It's officially playoff season in the WNBA, and the New York Liberty are back where they've been every year since 2020. New York clinched its spot in the 2026 postseason, a run of sixth straight playoff appearances that's become the standard for this franchise since Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu joined forces in Brooklyn.
The @nyliberty have officially clinched a spot in the postseason 🗽
The clinch landed at 23-15 on the season, good for the No. 6 seed, and it came thanks to some help elsewhere on the board. New York didn't even need to be on the floor for this one to become official, which is how these late-season math problems tend to go once enough dominoes fall the right way.
The New York Liberty have clinched a spot in the 2026 WNBA Playoffs 🔥
The bigger story of the night, though, might be what happened in Washington. The Mystics clinched their own playoff spot with a wild 105-100 win over the Portland Fire, and it wasn't pretty getting there — Portland built a 14-point lead early before Shakira Austin took over. She dropped a career-high 31 points and 10 rebounds, with rookie Kiki Iriafen adding 18 points and 10 boards of her own as Washington outrebounded Portland 38-25 and won the fourth quarter 40-30 to seal it.
That's Washington's first trip back to the postseason since 2023, and it comes on the back of a roster that entered the year looking like a rebuild, not a contender. Instead the Mystics, one of the youngest teams in the league, forced their way into the field ahead of schedule — the kind of turnaround that changes how a front office thinks about its timeline.
For the Liberty, there's less mystery and more expectation. This is a team that's made a habit of October runs, and a 6-seed finish means a road trip to open the bracket rather than the top-two comfort New York has enjoyed in recent years. Still, clinching is clinching — the Liberty get another crack at a title with the same championship-tested core that's carried them through this stretch.
With New York and Washington both locked in, the picture around the rest of the field only gets tighter down the stretch. Seeding, matchups and health are the next storylines to watch as the regular season winds down and the bracket starts to take shape.