Two teams remain in the race for the 2024 WNBA Commissioner's Cup as the Minnesota Lynx and the New York Liberty are set to face off for the rights to be crowned in-season champions.
The WNBA implemented the Commissioner's Cup during the 2021 campaign. The competition follows a similar pattern to the new In-Season Tournament in the NBA, which gives one team a trophy for excelling in the regular season.
Teams aren't just competing for bragging rights, either. WNBA players have a chance to go home with a nice paycheck if they make it to the the Commissioner's Cup championship game. Of course, whichever squad comes out on top gets a bigger portion of the prize pool.
The prize money from a Commissioner's Cup title actually works out to be more per player than for winning the league championship. So what is the prize money for the WNBA Commissioner's Cup, and how does it compare to the WNBA Finals?
MORE: What is the WNBA Commissioner's Cup?
WNBA Commissioner's Cup prize money
The winning team for the WNBA Commissioner's Cup will split a prize pool of $500,000.
Team rosters have a minimum size of 11 players and a maximum size of 12 players, as outlined by the WNBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement. For rosters with the maximum 12 players, the prize money averages to about $41,700 per player. The MVP of the game takes home an additional $5,000.
In addition, each team is competing for an extra pool of money for charitable and civic organizations. The complete list of charities and money donated can be tracked here.
Players on the losing side earn $10,000 each for making the championship game.
WNBA Finals prize money
Teams in the WNBA Finals also get bonus money for players — but not nearly as much prize money is available as in the Commissioner's Cup.
One reason? There are more teams that split the total prize pool during the WNBA playoffs, meaning each player takes home a smaller slice of the pie.
The current CBA has a total prize pool of $500,000 for the WNBA playoffs. This money can go towards a bonus offered to all postseason players who are on team rosters on the last day of the regular season.
Here is the breakdown of prize money:
- Teams eliminated in the first round: $1,616 per player
- Teams eliminated in the second round: $3,123
- Championship runner-up: $7,746
- WNBA champion: $20,825
What is the WNBA Commissioner's Cup?
The WNBA Commissioner's Cup is an in-season tournament that features all 12 of the league's teams.
In 2024, the Commissioner's Cup consisted of each team playing five Commissioner's Cup games — one game against each of its in-conference opponents. These games were regular-season matchups and also counted toward each team's overall record.
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All regular-season games played between June 1 and 13 were Commissioner's Cup games.
The team from each conference with the top record in the Commissioner's Cup games — the Lynx from the West and the Liberty from the East — are facing off in the Commissioner's Cup championship game at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday, June 25, at UBS Arena in New York.
The Commissioner's Cup championship game is the only game that does not count toward either team's overall record.
