Western Conference (WNBA)

Western Conference

League	WNBA
Sport	Basketball
Inaugural season	1997
Teams
No. of teams	6
Championships
Most recent champion(s)	Seattle Storm (2020)
Most titles	Minnesota Lynx (4)

The Western Conference of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is made up of six teams.

From the league's second season in 1998 through 2015, the WNBA operated separate playoff brackets for its Eastern and Western Conferences. Each conference's playoff was divided into two playoff rounds, the Conference Semi-Finals and the Conference Finals, with the Conference Finals winners receiving Conference Championships and advancing to the WNBA Finals to determine the WNBA champion. In the final years of this playoff scheme, all in-conference playoff series were best-of-three.

Since 2016, the league has abandoned separate conference playoffs in favor of a single league-wide playoff bracket. The top eight teams in the regular season, without regard to conference affiliation, advance to the playoffs, which are seeded based strictly on regular-season record (with tiebreakers as needed). The bottom four playoff teams play single-elimination games (5 vs. 8, 6 vs. 7) in the first round, with the higher seeds (5 and 6) hosting the games. The first-round winners advance to the second round, where they play the 3 and 4 seeds in single-elimination games. The 3 seed hosts the lower seed among the first-round winners, with the 4 seed hosting the other first-round survivor. The winners of these games advance to the WNBA Semifinals, where they face the top two seeds in best-of-five series. In this round, the 1 seed plays the lower seed among the second-round winners, and the 2 seed plays the other second-round winner. Both series are best-of-five and played in a 2–2–1 formet, with the higher seeds (1 and 2) hosting the first two games plus a possible fifth game. The winners of these series advance to the best-of-five WNBA Finals.

Teams[]

Team	City/Area	Arena	Colors	Joined WNBA	Head coach
Dallas Wings	Arlington, Texas	College Park Center	Dark blue, lime green, white	1998*	Vacant
Las Vegas Aces	Paradise, Nevada	Michelob Ultra Arena	Red, black, gold, silver	1997*	Bill Laimbeer
Los Angeles Sparks	Los Angeles, California	Staples Center	Purple, gold, teal	1997	Derek Fisher
Minnesota Lynx	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Target Center	Blue, green, white, silver	1999	Cheryl Reeve
Phoenix Mercury	Phoenix, Arizona	Phoenix Suns Arena	Purple, yellow, orange, white	1997	Sandy Brondello
Seattle Storm	Seattle, Washington	Alaska Airlines Arena[a]	Green, red, white, gold	2000	Dan Hughes

Former teams[]

Defunct

• Houston Comets (1997–2008)
• Portland Fire (2000–2002)
• Sacramento Monarchs (1997–2009)

Relocated

• Utah Starzz to San Antonio Silver Stars (2003)
• Detroit Shock (East) to Tulsa Shock (2010)
• Tulsa Shock to Dallas Wings (2016)
• San Antonio Stars to Las Vegas Aces (2017)

Western Conference champions[]

The WNBA awarded conference championships between 1998 and 2015 to the winners of the Conference Finals in the playoffs. Conference championships were not awarded in the 1997 inaugural season, and they were again discontinued since the WNBA adopted its current single-table playoff format in 2016.

WNBA champions in bold

• 1998: Houston Comets
• 1999: Houston Comets (2)
• 2000: Houston Comets (3)
• 2001: Los Angeles Sparks
• 2002: Los Angeles Sparks (2)
• 2003: Los Angeles Sparks (3)
• 2004: Seattle Storm
• 2005: Sacramento Monarchs
• 2006: Sacramento Monarchs (2)
• 2007: Phoenix Mercury
• 2008: San Antonio Silver Stars
• 2009: Phoenix Mercury (2)
• 2010: Seattle Storm (2)
• 2011: Minnesota Lynx
• 2012: Minnesota Lynx (2)
• 2013: Minnesota Lynx (3)
• 2014: Phoenix Mercury (3)
• 2015: Minnesota Lynx (4)

All-time regular-season conference standings[]

2019 season[]

