2015 WNBA season

Sports season

2015 WNBA season

League| Women's National Basketball Association
Sport| Basketball
Duration| June 5 – October 14, 2015
Number of games| 34
Number of teams| 12
Total attendance| 1,465,432
Average attendance| 7,183
TV partner(s)| ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, NBA TV
Top draft pick|  Jewell Loyd
Picked by| Seattle Storm
Season MVP|  Elena Delle Donne (Chicago)
Eastern champions| Indiana Fever
Eastern runners-up| New York Liberty
Western champions| Minnesota Lynx
Western runners-up| Phoenix Mercury
Finals champions| Minnesota Lynx
Runners-up| Indiana Fever
Finals MVP|  Sylvia Fowles (Minnesota)
WNBA seasons

← 2014

2016 →

The 2015 WNBA season was the 19th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The regular season started on June 5 and concluded on September 13 and playoffs started on September 17 and concluded on October 14.[1]

The Minnesota Lynx beat the Indiana Fever 69–52 in game five of the Finals on October 14 to clinch a third WNBA title in five years.[2][3][4][5]

## Notable occurrences

[edit]

* On February 3, 2015, the Phoenix Mercury announced that superstar Diana Taurasi would not play in 2015. Her Russian club team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, offered her more than her WNBA season salary to rest during the 2015 WNBA season. Some in the league feared this would cause more star players to reach similar agreements.[6]
* On June 4, 2015, Tulsa player Glory Johnson announced that she is pregnant and would miss all of the 2015 WNBA season.
* On July 23, 2015, The WNBA approved the relocation of the Tulsa Shock to Dallas-Fort Worth. The move is the first franchise relocation or fold since the 2009 Sacramento Monarchs folded, and the Detroit Shock moved to Tulsa. At the time, the Shock were the only WNBA franchise to relocate twice.
* On October 14, 2015, The Minnesota Lynx won their third WNBA title in five years, beating the Indiana Fever 3–2.
* On November 4, 2015, shortly after the 2015 season concluded, WNBA President Laurel Richie announced her resignation, effective November 9, 2015. She was the league's 3rd president.

## Draft

[edit]

Main article: 2015 WNBA draft

On August 21, 2014, the 2015 WNBA Draft Lottery took place. The Seattle Storm, who had a league-worst record of 12–22 last season, won the draft lottery and had the right to pick first in the 2015 draft. In the draft, held on April 16, the Storm made Jewell Loyd of Notre Dame the top pick.

## Media coverage

[edit]

Games aired on ESPN (1 regular season game), ESPN2 (10 regular season games), ABC (All-Star Game) and NBA TV (47 regular season games).

## Regular season

[edit]

### Standings

[edit]

Source:[7]

Eastern Conference
Eastern Conference

* v
* t
* e

|  W  |  L  |  PCT  |  GB  |  Home  |  Road  |  Conf.

|
|
|
|
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|
|

x \- New York Liberty | 23 | 11 | .676 | – | 12–5 | 11–6 | 13–9
x \- Chicago Sky | 21 | 13 | .618 | 2 | 13–4 | 8–9 | 14–8
x \- Indiana Fever | 20 | 14 | .588 | 3 | 11–6 | 9–8 | 13–9
x \- Washington Mystics | 18 | 16 | .529 | 5 | 11–6 | 7–10 | 10–12
e \- Atlanta Dream | 15 | 19 | .441 | 8 | 9–8 | 6–11 | 10–12
e \- Connecticut Sun | 15 | 19 | .441 | 8 | 8–9 | 7–10 | 6–16

Western Conference
Western Conference

* v
* t
* e

|  W  |  L  |  PCT  |  GB  |  Home  |  Road  |  Conf.

