2023 WNBA season
The 2023 WNBA season was the 27th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The defending champions, the Las Vegas Aces, repeated as champions after defeating the New York Liberty 3 games to 1 in the Finals.
| 2023 WNBA season | |
|---|---|
| League | Women's National Basketball Association |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Duration | May 19 – September 10 |
| Number of games | 40 |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Total attendance | 1,585,824 |
| Average attendance | 6,608 |
| TV partner(s) | ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+, CBS, CBSSN, NBA TV, ION Television, Prime Video |
| Draft | |
| Top draft pick | Aliyah Boston |
| Picked by | Indiana Fever |
| Regular season | |
| Season MVP | Breanna Stewart (New York) |
| Playoffs | |
| Finals champions | Las Vegas Aces |
| Runners-up | New York Liberty |
| Finals MVP | A'ja Wilson (Las Vegas) |
The regular season was expanded to 40 games per team, becoming the most games scheduled in a single WNBA season. The 2022 season saw the schedule increase to 36 games and was the previous high for the regular season. This season was also the second straight year that the playoffs used an all-series format after returning to the format in 2022. The first round used a 2–1 format, with the higher seed hosting the first two games (differing from the 1–1–1 format previously used in 2015). The semifinals and the WNBA Finals remained a best-of-five series.
Arguably the most significant change to the league this season was the enforcement of the so-called "prioritization clause" in the collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players' union. For this season, players with more than two seasons of prior WNBA service who did not report to their teams by the designated start of training camp or May 1, whichever is later, faced mandatory fines. Those who missed the start of the regular season were suspended for the season. From 2024 on, those who miss the start of training camp will be suspended for the season.