#	Western Conference v t	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
1	Los Angeles Sparks (3)	22	12	.647	–	15–2	7–10	10–6
2	Las Vegas Aces (4)	21	13	.618	1	13–4	8–9	11–5
3	Seattle Storm (6)	18	16	.529	4	11–6	7–10	10–6
4	Minnesota Lynx (7)	18	16	.529	4	11–6	7–10	7–9
5	Phoenix Mercury (8)	15	19	.441	7	9–8	6–11	5–11
6	e – Dallas Wings	10	24	.294	12	8–9	2–15	5–11

Notes

(#) – Conference Standing, Playoff Seeds shown to the right of team name

e – Eliminated from playoffs

2018 season[]

#	Western Conference v t	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
1	Seattle Storm (1)	26	8	.765	–	13–4	13–4	11–5
2	Phoenix Mercury (5)	20	14	.588	6	9–8	11–6	8–8
3	Los Angeles Sparks (6)	19	15	.559	7	11–6	8–9	9–7
4	Minnesota Lynx (7)	18	16	.529	8	9–8	9–8	9–7
5	Dallas Wings (8)	15	19	.441	11	10–7	5–12	7–9
6	e –Las Vegas Aces	14	20	.412	12	8–9	6–11	4–12

Notes

(#) – Conference Standing, Playoff Seeds shown to the right of team name

x – Qualified for playoffs

e – Eliminated from playoffs

2017 season[]

#	Western Conference v t	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
1	Minnesota Lynx - (1)	27	7	.794	–	15–2	12–5	13–3
2	Los Angeles Sparks - (2)	26	8	.765	1	16–1	10–7	12–4
3	Phoenix Mercury - (5)	18	16	.529	9	9–8	9–8	7–9
4	Dallas Wings - (7)	16	18	.471	11	10–7	6–11	7–9
5	Seattle Storm - (8)	15	19	.441	12	10–7	5–12	8–8
6	San Antonio Stars - e	8	26	.235	19	6–11	2–15	1–15

Notes

(#) – Conference Standing

Playoff Seeds shown next to team name

e – Eliminated from playoffs

2016 season[]

Western Conference v t	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
1 - Minnesota Lynx	28	6	.824	-	15–2	13–4	15–1
2 - Los Angeles Sparks	26	8	.765	2	14–3	12–5	11–5
7 - Seattle Storm	16	18	.471	12	10–7	6–11	7–9
8 - Phoenix Mercury	16	18	.471	12	11–6	5–12	6–10
e - Dallas Wings	11	23	.324	17	6–11	5–12	8–8
e - San Antonio Stars	7	27	.206	21	4–13	3–14	1–15

Notes

# – Playoff seed

e – Eliminated from playoffs

2015 season[]

Western Conference v t	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
z - Minnesota Lynx	22	12	.647	–	13–4	9–8	16–6
x - Phoenix Mercury	20	14	.588	2	13–4	7–10	15–7
x - Tulsa Shock	18	16	.529	4	12–5	6–11	11–11
x - Los Angeles Sparks	14	20	.412	8	9–8	5–12	10–12
e - Seattle Storm	10	24	.294	12	8–9	2–15	8–14
e - San Antonio Stars	8	26	.235	14	7–10	1–16	6–16

2014 season[]

#	Western Conference v t
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	GP
1	y-Phoenix Mercury	29	5	.853	-	34
2	x-Minnesota Lynx	25	9	.735	4.0	34
3	x-San Antonio Stars	16	18	.471	13.0	34
4	x-Los Angeles Sparks	16	18	.471	13.0	34
5	e-Tulsa Shock	12	22	.353	17.0	34
6	e-Seattle Storm	12	22	.353	17.0	34

2013 season[]

#	Western Conference v t
	Team	W	L	PCT	GB	GP
1	z-Minnesota Lynx	26	8	.765	-	34
2	x-Los Angeles Sparks	24	10	.706	2	34
3	x-Phoenix Mercury	19	15	.559	7	34
4	x-Seattle Storm	17	17	.500	9	34
5	e-San Antonio Silver Stars	12	22	.353	14	34
6	e-Tulsa Shock	11	23	.324	15	34

2012 season[]