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

z \- Minnesota Lynx | 22 | 12 | .647 | – | 13–4 | 9–8 | 16–6
x \- Phoenix Mercury | 20 | 14 | .588 | 2 | 13–4 | 7–10 | 15–7
x \- Tulsa Shock | 18 | 16 | .529 | 4 | 12–5 | 6–11 | 11–11
x \- Los Angeles Sparks | 14 | 20 | .412 | 8 | 9–8 | 5–12 | 10–12
e \- Seattle Storm | 10 | 24 | .294 | 12 | 8–9 | 2–15 | 8–14
e \- San Antonio Stars | 8 | 26 | .235 | 14 | 7–10 | 1–16 | 6–16

Notes

z – Clinched Conference
x – Clinched playoff spot
e – Eliminated from playoffs

## Playoffs

[edit]

Main article: 2015 WNBA playoffs

See also: 2015 WNBA Finals

| Conference semifinals
Best-of-3 | | | Conference finals
Best-of-3 | | | WNBA Finals
Best-of-5 |

|
|
|
|
|
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|

|  |  |  | | |  |  |  | | |  |  |  |
| E1 | New York | 2 | | |
| E4 | Washington | 1 |
| | E1 | New York | 1 |
| Eastern Conference |
| | | E3 | Indiana | 2 |
| E2 | Chicago | 1 |

| E3 | Indiana | 2 |
| | E3 | Indiana | 2 |
|  |
| | | W1 | Minnesota | 3 |
| W1 | Minnesota | 2 | |

| W4 | Los Angeles | 1 |
| | W1 | Minnesota | 2 |
| Western Conference |
| | | W2 | Phoenix | 0 |
| W2 | Phoenix | 2 |

| W3 | Tulsa | 0 |

* Bold – Series winner
* Italics – Team with home-court advantage

## Awards

[edit]

Reference:[8]

### Individual

[edit]

Award  | Winner  | Team  | Position  | Votes/Statistic

|
|
|
|

Most Valuable Player (MVP) | Elena Delle Donne | Chicago Sky | Forward / Guard  | 38 out of 39[9]
Finals MVP | Sylvia Fowles | Minnesota Lynx | Center  |
Rookie of the Year | Jewell Loyd | Seattle Storm | Guard  | 21 out of 39
Most Improved Player | Kelsey Bone | Connecticut Sun | Center  | 14 out of 39
Defensive Player of the Year | Brittney Griner | Phoenix Mercury | Center  | 33 out of 39
Sixth Woman of the Year | Allie Quigley | Chicago Sky  | Guard  | 24 out of 39
Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award | DeLisha Milton-Jones | Atlanta Dream | Forward  | 11 out of 39
Peak Performers | Scoring | Elena Delle Donne  | Chicago Sky  | Forward / Guard  | 23.4 PPG
Rebounding | Courtney Paris | Tulsa Shock | Center  | 9.3 RPG
Assists | Courtney Vandersloot | Chicago Sky  | Guard  | 5.8 APG
Coach of the Year | Bill Laimbeer | New York Liberty | Coach  | 23 out of 39

### Team

[edit]

Award  | Guard  | Guard  | Forward  | Forward  | Center

|
|
|
|
|

All-WNBA | First Team | DeWanna Bonner | Angel McCoughtry | Elena Delle Donne | Maya Moore | Tina Charles
Second Team | Epiphanny Prince | Courtney Vandersloot | Candace Parker | Tamika Catchings | Brittney Griner
All-Defensive | First Team | Briann January | Angel McCoughtry | Nneka Ogwumike | Tamika Catchings | Brittney Griner
Second Team | Tanisha Wright | DeWanna Bonner | Sancho Lyttle | Tina Charles | Kiah Stokes
All-Rookie Team | Jewell Loyd | Brittany Boyd | Ramu Tokashiki | Natalie Achonwa (tie)  | Kiah Stokes
Ana Dabović (tie)

### Players of the Week

[edit]

