Fever can become automatic Finals favorites with two key wins

Despite playing without Caitlin Clark for the first half of June, the Indiana Fever still have a viable pathway toward the Commissioner's Cup Final — a reality that some might not have believed back at the end of May when the team announced Clark would miss time on the floor due to injury. To get to the Final, the Fever will need two things to happen: the Liberty has to beat the Dream, and the Fever has to beat the Sun.

On the surface, both feats should be easy to pull off. The Liberty are the league's defending champions, and up until the Fever toppled the team June 14, they were undefeated. But the Dream are playing a tough game of basketball this season and are currently sitting pretty as third-ranked team in the WNBA. Any thoughts of an easy path to victory for the Liberty should be tempered. Tonight's game is the first time the teams have met at all.

The Liberty will host the Dream at Barclays, something that will likely make a win easier — the home crowd in Brooklyn is ferocious and understands everything that is on the line. In addition to prize money and bragging rights, teams that win the Cup often end up in the WNBA Finals (though notably don't always win the big one).

The Fever's game against the Sun should be a relatively easy one for the team, but Connecticut did manage to beat Indiana on May 30 — with Clark off the floor. She's expected to play tonight and many are hoping for a repeat of her powerful performance against New York.

League-wide Commissioner's Cup standings

The Commissioner's Cup is an annual in-season competition between all the teams in the league. Beginning June 1, games are designated as Cup matches, and those wins help boost a team's overall chances at snagging the prize.

The Liberty, Fever, and Sun aren't the only teams vying for a place in the Cup Finals — the entire league is involved and playing hard. In the Eastern Conference, Atlanta will earn a trip to the big game if they beat New York and New York must beat Indiana and Indiana must lose to the Sun.

The Western Conference is a little more straight-forward: the Lynx will win a trip to the Final if they win their game agaisnt the Aces (likely) or if the Storm lose their game to the Sparks, and the Storm will win it all if they win and the Lynx lose.