Following the WNBA regular season, eight teams in the entire league qualify for the playoffs and are seeded one to eight. Regular season records determine the seedings of the teams. The team with the bestrecord receives seed one, the team with the next best record receives seed two, and so on. The top two seeds get double byes, while the next two seeds get first-round byes. These seedings are used to create a bracket that determines the match-ups throughout the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs consists of two match-ups based on the seedings. The two winners advance to the second round with a match-up between the number 3 seed and the lower of the advancing seeds and another match-up between the number 4 seed and the other first round winner. The winners of the first two rounds advance to the semifinals, where the lower ranked seed of the winners faces the number 1 seed, while the other remaining team faces the number 2 seed. The first two rounds are single eliminationgames played on the higher ranking seed's home court. The semifinals and WNBA Finals are best-of-five series played in a 2-2-1 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games1, 2, and 5 while their opponent hosts games 3 and 4.
Tiebreak procedures
1) Better winning percentage among all head-to-head games involving tied teams. 2) Better winning percentage against all teams with a.500 or better record at the end of the season. 3) Better point differential in games involving tied teams. 4) Better point differential in all games. 5) Coin toss.
There were 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2013 season
There were 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2012 season
There were 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2011 season
There were 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2010 season
There are 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference are seeded one to four. Starting in 2010, the first two rounds changed to a 1-1-1 format, with the higher-seeded team hosting games 1 & 3.
2009 season
There are 13 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference are seeded one to four.
2008 season
There were 14 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2007 season
There were 13 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2006 season
There were 14 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2005 season
There were 13 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2004 season
There were 13 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2003 season
There were 14 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2002 season
There were 16 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2001 season
There were 16 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
2000 season
There were 16 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to four.
1999 season
There were 12 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the three teams with the best record in each conference were seeded one to three. The top seeded team in each conference got a bye for the first round.
1998 season
There were 10 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in the league were seeded one to four. Houston was switched to the Western Conference in 1998 so two Western Conference teams matched up in the WNBA Finals.
1997 season
This was the first year of existence for the WNBA. There were only 8 teams in the league. For the playoffs, the four teams with the best record in the league were seeded one to four. Houston was in the Eastern Conference in 1997 so two Eastern Conference teams matched up in the WNBA Championship.
