For the 2025 season, the WNBA adopted a concept NBA fans are already familiar with: Rivals Week. The inaugural Rivals Week presented by Ally started on August 9 and lasted until August 17, featuring “both classic and emerging rivalries between teams and players.”
The New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx met twice during Rivals Week, giving fans a much-anticipated rematch of last year’s final series. However, injuries kept superstars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier and Liberty reserves Nyara Sabally and Isabelle Harrison out. Plus, not everyone is convinced that the Liberty and Lynx actually qualify as a rivalry yet.
Earlier in August, Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve said, “I don’t think we’re there yet. But the league says we are.”
Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello has taken a very different approach to the newfound rivalry. After practice on Monday, Brondello said, “I think rivalries are great. Yes. Do we have a rivalry? They play it down. Of course, we have a rivalry, and it’s great for the league.”
The Liberty and Lynx have played some exciting games this season
Despite the injuries to several key players, all three of the Liberty’s matchups with the Lynx have been thrilling, close games. The Lynx took the first win, edging out the Liberty 100-93, behind a 30-point performance from Napheesa Collier, and then also secured two more victories without their big star.
The Liberty put up quite a fight, though. Playing without Stewart, Sabally, and Harrison in the third meeting, the Liberty stormed back from a 15-point deficit and kept the game close until the very end. Big games from Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith eventually secured the Lynx a six-point victory. It was not a pretty game for Minnesota, though.
There is one more game left in the miniseries between the two contenders—the third consecutive game against New York for Minnesota—and it promises to be another close game. Stewart and Collier are still expected to be out, though.
The Liberty and Lynx could meet in the finals again
So far, three teams have managed to truly set themselves apart from the rest of the league when it comes to title contention: the Lynx, the Dream, and the Liberty—even though New York’s record has taken a hit with all of the injuries. With the Lynx securing the top seed and the Dream and Liberty in great positions to finish second and third (in any order), Minnesota seems destined to meet one of New York or Atlanta in the finals.
Both matchups come with interesting stakes. A Lynx-Liberty series would obviously be a rematch of last year’s thrilling battle for the championship. A matchup between the Lynx and Dream would give Atlanta a chance to take revenge for a brutal sweep from 12 years ago. The two teams met in the finals in 2013, but the Dream didn’t even come close to winning a game, losing by 25 points twice and getting within nine in the final meeting.