Clark vs. Reese, Valkyries Debut Highlight WNBA Schedule Release

The WNBA is following up a banner year with a record-long regular season and the addition of a 13th franchise.

On Monday, the league announced the 2025 WNBA season schedule, which will feature 44 games per team—up from 40 last season—the most in history. The season kicks off May 16 and ends Sept. 11.

The Golden State Valkyries highlight the opening-day tripleheader as they host the Los Angeles Sparks at the Chase Center. The Dallas Wings, who hold the first pick in the 2025 WNBA draft expected to be UConn star Paige Bueckers, will welcome the Minnesota Lynx.

The Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark, who drove the WNBA to record national TV viewership last season, will open their year—led by new head coach Stephanie White—on May 17 in a rivalry game against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky. 

The New York Liberty, who beat the Lynx in the Finals in October, will raise their first championship banner at Barclays Center on May 17 against the Las Vegas Aces, a rematch of the 2023 Finals.

The national TV schedule has yet to be announced, but it’s likely Clark and the Fever—who had 36 of 40 games on national TV last year—will be heavily featured. Last year, 22 WNBA regular-season games averaged at least one million viewers, and 19 of those games featured the Fever. The two most-watched games were between the Fever and the Sky, with both drawing at least 2.25 million viewers.

Expansion Draft Details

The Valkyries announced their head coach, Natalie Nakase, in October—and less than two months later, she and GM Ohemaa Nyanin will finally be able to build a roster.

The expansion draft for the Valkyries is Friday. The 12 other teams were given a deadline of Nov. 25 to submit six players who will be protected in the expansion draft—though a source told Front Office Sports that the list of protected players is not expected to be made publicly available until the draft itself, barring any changes.

Golden State will have the contract or negotiating rights to one player per team—though it is allowed to pass on a team if it wishes to leave extra roster spots open for free agency, which begins Feb. 1. The Valkyries will also have the No. 5 pick in April’s draft.