Las Vegas Aces battle for No. 2 playoff seed

You can’t cheat the grind.

Las Vegas Aces battle for the No. 2 seed

Tonight’s the night — the WNBA’s final regular-season slate tips off in just a few hours, with crucial playoff seeding on the line for top postseason contenders.

• While No. 1 Minnesota has the first overall seed on lock, No. 3 Las Vegas can beat No. 2 Atlanta to the second seed with a win over eliminated No. 9 LA.

• No. 4 Phoenix and No. 5 New York have also settled their seeding, but No. 7 Golden State’s Thursday matchup against the Lynx could see them either steal sixth from No. 6 Indiana with a win or fall to eighth behind No. 8 Seattle.

Rich get richer: The Aces’ potential rise to No. 2 comes on the wings of a 15-game winning streak dating back to August 2nd’s blowout loss to Minnesota — and the hottest team in the league just got a boost off the bench.

• Veteran forward and recent Aces signing Cheyenne Parker-Tyus returned from maternity leave on Tuesday against the No. 12 Sky, putting up eight points in eight minutes just two months after giving birth.

• “It is not easy to get out there,” head coach Becky Hammon said of Parker-Tyus’s feat. “She was pumping [breast milk] at halftime. It’s remarkable for her to be out there right now, almost miraculous.”

• “Just putting my jersey on, being with my teammates, being able to be in those huddles, it meant the world,” Parker-Tyus said after the 80-66 win. (Watch full highlights)

Tune in: Three different final clashes tip off at 8 PM ET tonight — New York vs. Chicago (League Pass), Phoenix vs. Dallas (League Pass), Golden State vs. Minnesota (NBA TV) — before Las Vegas faces LA at 10 PM ET (NBA TV).

Recent transfers spotlight NWSL salary cap concerns

The NWSL’s salary cap has become a hot topic in recent weeks, after big-name — and big money — transfers like Angel City forward Alyssa Thompson’s move to Chelsea and North Carolina striker Jaedyn Shaw’s trade to Gotham raised concerns about the league’s financial edge.

• While Shaw’s league-record $1.25 million transfer shows that US teams are willing to pay a premium for top talent, the disparity between flashy transfer fees and salary limitations could be holding the NWSL back.

• “I know that in the NWSL there are ambitious clubs that want to be able to compete with the likes of a Chelsea, with the likes of a Barcelona,” retired USWNT star Tobin Heath said on last week’s RE—CAP Show. “These teams are capped out, they can’t compete. They’re going to lose their best players.”

Breaking it down: The league’s most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement sets each team’s 2025 salary cap at $3.3 million, with plans for it to rise to $5.1 million plus potential revenue sharing options by 2030.

• The NWSL’s average salary came in at $117,000 in 2024, but with 22-to-26 player rosters, teams have to low-ball some players to pay out superstars.

• In comparison, the UK’s WSL and second-tier WSL2 operate with soft caps, recently shifting to a framework that allows teams to spend up to 80% of their revenue plus a capped contribution from owners on player salaries.

• “We have no intent to kind of ‘cap’ any players’ earnings,” WSL Football COO Holly Murdoch told The Guardian earlier this month. “We’re at the investment stage of women’s football, so we don’t want to deter investment. We don’t want to put in rules that don’t make us an attractive investment.”

Bottom line: With NWSL top earners Sophia Wilson and Trinity Rodman becoming free agents in 2026, the US league might have to rethink its model to stay competitive in an increasingly aggressive global market.

Unrivaled 3×3 announces 2026 expansion

Unrivaled Basketball is on the up and up, with the 3×3 league announcing plans to expand from six to eight teams in 2026 after another successful round of funding.

• Breeze Basketball Club and Hive Basketball Club will join the offseason upstart in Miami, introducing 12 new players while six more enter Unrivaled’s development pool to bring the total number of participants to 54.

• Unrivaled is also adding a fourth night of games each week to accommodate the incoming clubs, eliminating back-to-back matchups with each team playing two games per week.

Big picture: After nearly breaking even in their debut season, co-founders Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier are growing Unrivaled ahead of schedule, with expansion originally targeted for 2027.

• “We outperformed every goal we set for the league in year one, and with the incredible talent we have returning paired with the influx of new stars, it was a no brainer to add two more clubs this season,” Unrivaled president of basketball Luke Cooper said in a Wednesday’s statement.

Stay tuned: The league currently has more than 90% of its roster confirmed — including Dallas Wings superstar Paige Bueckers — with plans to release the full 2026 lineup by the end of September.

Politicians back WNBA players in CBA fight

Washington is speaking up for the WNBPA, as 85 members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus and House Democratic Caucus sent an open letter to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert this week, demanding the league “bargain in good faith to reach a fair Collective Bargaining Agreement in a timely manner before the October 31 deadline.”

• “We are concerned about the WNBA’s delayed response, the differing accounts on the status of negotiations, and that the needs of players are not being fully addressed,” the letter stated, voicing support for the Players Association as tense CBA negotiations heat up. (Read full letter)

Big picture: The league and WNBPA have struggled to find common ground, with both parties forced to consider filing an extension in the coming weeks.

• “WNBA players receive no shared revenue under the current CBA,” the Caucus members explained. “This is drastic in comparison with other major professional sports leagues: National Basketball Association players receive 49 to 51%, National Football League players receive at least 48.8%, and National Hockey League players receive 50% of their respective shared revenues.”

• Players are also speaking out, with Seattle Storm star Gabby Williams telling CBS Sports, “The WNBA isn’t enticing enough as far as money goes in order to keep us out of the other leagues.”

Sun star Tina Charles wins community leadership award

Sun star Tina Charles’s season ended on a high note, winning his year’s Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award in recognition of the WNBA player “who best exemplifies the characteristics of a leader in the community where they work or live.”

• The veteran center’s Hopey’s Heart Foundation — founded in 2013 after her late aunt Maureen “Hopey” Vaz — advocates for Automated External Defibrillator access, successfully distributing their 500th AED this year.

• “Through my mother at a young age, I learned the importance of being a servant unto others, and receiving the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award is truly special for me — especially for Hopey’s Heart Foundation to receive this honor through its work in raising awareness for sudden cardiac arrest,” Charles said in her acceptance speech.

Paying it forward: As a part of her award, the WNBA is donating $10,000 to Charles’s foundation alongside $20,000 from Connecticut’s Yale New Haven Health.

Quote of the day

Las Vegas Aces forward NaLyssa Smith
on potentially facing her partner and former teammate DiJonai Carrington in the WNBA playoffs.