The WNBA season is in the final stage of the regular season before the 2026 FIBA World Cup break, and only three playoff spots remained on Saturday. After the Minnesota Lynx became the first team to clinch their spot in the playoffs on Saturday, the Atlanta Dream finally secured their place too.

Atlanta’s win over the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday was the biggest story coming out of the WNBA’s schedule, along with the LA Sparks finally ending their six-game losing streak. Unfortunately, their earlier loss to the Atlanta Dream had already eliminated them from playoff contention.

LA snapped their losing streak with a 77-68 win over the Connecticut Sun behind Rae Burrell’s 20 points. Nneka Ogwumike, who is playing her last season after announcing her retirement on Wednesday, recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Now, they will face the Atlanta Dream again on Monday, with a chance to seek vengeance for their blowout loss the last time.

The skid turned into a nightmare stretch for Los Angeles. Six straight losses knocked the Sparks out of the playoff race, with a brutal 124-88 loss to Atlanta dropping them to 12-24.

The Sparks are now staring at a sixth straight season without a playoff appearance, leaving the franchise with plenty to fix heading forward.

Atlanta’s big night was highlighted by Angel Reese, who scored a career-high 31 points and dominated the stat line. She added 14 rebounds, four steals and two assists in the 99-89 win, making 14 of her 21 attempts. 

Four Dream players scored in double digits. Rhyne Howard added 20 points. Allisha Gray and Jordin Canada added 17 and 12 points, respectively.

At this point of the season, the Dream are at the top of the Eastern Conference with a 24-13 record. The Indiana Fever and the New York Liberty are second and third in the East.

The Dream also holds the fourth-best record in the league, right behind the Las Vegas Aces. They are currently 1.5 games ahead of the Golden State Valkyries in second place and .5 games ahead of the Aces.

This was the fourth consecutive season that the Dream clinched a playoff spot. With the win, they also increased the possibility of hosting the first-round playoff series. The first four seeds will host the playoff series.

With seven games remaining in the season, Atlanta still has a chance to go higher in the ranking before the playoffs, but Angel Reese wants much more than just a playoff berth.

“I want more than the playoffs”: Angel Reese gets emotional after clinching her first playoff spot

The Aug. 22 game vs. the Mercury will forever be special for Angel Reese, for a multitude of reasons. As the Dream secured their playoff berth for the fourth time in a row, this was the first for Reese.

“It feels good to finally get here,” she said after the game.

Reese played her first two years with the Chicago Sky and couldn’t qualify for the playoffs, prompting the former LSU star to publicly express her dissatisfaction with the team management. She was finally traded to the Dream before the 2026 season.

But the postseason is just the start for Reese. She is hungry for more. 

“I want more than the playoffs. I want to walk away a champ, and that’s why I came to Atlanta,” she added.

The Dream are on a four-game trip to the West Coast, and a loss to Phoenix on Saturday meant that they couldn’t leave with a 4-0 record. But they could certainly make it 3-1 as they will face the LA Sparks for the final game on the trip on Monday.

“We’ve been through a lot, and I think that’s why we’re so tough right now because you don’t want to peak too early, and we’re right where we want to be right now,” the Dream’s leading rebounder said, per reporter Wilton C. Jackson II.

Atlanta has shown exceptional consistency since the second week of July. While they have lost games throughout the July and August schedule, they didn’t experience a slump like late June. Between 25th June and 4th July, the Dream lost all five of their games on the calendar. Three of them came against the Valkyries.