Last year, when the WNBA changed the first-round playoff format from 2-1 to 1-1-1, Becky Hammon was among the first ones to express her displeasure with the new format. A year later, the Las Vegas Aces head coach saw no change of heart about the format. Hammon still thinks that the 1-1-1 format was simply disadvantageous to the higher seed, and that’s not how the league should treat top-performing teams in the league.
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“The 1-1-1, I don’t think, is a good setup. It is what it is,” Hammon said while talking to the reporters during the post-game press conference uploaded by the Aces YouTube channel.
“It should be 2-1 or go to a five-game series because the 1-1-1 is no advantage for the higher seed. It’s nothing. That’s not my decision obviously, but I don’t like the setup um, in that first round.”
According to the format, the higher seed would play Game 1 of the first-round series and Game 3, if necessary. This new format gives the lower-seeded team a chance to extend the series and gives lower teams’ fans a chance to cheer them in the opening round. In the previous 2-1 format, the higher-seeded team hosted the first two games and had a higher chance to reach the next playoff.
Currently, the Aces are ranked third in the league with a 29-13 record. They are three wins behind the current top-seeded Minnesota Lynx and two wins behind the Golden State Valkyries.
They still have the No. 2 spot in the final seeding in sight. However, for that, the Aces have to win both their remaining two games, and the Valkyries have to lose both of their remaining games. Since the Aces own the tiebreaker, sweeping the Valkyries 3-0 this season, they will get the second seed.
Right after the FIBA World Cup break, the Lynx played the Liberty on September 18, 2026, suffering a 12-point loss. The Aces have failed to show the dominance of a defending champion despite A’ja Wilson’s MVP-caliber season. If they face any of the teams, including the Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, New York, or the Washington Mystics, giving a home-game advantage to any team could prove to be dangerous for Las Vegas.
Last year, Hammon said that the league changed the format after the playoff loss to the Connecticut Sun in the first round in Caitlin Clark’s rookie season in 2024. According to Hammon, Indiana was upset with the format.
“I think this conversation came up last year, when Indiana didn’t get a game, and they were upset. But for me, people just gotta get, you gotta finish better,” Hammon said in 2025. “Either move it to five [games], or it stays in the 2-1 format, because it puts the higher seed at actually a huge disadvantage.”
In 2024, the Fever were ousted in the first round after losing the series 2-0 by the Connecticut Sun. Under the previous format, they exited the season without playing a game in front of their fans. Last season, the Fever took advantage of the new format. As the sixth seed, they faced the third seed Atlanta Dream in the first round. The Dream recorded a dominant 80-68 win at home in Game 1. They lost Game 2 in Indiana and Game 3 at home.
The new format not only puts more pressure on the higher-seeded team, but also increases the possibility of the lower seed reaching the next round compared to the previous version. Moreover, traveling also takes away the higher seed’s home-court advantage if they lose Game 2.
This season, Indiana is likely to finish between the 5th and 8th seed. Under the new format, they are expected to fall in the lower seed category.
If the playoffs started today, they would meet the sixth-seed New York Liberty in the first round, which should definitely be worrying for Las Vegas. Teams like Indiana and New York are highly dangerous in the postseason. Any advantage to them in the first round, and a lot will change for the better team.
The WNBA has changed its playoff format multiple times, and it might change it again in the future. Fans have already been demanding a five-game series with the league now having 15 teams.
The league has already added three teams since the new format was introduced, and will add three more in the next four years. With more teams, they might add more games in the first round.