Western Conference v t	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Minnesota Lynx z	27	7	.794	–	16–1	11–6	17–5
Los Angeles Sparks x	24	10	.706	3.0	16–1	8–9	15–7
San Antonio Silver Stars x	21	13	.618	6.0	12–5	9–8	14–8
Seattle Storm x	16	18	.471	11.0	10–7	6–11	11–11
Tulsa Shock o	9	25	.265	18.0	6–11	3–14	5–17
Phoenix Mercury o	7	27	.206	20.0	3–14	4–13	4–18

2011 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Minnesota Lynx x	27	7	.794	–	14–3	13–4	18–4
Seattle Storm x	21	13	.618	6.0	15–2	6–11	15–7
Phoenix Mercury x	19	15	.559	8.0	11–6	8–9	11–11
San Antonio Silver Stars x	18	16	.529	9.0	9–8	9–8	11–11
Los Angeles Sparks o	15	19	.441	12.0	10–7	5–12	10–12
Tulsa Shock o	3	31	.088	24.0	2–15	1–16	1–21

2010 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Seattle Storm x	28	6	.824	–	17–0	11–6	20–2
Phoenix Mercury x	15	19	.441	13.0	9–8	6–11	13–9
San Antonio Silver Stars x	14	20	.412	14.0	8–9	6–11	11–11
Los Angeles Sparks x	13	21	.382	15.0	8–9	5–12	10–12
Minnesota Lynx o	13	21	.382	15.0	7–10	6–11	8–14
Tulsa Shock o	6	28	.176	22.0	4–13	2–15	4–18

2009 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Phoenix Mercury x	23	11	.676	–	12–5	11–6	13–7
Seattle Storm x	20	14	.588	3.0	13–4	7–10	13–7
Los Angeles Sparks x	18	16	.529	5.0	11–6	7–10	11–9
San Antonio Silver Stars x	15	19	.441	8.0	10–7	5–12	10–10
Minnesota Lynx o	14	20	.412	9.0	9–8	5–12	7–13
Sacramento Monarchs o	12	22	.353	11.0	7–10	5–12	6–14

2008 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
San Antonio Silver Stars x	24	10	.706	–	15–2	9–8	10–10
Seattle Storm x	22	12	.647	2.0	16–1	6–11	13–7
Los Angeles Sparks x	20	14	.588	4.0	12–5	8–9	12–8
Sacramento Monarchs x	18	16	.529	13–4	5–12	6.0	9–11
Houston Comets o	17	17	.500	7.0	13–4	4–13	10–10
Minnesota Lynx o	16	18	.471	8.0	10–7	6–11	8–12
Phoenix Mercury o	16	18	.471	8.0	9–8	7–10	8–12

2007 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Phoenix Mercury x	23	11	.676	–	12–5	11–6	17–5
San Antonio Silver Stars x	20	14	.588	3.0	9–8	11–6	13–9
Sacramento Monarchs x	19	15	.559	4.0	12–5	7–10	12–10
Seattle Storm x	17	17	.500	6.0	12–5	5–12	11–11
Houston Comets o	13	21	.382	10.0	7–10	6–11	10–12
Minnesota Lynx o	10	24	.294	13.0	7–10	3–14	8–14
Los Angeles Sparks o	10	24	.294	13.0	5–12	5–12	6–16

2006 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Los Angeles Sparks x	25	9	.735	–	15–2	10–7	15–5
Sacramento Monarchs x	21	13	.618	4.0	14–3	7–10	10–10
Houston Comets x	18	16	.529	7.0	12–5	6–11	11–9
Seattle Storm x	18	16	.529	7.0	9–8	9–8	10–10
Phoenix Mercury o	18	16	.529	7.0	10–7	8–9	8–12
San Antonio Silver Stars o	13	21	.382	12.0	6–11	7–10	10–10
Minnesota Lynx o	10	24	.294	15.0	8–9	2–15	6–14

