The powers that be within the WNBA must have been thrilled with this season’s Commissioner’s Cup Championship: a matchup between the league’s two much proclaimed (and protested) superteams, the Las Vegas Aces vs. the New York Liberty.
The Commissioner’s Cup final, won by the Liberty, was the appetizer for the assumed WNBA Finals matchup between the same squads.
However, should the Commissioner’s Cup Championship serve as a Finals preview? Or, would the competition bring more value to the league if the format introduced a bit more uncertainty into the WNBA season?
The original vision for the Commissioner’s Cup
The 2020 CBA introduced the prospect of “special competitions” that would provide additional compensation for players. As Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said ahead of the 2021 season, the season in which the Commissioner’s Cup would debut, “So the Commissioner’s Cup is a reflection of that promise we made and the idea to create a special in-season tourney actually came from the players themselves.”
The prize pool for the Commissioner’s Cup totals $500,000, with members of the winning team earning $30,000, members of the runner-up receiving $10,000 and the MVP of the final getting a $5,000 bonus.
As has been the case for the three seasons of…
