The Women's National Basketball Association is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The 12 teams are split evenly across an East and West conference. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the NBA, and league play started in 1997.

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2023 NWSL Calendar:

• April 10: 2023 WNBA Draft

• May 2023: training camp begins

• May 2023-September 2023: regular season

  •  Teams will play 40 games with a home and away game against each team

  • WNBA Commissioner's Cup runs throughout the regular season

    • 10 games for each team 

• July 15: WNBA All-Star Game

  • Held in Las Vegas

  • All-Star Game, 3-point contest, Skills Contest

• August: WNBA Commissioner's Cup final

• Late September: WNBA Playoffs (early rounds)

• October 2023: WNBA Finals

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WNBA Finals:

• The top 8 teams make the playoffs

• Quarterfinal series use 2-1 home court pattern with the higher seed hosting first

• Semifinals use 2-2-1 home court pattern with the higher seed hosting first

• Quarterfinals bracketed with 1v8 and 4v5 on one side and 2v7 and 3v6 on the other

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WNBA Commissioner's Cup:

• Planned to begin in the 2020 season but COVID caused the tournament to be scrapped

• Inaugarul tournament with original format played in 2021 *2023 will be the third annual Commissioner's Cup

• Format includes 10 games from the regular season counting as Commissioner's Cup games with standings for the East and West conferences

• The top team from both conferences advances to the single-game final

• The total compensation tops out at $500,000, with the winning team making around $30,000 per player and the game's MVP taking home an additional $5,000. On the losing team's side, players will earn $10,000 each

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Each team is allowed a maximum of 12 players.

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