The championship game of the WNBA Commissioner's Cup tournament has switched locations.
The Lynx will play the New York Liberty on June 25 at 7 p.m. for the league's in-season tournament title at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y.
The game was originally scheduled for Barclays Center, home of the Liberty and the NBA's Nets, in Brooklyn, but Barclays Center will play host to the NBA draft next week. UBS Arena is the home of the NHL's New York Islanders.
The Lynx were 4-1 in the five-game Cup prelims to qualify from the West, while the Liberty went 5-0 in the East. New York is the defending Commissioner's Cup champion, and the Lynx are in the title game for the first time in the tournament's fourth season.
The game will be streamed on Prime Video. Teams will be competing for a $500,000 cash pool and $120,000 in cryptocurrency. The teams are also playing for charitable endeavors.
According to an Associated Press report Monday, when the Liberty clinched home court this month for the Commissioner's Cup title game, they offered to play their regular-season game against the Lynx on July 2 at Barclays Center as the Commissioner's Cup championship, but the Lynx declined that option.
Asked before Monday night's game against Dallas at Target Center about the Lynx's stance on possibly moving the game to July 2, coach Cheryl Reeve was clear.
"It's not the day of the Commissioner's Cup,'' Reeve said. "The July 2 game is a regular-season game. The Commissioner's Cup is June 25, and all parties have known that for a while.'
Reeve said it didn't matter where the game was played: "We're in the Commissioner's Cup on June 25. Wherever it's being played, we'll be there.''
