2022 WNBA season
The 2022 WNBA season is the upcoming 26th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The Chicago Sky are the defending champions. Planned changes to the league's schedule included an increase to 36 regular season games for each team, which is the most games ever scheduled in a single WNBA season. A 36-game season was originally scheduled for the 2020 WNBA season, but the plan was scrapped in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; the 2020 season instead held a 22-game season in a quarantined "wubble" based in Bradenton, Florida. The WNBA's  second Commissioner's Cup will transpire during the regular season. This WNBA season also marks the return of an all-series playoffs, which was last used in 2015. The two rounds of single-elimination games, with byes into the second round for the third and fourth seeds and into the semifinals for the top two seeds, were eliminated in favor of a first round consisting of best-of-three series and involving all eight playoff teams. The first-round format also differs from that used in 2015. In the pre-2016 format, best-of-three series were played in a 1–1–1  format, with the higher seed hosting the first game as well as a potential third game. In the new format, first-round series use a 2–1 format, with the higher seed hosting the first two games. Also, the playoffs are not reseeded after the first round. The semifinals and finals remain best-of-five. 2022 WNBA draft. The Washington Mystics won the first pick in the 2022 WNBA draft in the draft lottery. They were followed by the Indiana Fever for second, Atlanta Dream for third, and Los Angeles Sparks for fourth. The Sparks had traded their pick to the  Dallas Wings before the lottery, who subsequently sent the pick to the Fever in a trade that helped Dallas secure Teaira McCowan. As part of a three-team trade, Washington and Atlanta swapped lottery picks, resulting in each team receiving 2022's third and first picks respectively. The Fever ended up with four top-10 picks, and seven overall. Media coverage. In March 2022, plans were announced to feature broadcasts of nine regular season games on ABC, five on ESPN, and 10 on ESPN2, totaling 25 games; as well as the entire postseason, which could consist of as many as 27  games. Transactions. The free agency negotiation period started on January 15, while player could sign to a team as soon as February 1. Regular season. Schedule. ! | 2022 WNBA regular season ! | 2022 WNBA Playoffs Note: Games highlighted in ██ represent Commissioner’s Cup games. All times Eastern Statistical leaders. The following shows the leaders in each statistical category during the 2022 regular season. Coaches. Western Conference. "Notes:"