The 2013 WNBA season was the 17th season of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

. The regular season began on May 24 and concluded on September 15, and playoffs started on September 19 and concluded on October 10. The

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...

won their second league championship, defeating the Atlanta Dream three games to none in the 2013 WNBA Finals. The year represented a positive turning point for the long-struggling league. Both attendance and television viewership were up, driven by an influx of talented rookies, multiple teams reported that they were near a break-even point, and at least one franchise announced that it was profitable.

Draft

The WNBA Draft lottery was held on September 26, 2012. The lottery teams were the

Washington Mystics The Washington Mystics are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Mystics compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was ...

Phoenix Mercury The Phoenix Mercury are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Mercury compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. One of eight original franchises, it wa ...

, Tulsa Shock and Chicago Sky. The top pick was awarded to Phoenix Mercury. Center

Brittney Griner Brittney Yvette Griner (; born October 18, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. women's natio ...

was drafted first overall by the

Media coverage

About 70+ games were aired on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

, ABC and

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through TNT Sports. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular se ...

. WNBA LiveAccess will offer complement - approximately 190 live games.

Regular season

The WNBA touted three exciting rookies --

of the

, Elena Delle Donne of the Chicago Sky, and Skylar Diggins of the Tulsa Shock—as "three to see" going into the 2013 season. Griner - a tall, athletic center who had been dominant in college—was seen as such a potential game-changer that many picked the Mercury to win the WNBA championship. It was Delle Donne, however, who turned out to have the breakout season, leading the Sky to the best record in the Eastern Conference, and their first trip to the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. Griner was hampered by injuries, but her Phoenix team finished third in the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

, and made it to the conference finals. The

finished with the best record in the WNBA for the third consecutive season, behind the play of

Seimone Augustus Seimone Delicia Augustus (born April 30, 1984) is an American basketball coach and former professional player. She is currently an assistant coach for the LSU Tigers women's basketball, Louisiana State University women's basketball team. She was ...

Lindsay Whalen Lindsay Marie Whalen (born May 9, 1982) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Whalen played college basketball at the ...

, and

Maya Moore Maya April Moore (born June 11, 1989) is an American social justice advocate and former professional basketball player. Naming her their inaugural Performer of the Year in 2017, ''Sports Illustrated'' called Moore the "greatest winner in the hist ...

. Joining the Sky in the playoffs were the defending WNBA champion

Indiana Fever The Indiana Fever are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Fever compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team was founded for ...

, who finished fourth after surviving a rash of injuries during the season; the Atlanta Dream, led by league scoring champion Angel McCoughtry; and the

, who were hoping to win their first playoff game since 2004. The

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

finished second in the West, behind the play of league MVP

Candace Parker Candace Nicole Parker (born April 19, 1986), nicknamed "Ace", is an American former professional basketball player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest WNBA players of all time, she was selected as the first overall pick in the 2008 WNBA dr ...

. They lost to Phoenix in the conference semifinals. Finally, the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

surprised many by earning the final entry into the playoffs, allowing veteran and future hall-of-famer

Tina Thompson Tina Marie Thompson (born February 10, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. Most recently, she served as the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers women's basketball team from 2018 to 2022; she was subsequently hi ...

to retire from a playoff team.

Standings

Playoffs

The opening round of the WNBA playoffs saw a rash of road team victories. Only the

and

went unbeaten on their home floors. The Chicago Sky, the top overall seed in the East, were swept by the Fever, while the

lost to the top-seeded Lynx in two games. In the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

–

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

series, the road team won the first two games of the series, before Atlanta finally prevailed at home. Finally, in the matchup between the

and

, the road teams went 3-0, with Phoenix advancing. The conference finals were over quickly. Both the Atlanta Dream and

swept their opponents, setting up a rematch of the

2011 WNBA Finals The 2011 WNBA Finals was the championship series of the 2011 season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Minnesota Lynx, champions of the Western Conference, swept the champio ...

. In the Finals, the Lynx once again swept the Dream, becoming the second WNBA team to sweep through the playoffs since the best-of-five finals format was adopted.

Awards

''Reference'':

Individual

Team

Players of the Week

The following players were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week.

Players of the Month

The following players were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month.

Rookies of the Month

The following player was named the Rookie of the Month for each month.

Coaches

Eastern Conference

* Atlanta Dream: Fred Williams * Chicago Sky:

Pokey Chatman Dana "Pokey" Chatman (born June 18, 1969) is currently an assistant coach for the Seattle Storm in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Chatman is the former head coach of the Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky of the WNBA. She is als ...

Connecticut Sun The Connecticut Sun are an American professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Sun compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference (WNBA), Eastern Conference. The team i ...

Anne Donovan Anne Theresa Donovan (November 1, 1961 – June 13, 2018) was an American women's basketball player and coach. From 2013 to 2015, she was the head coach of the Connecticut Sun. In her playing career, Donovan won a national championship with Ol ...

Lin Dunn Lin Dunn (born May 10, 1947) is an American women's basketball executive and former coach, who is currently a senior advisor with the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association, WNBA. She was recently the general manager of the ...

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Confer ...

: Bill Laimbeer *

Mike Thibault Michael Francis Thibault (born September 28, 1950) is an American basketball head coach and basketball general manager. He is the head coach of the Belgium, Belgian women's national basketball team Belgian Cats since 2025. Before he coached the C ...

Western Conference

: Carol Ross *

Cheryl Reeve Cheryl Reeve (born September 20, 1966) is an American basketball head coach and President of Basketball Operations for the Minnesota Lynx of the Women's National Basketball Association, WNBA. Reeve has coached the Lynx to four league championshi ...

: Corey Gaines and Russ Pennell * San Antonio Silver Stars: Dan Hughes *

Brian Agler Brian Agler (born August 2, 1958) is an American college athletics administrator and former women's basketball coach. He is the athletic director at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, a position he has held since 2021. Agler served as ...

* Tulsa Shock: Gary Kloppenburg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:WNBA 2013 in American women's basketball 2012–13 in American basketball by league 2013–14 in American basketball by league WNBA seasons