NEW YORK — The New York Liberty or Las Vegas Aces will make history on Tuesday in the Commissioner’s Cup championship as the winner will become the first franchise to win the in-season tournament twice.
There have been five different winners in the five years of the tournament. Las Vegas was victorious in 2022 and the Liberty beat the Aces the next season on the road.
Amazon Prime will broadcast the game and analyst Swin Cash feels that New York’s win over Las Vegas three years ago will help both sides.
“If I’m (Breanna Stewart), we went to Vegas and won it in Vegas, we can’t take this lightly,” she said. “They can do the same thing to us. If you’re a leader of the team I would be using that. I wouldn’t want someone coming on our home floor and be able to do that.”
New York will host the game on Tuesday, coming off a West Coast road trip that saw the team drop its last two games to Seattle and Golden State. The Liberty beat Las Vegas last Tuesday.
“The toughest part is that we fly cross-country (Monday) and have to play the next day,” Liberty star Breanna Stewart said after a loss to the Valkyries on Sunday. “But we’re very familiar with Vegas’ game, obviously knowing there’s gonna be some tweaks and changes to their scout and also ours.”
The Aces played in Chicago on Sunday afternoon.
The winning team will make $500,000 in prize money to be split amongst the players. Even with the increased salaries that WNBA players make, the average near $600,000 and the minimum at $270,000, the extra $30,000 they’ll make by winning the Cup still means something to the players.
“$30,000 is still $30,000,” Liberty forward Jonquel Jones said smiling.
The Liberty and Aces also are raising money for their chosen charities through the Commissioner’s Cup. New York made $18,000 for the African American Policy Forum while Las Vegas earned $19,000 for the Public Education Foundation.
This is the second time that New York is hosting the championship game. The Liberty lost to Minnesota in 2024 with the game played at UBS Arena since Barclays Center wasn’t available that night. This time it will be at the Liberty’s normal home.
“That place is always rocking, they will have energy in the building,” Cash said.
