vegas Aces |
| Runners-up | Connecticut Sun |
| Finals MVP | Chelsea Gray (Las Vegas) |
| WNBA seasons | |
The WNBA's second Commissioner's Cup took place during the regular season, with the Las Vegas Aces winning over the Sky.[3] In the playoffs, the Aces were the first seed and won the Finals over the Connecticut Sun.
The regular season was expanded to 36 games per team, is the most games scheduled in a single WNBA season.[4] A 36-game season was originally scheduled for 2020, but the plan was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] This season also marked the return of an all-series playoffs, which was last used in 2015, instead of the prior schedule of two rounds of single-elimination games and byes for the higher-seeded teams. The first-round series used a 2–1 format, with the higher seed hosting the first two games (differing from the 1–1–1 format used up to 2015). The semifinals and finals remained best-of-five series.[6] The playoffs began on August 17 and concluded on September 18.[7]
In May 2022, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that during this upcoming season, the league would honor the Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner with a "BG42" floor decal in a notable spot on the court of all 12 teams. The Mercury center has been detained in Russia since February 2022 after customs officials said they found hashish oil in her luggage at an airport.[8] The "BG42" floor decal was also prominently found on the Mercury's parent team, the Phoenix Suns, during the rest of the year after she was detained in Russia.