The WNBA Commissioner’s Cup, explained: Why the Sky or Aces winning won’t count in the actual standings

Who will be the second annual Commissioner’s Cup champion?

Today, July 26th, the Chicago Sky and Las Vegas Aces will play a WNBA game whose outcome won’t impact the regular-season standings. No additional number will be added to either the win or loss column.

Obviously, we are well past the WNBA preseason, and while the playoffs are on the horizon, we aren’t there yet. This special mid-season event is the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Championship, and the second of its kind.

Per WNBA.com:

The Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase, [is] an in-season tournament pitting conference rivals against each other during the first half of the regular season.

There are 10 designated “Cup games” per team – the first home game and first road game each team plays against its five conference rivals “Cup games”.

The team from each conference with the top record in Cup games will compete for a lucrative prize pool in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game on Tuesday, July 26.

This “lucrative prize pool” for the event will see $500,000 for the players on the winning team and charitable donations from the league — $10,000 to the winning team, and $5,000 to the losing team.

So, each with 9-1 records, the Sky and Aces will have plenty to play for on Tuesday night when they go to battle at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Who will follow the Seattle Storm and become the newest Commissioner’s Cup Champion?

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