Liberty Lock Up 2025 Playoff Seed

Placing fifth is no doubt a disappointing fate for the Liberty (25-17), which won its first nine games of the 2025 season before injuries and inconsistency relegated them to circa .500 ball the rest of the way. New York was a top-two seed in each of the last two tournaments, both of which ended with seafoam repped in the WNBA Finals.

Nonetheless, the Liberty remains confident that it will be able to compete with a full contingent headlined by the "big three" of Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones, and Breanna Stewart. New York is 11-0 when its downright historic trio starts and finishes a game this year, though injuries have prevented them sharing too much time together. Ionescu, for example, has missed all but one of the last six games with foot issues after Kamilla Cardoso landed on her during a late-tangle up in Aug. 21's loss to Chicago.

Working the injury holdovers Ionescu and Nyara Sabally into the lineup gives the Liberty at least a little something to play for in its last two regular season games, the first landing on Tuesday at home against the Washington Mystics (7 p.m. ET, Fox 5).

The Liberty is one of two teams be etched onto the bracket, as the Lynx own the top spot. New York and Minnesota, of course, did battle in last year's WNBA Finals that yielded a five-game Liberty victory but a rematch will come only in the second round this time. Ironically, the Liberty took revenge in last year's second-round with a win over the Las Vegas Aces, the team that previously took them down in the 2023 Finals.

All but two spots on the 2025 WNBA playoff bracket are accounted for, with Indiana, Seattle, and Los Angeles duking it out for the final invites. The postseason gets underway with first-round action on Sept. 14.