The Minnesota Lynx will enter the WNBA playoffs favored to win it all, but they will be watching over their shoulders for the two most recent champions.
Minnesota is the consensus favorite to win its first title since 2017 across the sportsbook marketplace, showing +110 odds at ESPN BET. The surging Las Vegas Aces sport +260 odds, while the reigning champion New York Liberty are at +350. From there, it's a steep dropoff to the third-seeded Atlanta Dream at +1000.
It will be the first time the Lynx enter the postseason as the title favorite since they won their last one of the Maya Moore era in 2017; the last time they were favored during a regular season was in 2018, the final year of Moore's Hall of Fame career.
Meanwhile, the Aces made an extraordinary surge up the odds board with their 16-game winning streak to end the regular season. At ESPN BET, Becky Hammon's squad opened the campaign at +400 to win the title but fell to a long of +3000 in mid-August amid a sluggish start to the season. However, the Aces' strong finish propelled them past the Liberty after the final day of the regular season.
Las Vegas' heroics also boosted A'ja Wilson's chances to win MVP over Minnesota's Napheesa Collier. On Aug. 3, Collier was an enormous -1100 favorite with Wilson at 100-1, but by the close of the market, Wilson was the huge favorite at -700 and Collier sat at +500.
In general, though, sportsbooks were well aware of Las Vegas' potential, allowing them to properly manage the book on them as well as the other two top contenders.
"Those three teams, I would think that's where your winner comes from," DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN. "When you look at these playoff games, these teams are going to be pretty hefty favorites. So us personally, we're in nice shape in the future book with those three teams. Good job by the [bookmaking] team monitoring the futures during the year."
Sportsbooks also naturally buoyed their championship liability because of the betting public's early, rabid interest in Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, who now face long 100-1 odds to win it all after Clark was ruled out for the remainder of the year with a groin injury. Indiana will also be missing Sophie Cunningham, Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald, among others, for the playoff run.
All the same, ESPN BET reports 27.1% of its tickets and a leading 31.2% of its handle in the championship market backing the Fever.
The one liability sportsbooks do generally have is on the upstart Golden State Valkyries, who made history by making the playoffs in their first season as an expansion team. They face a steep climb to the top with 100-1 odds and a first-round matchup with Minnesota awaiting them, but bettors clearly love the underdog story.
"Outside of the top three, the Valkyries drew interest in their debut season as they far exceeded expectations," ESPN BET senior director of North American sports trading Adrian Horton said over email. "While just 2% of handle is on Golden State, they're one of our biggest liabilities given their longer odds in the futures market."
Overall, 2025 represented another robust season for WNBA betting as the league continues to grow -- a clear indicator of the Clark effect, whether she's able to compete for the title this season or not.
"Unfortunately, Caitlin Clark missed most of the regular season due to injury. That didn't stop bettors from wagering on the WNBA," BetMGM senior trading manager Christian Cipollini said in a release. "We saw more action on the league this season than before Clark joined the league. With significant action on the Fever, the sportsbook is comfortable with the Lynx, Aces or Liberty winning the WNBA Championship."