How long is the WNBA All-Star break? Date, TV schedule for next games after 2024 Olympic break

After a hectic opening two months of basketball, the WNBA is taking a pause.

Women's basketball's best, including A'ja Wilson, Marine Johannes, and Ezi Magbegor, among others, is on hiatus for the time being, with the 2024 Paris Olympics bringing scores of WNBA talent to the French capital.

For many of the league's top talents, the break is much needed. The W's rookies have been through the gauntlet for much of the past year, thrust into professional competition immediately after their collegiate careers concluded. Newcomers and veterans alike have been greeted with a frantic schedule to start the WNBA campaign. The Fever, for example, played seven games in the first 11 days to begin their season.

Time waits for no one. The WNBA does, however, giving players about a month to tend to any nicks and scratches they have carried thus far. In the meantime, they'll be able to follow along with all the Olympic action as it happens.

So, when is the W back in session? The Sporting News fills you in on the league's scheduled return date once it finishes its Olympic-led hibernation.

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Will the WNBA break for the Paris Olympics?

Much like the NHL, the WNBA will halt its regularly scheduled programming over the course of the Olympics. The break will last about a month, giving fans and players alike a chance to recalibrate ahead of the stretch run.

The break will start on Thursday, July 18, with just one event — the WNBA All-Star game — interrupting it. That contest will serve as a tune-up game for Team USA, with the U.S.'s women's 5v5 time slated to clash with Team WNBA, an All-Star bunch headlined by Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Arike Ogunbowale.

Beyond that, Olympic competition will have a clean slate to establish a basketball monopoly over the 16-day run of the Paris Games.

When does the WNBA come back?

The W is set to return on Thursday, Aug. 15, just four days after the Olympics concludes. That could prove a tight turnaround for the WNBA stars that litter rosters across the Olympic landscape. After all, the gold medal game is set to start at 9:30 a.m. ET (3:30 p.m. local time) on Aug. 11.

WNBA national TV schedule 2024