Eastern Conference (WNBA)

Template:Short description Template:Infobox sports conference The Eastern Conference is one of two conferences that make up the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the other being the Western Conference. The Eastern conference consists on 6 teams whereas with the addition of Golden State Valkyries from 2025 season , Western conference will consist on 7 teams.

From the league's second season in 1998 through 2015, the WNBA operated separate playoff brackets for its Eastern and Western Conferences. Each conference's playoff was divided into two playoff rounds, the Conference Semi-Finals and the Conference Finals, with the Conference Finals winners receiving Conference Championships and advancing to the WNBA Finals to determine the WNBA champion. In the final years of this playoff scheme, all in-conference playoff series were best-of-three.

Since 2016, the league has abandoned separate conference playoffs in favor of a single league-wide playoff bracket. The top eight teams in the regular season, without regard to conference affiliation, advance to the playoffs, which are seeded based strictly on regular-season record (with tiebreakers as needed). The bottom four playoff teams play single-elimination games (5 vs. 8, 6 vs. 7) in the first round, with the higher seeds (5 and 6) hosting the games. The first-round winners advance to the second round, where they play the 3 and 4 seeds in single-elimination games. The 3 seed hosts the lower seed among the first-round winners, with the 4 seed hosting the other first-round survivor. The winners of these games advance to the WNBA Semifinals, where they face the top two seeds in best-of-five series. In this round, the 1 seed plays the lower seed among the second-round winners, and the 2 seed plays the other second-round winner. Both series are best-of-five and played in a 2–2–1 format, with the higher seeds (1 and 2) hosting the first two games plus a possible fifth game. The winners of these series advance to the best-of-five WNBA Finals.

Teams

Team	City/Area	Arena	Colors	Joined WNBA	Head coach
Atlanta Dream	College Park, Georgia	Gateway Center Arena	Sky blue, red, white	2008	Karl Smesko
Chicago Sky	Chicago, Illinois	Wintrust Arena	Sky blue, yellow, white	2006	Tyler Marsh
Connecticut Sun	Uncasville, Connecticut	Mohegan Sun Arena	Navy blue, red, gold, white	1999*	Rachid Meziane
Indiana Fever	Indianapolis, Indiana	Gainbridge Fieldhouse	Navy blue, gold, red, white	2000	Stephanie White
New York Liberty	Brooklyn, New York	Barclays Center	Black, green, orange, white	1997	Sandy Brondello
Washington Mystics	Washington, D.C.	Entertainment and Sports Arena	Navy, gray, white, red	1998	Sydney Johnson

Former teams

Defunct

• Charlotte Sting (1997–2006)
• Cleveland Rockers (1997–2003)
• Miami Sol (2000–2002)

Changed to Western Conference

• Houston Comets

Relocated

• Orlando Miracle to Connecticut Sun (2003)
• Detroit Shock to Tulsa Shock (West) (2009); team now plays in the West as the Dallas Wings (2016)

Eastern Conference champions

The WNBA awarded conference championships between 1998 and 2015 to the winners of the Conference Finals in the playoffs. Conference championships were not awarded in the 1997 inaugural season, and they were again discontinued since the WNBA adopted its current single-table playoff format in 2016.

WNBA champions in bold

• 1998: Cleveland Rockers
• 1999: New York Liberty
• 2000: New York Liberty (2)
• 2001: Charlotte Sting
• 2002: New York Liberty (3)
• 2003: Detroit Shock
• 2004: Connecticut Sun
• 2005: Connecticut Sun (2)
• 2006: Detroit Shock (2)
• 2007: Detroit Shock (3)
• 2008: Detroit Shock (4)
• 2009: Indiana Fever
• 2010: Atlanta Dream
• 2011: Atlanta Dream (2)
• 2012: Indiana Fever (2)
• 2013: Atlanta Dream (3)
• 2014: Chicago Sky
• 2015: Indiana Fever (3)

All-time regular-season conference standings

2008 season

Eastern Conference	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Conf.
Detroit Shock x	22	12	.647	–	14–3	8–9	16–4
Connecticut Sun x	21	13	.618	1.0	13–4	8–9	13–7
New York Liberty x	19	15	.559	3.0	11–6	8–9	11–9
Indiana Fever x	17	17	.500	5.0	11–6	6–11	12–8
Chicago Sky o	12	22	.353	10.0	8–9	4–13	10–10
Washington Mystics o	10	24	.294	12.0	6–11	4–13	6–14
Atlanta Dream o	4	30	.118	18.0	1–16	3–14	2–18