With the Las Vegas Aces Game 5 overtime win over the Indiana Fever on Tuesday, and the Phoenix Mercury’s elimination of the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday, the 2025 WNBA Finals are set. Las Vegas and Phoenix have both been at the forefront of the sport Phoenix has three WNBA championships and Las Vegas has two but they stand out for another reason.
Both teams have also been proactive about investing in their players.
Seventeen-year WNBA veteran DeWanna Bonner started her career in Phoenix, and returned to the team this season after a short stop in Indiana didnt work out. Playing again with the Mercury, she gets to train in the new, $100 million practice facility opened in the summer of 2024.
It’s so crazy to know when I came back, it feels totally different, like it’s the same, like, it’s Phoenix, it’s Phoenix Mercury, but stepping into what they’ve done and just improved. Like, the practice facility and the apartments and everything is just totally different, Bonner said after Sundays win. We get treated like great athletes, and we have to worry about nothing but basketball. So that’s important. We’re very appreciative.
Phoenix’s coach, Nate Tibbetts, made several stops in the NBA as an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers and Orlando Magic. When he signed on to be the Mercury coach ahead of the 2024 season, he didnt notice a dropoff in how his WNBA players were treated.
Everything [team owner] Mat [Ishbia] has told me he was going to do, and [team CEO] Josh [Bartelstein] when I took this job, they’ve done it, Tibbetts said. You know, we treat our players at the highest level that we possibly can. I was lucky enough to be around four different NBA teams, and we treat our players as well as any team that I’ve been around. And, you know, it just shows there’s a real commitment to what we’re trying to do. It’s not talk. We’ve got a big-time facility, we’ve got physical therapists, we’ve got the training staff, we’ve got an unbelievable dining hall, like everything is high level.
When the facility opened, Mercury and Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein said, This practice facility sets the standard for what it means to invest in womens sports.”
The Aces, meanwhile, were the first WNBA team to open its own facility. (The Mercury previously shared practice facilities with the Phoenix Suns.) Fresh off their 2022 championship, the Aces moved into the $40 million facility before the 2023 season. It includes two basketball courts, cold and hot plunge pools, hydrotherapy equipment, an infrared sauna, a cryo chamber, a team shop, a weight room, a nutrition bar and a film room. Famously, its the first place where future Hall of Famer Candace Parker, who played for the Aces in the final season of her 16-year career, had her own locker and didn’t have to share.
All of this is part of a larger investment and growth push around the league, as it expands with more teams and players fight for a bigger piece of the WNBA pie in a new collective bargaining agreement.
While the investment may not be the only reason for the Aces’ and Mercury’s success, when players have only to worry about basketball, it can’t hurt the on-court play. The Aces won the championship in 2023 after opening their facility, then made it to the semifinals in 2024. With their Finals berth, they’re the closest thing the WNBA has to a dynasty in the current era. In the Mercury’s first season after Diana Taurasis retirement, they went 27-17, earned a No. 4 seed and have looked dominant in their run to the WNBA Finals. Last offseason, they attracted major free agents in Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally, who wanted to go to Phoenix in large part because of the investment in the team.
The Seattle Storm and Minnesota Lynx, both 2025 playoff teams, also have state-of-the-art facilities, while most other WNBA teams are now playing catch-up. Dallas and Indiana both broke ground on their new facilities in September, and 2026 expansion team Portland began construction on its facility in April. New Yorks is expected to be ready in 2027, and Chicago is hoping to have its done before the 2026 season. Los Angeles and 2026 expansion team Toronto have both announced plans for facilities.
While it’s a smart move for these teams to make, it may take some of them several seasons to reap the rewards, depending on construction timelines. If WNBA teams need any motivation to spend a few more dollars on their facilities, they wont have to look far. Just tune in to the 2025 WNBA Finals.