2005 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Sacramento Monarchs x	25	9	.735	–	15–2	10–7	17–5
Seattle Storm x	20	14	.588	5.0	14–3	6–11	13–9
Houston Comets x	19	15	.559	6.0	11–6	8–9	11–11
Los Angeles Sparks x	17	17	.500	8.0	11–6	6–11	12–10
Phoenix Mercury o	16	18	.471	9.0	11–6	5–12	12–10
Minnesota Lynx o	14	20	.412	11.0	11–6	3–14	9–13
San Antonio Silver Stars o	7	27	.206	18.0	5–12	2–15	3–19

2004 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Los Angeles Sparks x	25	9	.735	–	15–2	10–7	16–6
Seattle Storm x	20	14	.588	5.0	13–4	7–10	13–9
Minnesota Lynx x	18	16	.529	7.0	11–6	7–10	12–10
Sacramento Monarchs x	18	16	.529	7.0	10–7	8–9	12–10
Phoenix Mercury o	17	17	.500	8.0	10–7	7–10	11–11
Houston Comets o	13	21	.382	12.0	9–8	4–13	7–15
San Antonio Silver Stars o	9	25	.265	16.0	6–11	3–14	6–16

2003 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Los Angeles Sparks x	24	10	.706	–	11–6	13–4	17–7
Houston Comets x	20	14	.588	4.0	14–3	6–11	14–10
Sacramento Monarchs x	19	15	.559	5.0	12–5	7–10	13–11
Minnesota Lynx x	18	16	.529	6.0	11–6	7–10	14–10
Seattle Storm o	18	16	.529	6.0	13–4	5–12	11–13
San Antonio Silver Stars o	12	22	.353	12.0	9–8	3–14	10–14
Phoenix Mercury o	8	26	.235	16.0	6–11	2–15	5–19

2002 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Los Angeles Sparks x	25	7	.781	17–4	–
Houston Comets x	24	8	.750	16–5	1.0
Utah Starzz x	20	12	.625	12–9	5.0
Seattle Storm x	17	15	.531	10–11	8.0
Portland Fire o	16	16	.500	8–13	9.0
Sacramento Monarchs o	14	18	.438	8–13	11.0
Phoenix Mercury o	11	21	.344	7–14	14.0
Minnesota Lynx o	10	22	.313	6–15	15.0

2001 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Los Angeles Sparks x	28	4	.875	19–2	–
Sacramento Monarchs x	20	12	.625	13–8	8.0
Utah Starzz x	19	13	.594	11–10	9.0
Houston Comets x	19	13	.594	13–8	9.0
Phoenix Mercury o	13	19	.406	8–13	15.0
Minnesota Lynx o	12	20	.375	9–12	16.0
Portland Fire o	11	21	.344	5–16	17.0
Seattle Storm o	10	22	.313	6–15	18.0

2000 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Los Angeles Sparks x	28	4	.875	17–4	–
Houston Comets x	27	5	.844	17–4	1.0
Sacramento Monarchs x	21	11	.656	13–8	7.0
Phoenix Mercury x	20	12	.625	11–10	8.0
Utah Starzz o	18	14	.563	13–8	10.0
Minnesota Lynx o	15	17	.469	5–16	13.0
Portland Fire o	10	22	.313	4–17	18.0
Seattle Storm o	6	26	.188	4–17	22.0

1999 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Houston Comets x	26	6	.813	16–4	–
Los Angeles Sparks x	20	12	.625	12–8	6.0
Sacramento Monarchs x	19	13	.594	9–11	7.0
Phoenix Mercury o	15	17	.469	7–13	11.0
Minnesota Lynx o	15	17	.469	8–12	11.0
Utah Starzz o	15	17	.469	8–12	11.0

1998 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Houston Comets x	27	3	.900	15–1	–
Phoenix Mercury x	19	11	.633	10–6	8.0
Los Angeles Sparks o	12	18	.400	6–10	15.0
Sacramento Monarchs o	8	22	.267	5–11	19.0
Utah Starzz o	8	22	.267	4–12	19.0

1997 season[]

Western Conference	W	L	PCT	Conf.	GB
Phoenix Mercury x	16	12	.571	9–3	–
Los Angeles Sparks o	14	14	.500	8–4	2.0
Sacramento Monarchs o	10	18	.357	4–8	6.0
Utah Starzz o	7	21	.250	3–9	9.0