Thursday 23 July 2020 15:29, UK
The WNBA returns to your screens on Sky Sports this weekend as the 2020 season gets underway in Bradenton, Florida.
The 2020 season tips off on July 25 with the spotlight focused on the league's brightest stars as they bring women's basketball back with an opening weekend dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement.
During the opening weekend, when all 12 teams will be in action, all aspects of the game and player outfitting will be designed to affirm Black Lives Matter and honour victims of police brutality and racial violence.
Team uniforms will display Breonna Taylor's name. Players will each have the option to continue to wear Taylor's name on their jersey for subsequent games.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency medical technician, was shot eight times by plainclothes Louisville police officers serving a narcotics search warrant at her apartment on March 13. No drugs were found. Her family and protesters around the country have called for swift action against the officers who shot Taylor.
Additionally, throughout the season, players will wear warm-up shirts that display 'Black Lives Matter' on the front and 'Say Her Name' on the back.
"As we build on the momentum for women's sports and the WNBA from last season, the 2020 WNBA season will truly be one unlike any other, and we're looking forward to using our collective platform to highlight the tremendous athletes in the WNBA as well as their advocacy for social change," said WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
Each team will play a 22-game schedule, facing opponents twice. One game will be designated as a home game and the other one a road contest. The league will have three games a day, playing on the two courts at the Feld Entertainment Center, which is near the IMG Academy where the players are staying.
The regular season begins with No 1 Draft pick Sabrina Ionescu and the New York Liberty facing Breanna Stewart - who missed all of last season while recovering from a torn Achilles tendon - and the Seattle Storm, a game you can watch live on Sky Sports Arena and Sky Sports Mix on Saturday 5pm.
Ionescu will return to Sky Sports screens in the early hours of Thursday, July 30 as the Liberty take on the Dallas Wings.
You will be able to see one live WNBA game on Sky Sports every week for the duration of the 2020 regular season, which runs until September 12. Game reports and video highlights will be available on skysports.com. the Sky Sports app and Sky Sports NBA's social platforms.
The playoffs beginning soon after the conclusion of the regular season. The WNBA is using its traditional playoff format with eight teams reaching the postseason and a single-elimination game being played in the opening two rounds.
