WNBA Semifinals Tip Off Today: Your Guide to Liberty-Dream and Aces-Valkyries

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2026 — The WNBA semifinals tip off today, and this guide has everything you need for the national-TV doubleheader: Liberty-Dream at 2 p.m. ET on ABC, then Aces-Valkyries at 4 p.m. ET on NBC. It is not the final four anybody predicted in September — a No. 8 seed that made history, a second-year expansion team, a four-time MVP chasing a fourth ring, and the 2026 Defensive Player of the Year standing in the middle of it all.

One clarification up front, because the details matter: the Finals don't start until Saturday, October 17. Today is Game 1 of the semifinals, and both series open on broadcast television. The New York Liberty visit the Atlanta Dream at 2 p.m. ET on ABC; the defending champion Las Vegas Aces visit the Golden State Valkyries at 4 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Game 2s go Wednesday, Game 3s Friday, with Game 4 and Game 5 — if necessary — on October 11 and 14. The semifinals use a 2-2-1 format, with the higher seed hosting Games 1, 2 and 5.

Liberty at Dream: the history-makers meet the disruptors

This series is a collision of two of the most remarkable stories of the 2026 season. The Liberty (the No. 8 seed) became the first eight-seed in WNBA history to eliminate a No. 1, sweeping the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx out of the playoffs 91-75 and 87-71. It was a stunning, wire-to-wire dismantling of the league's best regular-season team — and it announced that New York, whatever the seeding said, believes it is a title contender.

Standing in their way is a Dream team that has been building to this moment. Atlanta swept the Washington Mystics 92-77 and 93-75 to reach its first semifinals since 2018, and the engine of that run is the player who just took home the league's biggest individual defensive honor. Angel Reese was named the 2026 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year after a record-setting first season in Atlanta — and our full story on her award has the numbers behind it. Against a Liberty team that just shredded the league's No. 1 seed, Reese's ability to control the paint and the glass could decide the series.

The schedule favors Atlanta early: Games 1 and 2 are at home for the higher-seeded Dream (Sunday 2 p.m. ET on ABC, Wednesday 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN), with Game 3 shifting to New York on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2). But the Liberty just proved seeding means nothing — they walked into Minnesota and ended a season. Our full breakdown of the upset is worth a read before tip-off.

Aces at Valkyries: the dynasty vs. the dream

The nightcap is the heavyweight fight. The Las Vegas Aces are the defending champions, chasing a fourth title, and they survived a genuine scare to get here: a 2-1 series win over Caitlin Clark's Indiana Fever, sealed by a 94-83 Game 3 win in which four-time MVP A'ja Wilson poured in 36 points. The Aces swept the Phoenix Mercury in last year's Finals, and they remain the team everyone has to go through — until someone actually does.

Someone might. The Golden State Valkyries are in only their second season of existence and have already made franchise history, winning their first-ever playoff series by erasing a 16-point deficit to stun the Dallas Wings 77-73 in a winner-take-all Game 3 at Chase Center. Gabby Williams scored the Valkyries' final eight points and finished with a team-high 19; Tiffany Hayes added 18 off the bench and Veronica Burton had 16. Williams had already dropped a career-best 36 in the Game 2 overtime loss in Dallas, and afterward she told ESPN exactly what this team is about: "I came here because I just wanted someone to believe in me. That's really it. The fact they trust me to have the ball in my hands — it's not even about taking the shot, just making the right decision."

The Valkyries finished 34-13 with the best home record in the league (19-5 at Chase Center, the building the players call "Ballhalla") and what USA Today's preview called the best defense in the WNBA by almost any metric — they also hung a franchise-record 104 points in their Game 1 win over Dallas. The concern for Golden State: the Aces are the one team they haven't solved. Las Vegas went 3-0 against the Valkyries this season, winning by an average of 11.3 points — though the teams haven't met in more than three months, and coach Natalie Nakase has had all summer to scheme for this exact matchup. Nakase, who briefly collapsed during the Game 3 win over Dallas, is OK and not expected to miss time, per ESPN.

Game 1 tips at 4 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock from Chase Center — with Star Wars creator George Lucas spotted in the building for the clincher, the Force, as the locals say, has been strong in Ballhalla. Game 2 is Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBCSN, Game 3 Friday at 9:30 p.m. ET on the same outlets, with the series shifting to Las Vegas. The Valkyries opened at +260 to win the title — the shortest odds of any team left outside the defending champs.

Who comes out of this?

Picking winners in a final four this chaotic feels like a fool's errand, but the matchups tell a story. In Dream-Liberty, it comes down to whether Atlanta's defense — anchored by the league's best defender — can do what Minnesota's couldn't: slow down a Liberty team playing with house money and championship pedigree. The Dream have homecourt and the better seed; the Liberty have the most dangerous kind of confidence. Give the slight edge to Atlanta in five, but nobody should be shocked if New York keeps the magic going.

In Aces-Valkyries, it's the dynasty against the disruptors, and the X-factor is Chase Center. The Valkyries are 19-5 at home, they defend at an elite level, and the Aces haven't seen them since June. But champions are champions for a reason: Wilson is playing at an MVP level, Las Vegas has been here before, and 3-0 is 3-0. The Aces in five — with the strong suspicion that Golden State is about to make this a lot more uncomfortable than the regular season suggested.

If that's how it plays out, we'd get a Dream-Aces Finals starting October 17 — a rematch of styles, a battle of MVPs past and present, and a championship series worthy of everything this postseason has already given us. But first: two Game 1s, one Sunday, all on broadcast TV. Clear the afternoon.