August 14, 2022

Daily Briefing — Aug. 14, 2022: SEASON FINALE — Six-game showdown with WNBA playoffs implications wraps regular season

Who will make it through? Who will be the No. 1 seed? Only time will tell

Sun center Jonquel Jones (35) goes for a layup over Sky big Azura Stevens (30). Sky forward Ruthy Hebard (24) boxes out nearby.

Connecticut Sun center Jonquel Jones (35) shoots during the WNBA game between the Chicago Sky and the Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA on July 31, 2022. (Photo Credit: Chris Poss)

Happy Sunday! Welcome to The Next’s Daily Briefing, featuring the daily Watch List. Day 85 of the WNBA season and the final day of the regular season is finally here! The day we have all been anticipating, dreading, waiting for, you name it. By the day’s end, there’ll be no more theorizing about who’ll be in the WNBA playoffs and who won’t be.

Continue reading with a subscription to The Next

Get unlimited access to women’s basketball coverage and help support our hardworking staff of writers, editors, and photographers by subscribing today.

To help you keep track of it all, I’ve made an explainer graphic you can keep with you throughout the day that has every scenario each team could use to get either the No. 1 seed (in the case of the Sky and Aces) or into the playoffs (in the case of the Lynx, Dream, Liberty and Mercury). You can find it below:

Oh, and if you’re wondering which of those teams are relying on each other to help them through today, here’s a chart that shows just that:

Arrows point toward the team that, if they win, would also help the team the arrow is pointing from. So, as an example, the Mercury, Liberty, and Sky all benefit if the Sun beat the Lynx.

Happy watching!

But first, read…

As promised, our Lucas Seehafer takes you behind the scenes of the Lynx’s celebration of Sylvia Fowles’s career after her final regular season home game
Our Jackie Powell brings you inside the mind of Liberty star guard Sabrina Ionescu, her on-court mentality and how she’s helped lift up New York when they needed it most
Our Arie Graham explores how missing Arike Ogunbowale affects the Wings and the pieces that will step up in her absence
Our Matthew Walter details how Chelsea Gray’s acceleration post-All-Star is contributing to the Aces’ success and what it means for their championship hopes
For ESPN.com, Alexa Philippou tells the story of Napheesa Collier’s return to the court just 10.5 weeks after giving birth and the five-week sprint that got her there

The Next, a 24/7/365 women’s basketball newsroom

The Next: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.

Subscribe to The Next!

Watch List, Sunday, Aug. 14

Minnesota @ Connecticut, 1 p.m., ABC, SN

Atlanta @ New York, 2 p.m., ESPN3 (Local: YES App, Bally Sports South)

Indiana @ Washington, 3 p.m., ESPN3 (Local: Monumental, Indiana Fever Livestream)

Seattle @ Las Vegas, 3 p.m., ABC, NBA TV Canada

Chicago @ Phoenix, 5 p.m., Amazon Prime Video (Local: Bally Sports Arizona, Marquee)

Dallas @ Los Angeles, 7 p.m., League Pass (Local: Spectrum Sportsnet, Bally Sports Southwest, NBA TV Canada)

Written by Isabel Rodrigues

Isabel Rodrigues (she/her) is a contributing editor for The Next from upstate New York. She occasionally covers 3x3 and labor in women's basketball.