Puoch starts and delivers while Maley watches from bench

• Nyadiew Puoch started for Portland and had 11 points and eight rebounds
• Anneli Maley did not play for New York, a coach's decision
• Sami Whitcomb started for Phoenix but shot 1-from-7 in 25 minutes

The WNBA regular season is three games from over, the playoff field is set, and Australia's eight professionals have been split down the middle by it.

Three are at clubs that have clinched. Five are not, and two of those are not playing at all.

Nyadiew Puoch gave the Australians their best night of the restart after the 2026 FIBA Women's World Cup. She started for the Portland Fire and finished with 11 points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes of an 82-66 loss to the Golden State Valkyries on Thursday, September 18, shooting 4-from-11. It was the only double-figure scoring performance by an Australian across the two nights, and it came for a team whose season is already finished. Portland sit 16-26 and were eliminated before the ball went up.

Opals guard Miela Sowah played four minutes for Golden State in the same game without scoring. Her club is second in the league at 30-11 and has won five straight, so of all the Australians, she is the one whose September still has somewhere to go.

The New York Liberty beat the Minnesota Lynx 93-81, and Bec Allen had two points in 17 minutes off the bench.

Anneli Maley was a coach's decision, a fortnight after New York converted her from a development contract to a standard one.

New York are 25-16 and level with the Washington Mystics, with three games left, at Toronto on Sunday and twice against Atlanta after that. Seeding is the only thing still being decided in the top half of the ladder, and the Liberty are in the middle of it.

Chloe Bibby, now with Minnesota, was also a coach's decision in that game. Her club leads the league at 31-10 but has lost three in a row heading into the finals.

The Indiana Fever beat the Toronto Tempo 103-85 with no Australians on either roster. Teonni Key played 20 minutes for Toronto, and while she is not Australian she will be familiar here soon enough, having signed with the Perth Lynx for WNBL27.

On Friday, September 19, the Dallas Wings beat the Phoenix Mercury 87-82. Sami Whitcomb started and had four points and four assists in 25 minutes on 1-from-7 shooting, 1-from-5 from three. Phoenix are 15-27 and eliminated. Dallas have won six in a row and are sixth.

Two of the Australians are not in the conversation at all. Ezi Magbegor tore her ACL and is out for the season, and Seattle have finished 8-33, last in the league. Alanna Smith is carrying a calf injury from the World Cup and did not appear in Minnesota's box score.

Where the Australians sit for the playoffs

Three clubs carrying Australians have clinched a place: Bibby and Smith at Minnesota, Sowah at Golden State, and Maley and Allen at New York.

The other three are done. Puoch's Portland, Whitcomb's Phoenix and Magbegor's Seattle have all been eliminated, and the gap is not close. Ninth-placed Portland sit 15 and a half games behind eighth-placed Washington with a handful of matches to play.

Minnesota are the top seed and Golden State the second, which puts Bibby, Smith and Sowah at the two best-placed clubs in the league on paper. Whether any of the three is actually on the floor is a different question.

The full picture is on our Aussies in the WNBA hub, and the earnings breakdown is in our 2026 WNBA salaries tracker.