Week ending  | Eastern Conference  | Western Conference

|
|

Player  | Team  | Player  | Team
June 14 | Elena Delle Donne (3) | Chicago Sky | DeWanna Bonner | Phoenix Mercury
June 21 | Skylar Diggins | Tulsa Shock
June 28 | Lindsay Whalen | Minnesota Lynx
July 5 | Tamika Catchings | Indiana Fever | Nneka Ogwumike | Los Angeles Sparks
July 13 | Cappie Pondexter | Chicago Sky | Maya Moore (3) | Minnesota Lynx
July 20 | Tina Charles (2) | New York Liberty
August 3
August 10 | Elena Delle Donne (4) | Chicago Sky | Brittney Griner | Phoenix Mercury
August 17 | Epiphanny Prince | New York Liberty | Maya Moore (4) | Minnesota Lynx
August 24 | Elena Delle Donne (5) | Chicago Sky | Candace Parker | Los Angeles Sparks
August 31 | Epiphanny Prince (2) | New York Liberty | Odyssey Sims | Tulsa Shock
September 8 | Courtney Vandersloot | Chicago Sky | Candace Parker (2) | Los Angeles Sparks

### Players of the Month

[edit]

Month  | Eastern Conference  | Western Conference

|
|

Player  | Team  | Player  | Team
June | Elena Delle Donne | Chicago Sky | Skylar Diggins | Tulsa Shock
July | Tina Charles | New York Liberty | Maya Moore | Minnesota Lynx
August | Epiphanny Prince | New York Liberty | Candace Parker | Los Angeles Sparks

### Rookies of the Month

[edit]

Month  | Player  | Team

|
|

June | Natalie Achonwa | Indiana Fever
July | Jewell Loyd | Seattle Storm
August | Kiah Stokes | New York Liberty

## Coaches

[edit]

### Eastern Conference

[edit]

* Atlanta Dream: Michael Cooper
* Chicago Sky: Pokey Chatman
* Connecticut Sun: Anne Donovan
* Indiana Fever: Stephanie White
* New York Liberty: Bill Laimbeer
* Washington Mystics: Mike Thibault

### Western Conference

[edit]

* Los Angeles Sparks: Brian Agler
* Minnesota Lynx: Cheryl Reeve
* Phoenix Mercury: Sandy Brondello
* San Antonio Silver Stars: Dan Hughes
* Seattle Storm: Jenny Boucek
* Tulsa Shock: Fred Williams

## References

[edit]

1. ^ WNBA Announces ESPN Schedule - Hartford Courant
2. ^ "Minnesota Lynx capture third title in five years win in crucial Game 5". Fox Sports. October 14, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
3. ^ "Everything comes together at right time for WNBA champion Lynx". ESPN. October 14, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
4. ^ "Lynx capture 3rd title in 5 years with 69-52 win over Fever in Game 5". Chicago Tribune. October 14, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
5. ^ "Big Crowd and Defense Spur Lynx to Another Title". New York Times. October 14, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
6. ^ A Russian team paid Diana Taurasi to sit out 2015 WNBA season | SB Nation
7. ^ "Standings - WNBA".
8. ^ "2015 WNBA Season Awards - WNBA". www.wnba.com. Retrieved May 29, 2025.
9. ^ "Sky's Elena Delle Donne Named 2015 WNBA Most Valuable Player Presented By Samsung". WNBA. September 15, 2015. Retrieved September 22, 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* 2015 WNBA Schedule and Results - Women's National Basketball Association - ESPN

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* v
* t
* e

2015 WNBA season by team

* Draft
* All-Star Game
* Playoffs
* Finals

Eastern|

* Atlanta Dream
* Chicago Sky
* Connecticut Sun
* Indiana Fever
* New York Liberty
* Washington Mystics

Western|

* Los Angeles Sparks
* Minnesota Lynx
* Phoenix Mercury
* San Antonio Stars
* Seattle Storm
* Tulsa Shock

* ← 2014
* WNBA season
* 2016 →

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[ W ]: Games won
*[ L ]: Games lost
*[ PCT ]: Winning percentage
*[ GB ]: Games behind
*[ Home ]: Home record
*[ Road ]: Road record
*[ Conf. ]: Conference record