Twelve weekend matchups headline the Dream’s 2022 homestand
ATLANTA – The Atlanta Dream will tip off their 15th season against the Dallas Wings on the road on Saturday, May 7, the WNBA announced Thursday as part of the 2022 schedule.
The Dream will make their first appearance on the Gateway Center Arena hardwood Wednesday, May 11 against Los Angeles as part of a Home Opening Week Celebration. The week will also include Head Coach Tanisha Wright’s first meeting against her former team, the Las Vegas Aces, who will come to town Friday, May 13.
“I think this schedule provides a good opportunity for us to be really competitive in the league this year,” Wright said. “Our schedule is really balanced between multi-game homestands and long road trips. We will use those road trips to build character before we’re deep into our schedule. The competition against this caliber of teams will really help us build as a young team.”
The 2022 WNBA schedule will see each team play 36 games – 18 at home and 18 on the road – the most in the league’s 25-year history. The Dream will play three games against Western Conference opponents (Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Phoenix and Seattle), three games against Chicago and Connecticut, and four games against remaining Eastern Conference opponents (Indiana, New York and Washington).
“We have quite a few home weekend dates this year which will give our fans a lot of opportunities to come out to support our team,” Wright added. “We want to be a destination for Atlanta to come out and enjoy high-level basketball and leave entertained.”
Atlanta’s 2022 schedule includes 12 weekend home dates, including seven Friday night matchups, which will tip at 7:30 p.m., and four Sunday afternoon games beginning at 3 p.m. The team’s lone Saturday night game will see Atlanta host Dallas on July 30 at 7 p.m.
Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase
The Commissioner’s Cup presented by Coinbase, an in-season tournament pitting conference rivals against each other during the first half of the regular season, will return for its second season. The 10 designated “Cup games” per team will be the first home game and first road game each team plays against its five conference rivals, all completed from May 6 – July 7. 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. Additional details will be announced at a later date.
AT&T WNBA All-Star 2022
AT&T WNBA All-Star 2022, the 18th All-Star Game in league history, will be played on Sunday, July 10, with other pre-All-Star activities on Saturday, July 9. More information about the All-Star weekend will be forthcoming.
Expanded Regular-Season Schedule
The WNBA’s regular-season schedule has increased to an all-time-high 36 games per team, up two games from the previous high of 34 and up four games from 32 per team last season. Each team will play 18 home games and 18 road games. The previous schedule, which grew from 28 to 32 games per team over the WNBA’s first six seasons, had consisted of 34 games per team from 2003-19. Teams played a shortened 22- game schedule in the 2020 season and a 32-game schedule in the 2021 season, both due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Series” Play
The schedule again incorporates steps to reduce travel, including the use of a “series” model. In some instances where a team is scheduled to play twice in the same city, those games have been scheduled to be played consecutively.
All in for Regular-Season Finale
With playoff berths and seedings potentially on the line, the WNBA will conclude its regular-season schedule in style with all 12 teams in action on Sunday, Aug. 14, the final day of the regular season.
A full broadcast schedule with national and locally broadcasted games will be announced on a later date.
