| Year: | 2016 |
| WNBA Playoffs | |
| Dates: | September 21 - October 20 |
| Winners: | Los Angeles Sparks (Finals champion) |
| Attendance: | 8,719 per game |
| Continental Cup Title: | Higher seed finalist |
| Continental Cup Qualifiers: | Minnesota Lynx (Coach: Cheryl Reeve) |
| Continental Cup Title1: | Lower seed finalist |
| Continental Cup Qualifiers1: | Los Angeles Sparks (Coach: Brian Agler) |
| Prev Season: | 2015 |
| Next Season: | 2017 |
| Standings | |
|---|---|
| Eastern Conference | Western Conference |
| 3rd New York Liberty | 1st Minnesota Lynx |
| 4th Chicago Sky | 2nd Los Angeles Sparks |
| 5th Indiana Fever | 7th Seattle Storm |
| 6th Atlanta Dream | 8th Phoenix Mercury |
The WNBA changed its playoff format in 2016.[1] Following the WNBA regular season, eight teams in the entire league qualified for the playoffs and were seeded one to eight.
Regular season records determined the seedings of the teams. The team with the best record received seed one, the team with the next best record received seed two, and so on. The top two seeds get double byes, while the next two seeds get first-round byes.
These seedings were used to create a bracket that determines the match-ups throughout the playoffs. The first round of the playoffs consisted of two match-ups based on the seedings (5-8 and 6-7). The two winners advanced 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 advanced to the semifinals, where the lower ranked seed of the winners faced the number 1 seed, while the other remaining team faced the number 2 seed.
The first two rounds are single elimination games 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 (better record) hosts games 1, 2, and 5 while their opponent hosts games 3 and 4.
| Seed | Team | Record | Clinched | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playoff berth | Bye to Semis | Top Record | |||
| 1 | 28–6 | July 25 | September 6 | September 12 | |
| 2 | 26–8 | July 25 | September 6 | — | |
| 3 | 21–13 | September 7 | — | — | |
| 4 | Chicago Sky | 18–16 | September 10 | — | — |
| 5 | 17–17 | September 10 | — | — | |
| 6 | 17–17 | September 10 | — | — | |
| 7 | 16–18 | September 11 | — | — | |
| 8 | 16–18 | September 14 | — | — | |
See also: 2016 WNBA Finals.
Note: Teams re-seeded after second round and semi-finals.
All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)
All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)
All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)
All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4)
See main article: 2016 WNBA Finals.