WNBA playoffs 2024: First-round predictions, X factors, keys - ESPN

Can the Las Vegas Aces and superstar A'ja Wilson three-peat as WNBA champions? Can the New York Liberty or the Connecticut Sun get their franchise's first title? Might the Minnesota Lynx claim their fifth crown? Or could the league champion come from beyond the top four seeds? That includes the Indiana Fever appearing in the playoffs for the first time since 2016, led by rookie point guard Caitlin Clark.

The WNBA playoffs open Sunday. The final playoff team, the No. 8 seed Atlanta Dream, earned their spot Thursday, the last day of the regular season. The Dream got a 78-67 victory at New York, a game that admittedly meant nothing to the Liberty, who were already assured of their seed and the league's best record.

But now those teams will turn around and start the playoffs at 1 p.m. ET Sunday (ESPN) in New York, followed by No. 6 Indiana at No. 3 Connecticut (ABC, 3 p.m. ET).

Then Diana Taurasi, in her 20th and possibly last WNBA season, will lead the No. 7 seed Phoenix Mercury against No. 2 Minnesota (5 p.m. ET, ESPN). That's followed by the No. 4 Aces hosting the No. 5 Seattle Storm (10 p.m. ET, ESPN). The first round is best-of-three series, with the higher seed hosting the first two games.

No WNBA team has won three championships in a row since the Houston Comets won four straight in the league's first four seasons. The Comets disbanded after the 2008 season.

The Aces, however, could face a potential meeting with the Liberty in the semifinals; those teams met in the WNBA Finals last year. New York has played for the WNBA championship five times but hasn't won a title yet.

The first-round winners will play best-of-five semifinal series, followed by the best-of-five WNBA Finals. We break down what we'll see as the