The San Antonio Silver Stars, who posted the best regular season record in 2008 -- 24-10 -- and won the Western Conference, will travel to Phoenix to face the Mercury on opening night.

The 2009 season marks the first of a eight-year deal that allows ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 to televise games and is the first deal for which a U.S. professional women's league secured a rights fee.

A six-time league All-Star and Rookie of the Year in 1999, Holdsclaw shockingly announced her retirement in June of 2007 -- just five games into the season despite leading the team with 15.8 points per game -- and pursued an overseas hoops career.

Holdsclaw, though, felt the itch to get back to her professional basketball roots.

Atlanta had 420 chances out of 1,000 to receive the first overall selection. The lottery went according to odds for the first time in league history. The Washington Mystics will have the second pick in the draft followed by the Chicago Sky.

Minnesota will select fourth and Phoenix fifth.

Teams drafted in inverse order of their regular-season finish in 2008 and the Washington Mystics decided on guard Matee Ajavon with the second choice. Forward Mistie Williams went to the Chicago Sky as the third selection.

The Minnesota Lynx picked up guard Roneeka Hodges and the Phoenix Mercury chose guard Sequoia Holmes to round out the top five picks.

The Comets had been owned by the WNBA since the middle of last season, but because a buyer couldn't be found the team was informed by the league to shut down operations.

The Comets were originally owned by Leslie Alexander, owner of the Houston Rockets.

Laimbeer has led the Shock to three WNBA titles (2003, 2006, 2008) and has compiled a record of 136-90 in his seven seasons as Detroit's coach.

"Bill has established himself as a premier professional basketball coach and general manager," president of Palace Sports & Entertainment Tom Wilson said. "His ability to assemble talent - both players and coaches - and inspire his teams to become champions has led to the ultimate prize for the Shock in three of the last six seasons. The Palace is fortunate to have such an impressive leader guiding our WNBA team into the future." A member of the Detroit Pistons teams that won two straight NBA championships from 1989-90, Laimbeer is the all-time leader in both postseason and WNBA Finals victories.

Per club policy, terms of the deal were not released.

Plank spent last season as an assistant coach with the Minnesota Lynx and spent the previous eight years as an assistant with the Indiana Fever in addition to being the team's director of scouting.

Taylor, who spent the last two seasons as vice president of business operations for the Minnesota Lynx, will assume her responsibilities with Washington on October 27.

The Mystics finished the 2008 campaign with the league's second worst record (10-24).

Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 13 points and eight rebounds while Deanna Nolan added 12 points and five assists for the Shock, who won their third title overall as the team also won the championship in 2003 and 2006.

"I think the best part about the Detroit Shock is that we care about each other," said Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer. "But we played hard-nosed basketball and we always come to win. We have a great coaching staff, but we also have the best players in the world." Smith was named the Most Valuable Player of the finals.

Nolan also grabbed seven rebounds, as the Shock shot 28-of-55 from the field to move to within one victory of claiming its third championship in franchise history.

Detroit also won titles in 2006 and 2003 and is the three-time defending Eastern Conference champion.

Averaging nearly a double-double per game, Parker posted game averages of 18.5 points -- fourth in the league -- and a league-leading 9.5 rebounds. She was also second in the league in blocks.

Parker barely beat out Connecticut's Lindsay Whalen for the award, as it was the closest MVP vote in league history.

Parker, a unanimous choice for the award, led all rookies in scoring (18.5), rebounding (9.5), blocks (2.3) and minutes (33.6 minutes). She finished fourth overall in scoring and second in blocks.

The first overall pick in the 2008 draft, she led the league in double-doubles (17) and rebounding. She posted the best rookie debut in WNBA history with 34 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in a win against Phoenix on May 17.

Smith ended with 25 points and nine rebounds for the Shock, who lost the season-series to these Silver Stars, 2-0. Kara Braxton and Deanna Nolan scored 10 points apiece for the Shock, who are in the finals for a third straight year. They won the title in 2006 and captured the opener of this series thanks to scoring the final eight points of the game.

Sophia Young tallied 21 points and nine rebounds for the Silver Stars, who ended the season with five straight victories and are playing in the franchise's first title series. Ann Wauters had 16 points and Becky Hammon 13 in defeat.

Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 19 points and eight rebounds for the Shock, who advance to face the Silver Stars in the Finals starting Wednesday in San Antonio. Katie Smith added 16 points and three assists.

Janel McCarville picked up 21 points with five boards and dished out four assists for the Liberty, who nearly rallied from a 19-point halftime deficit before losing. Leilani Mitchell contributed 14 points off the bench while Shameka Christon had 12 points.

San Antonio will make its first appearance in the WNBA Finals and will face either the Detroit Shock or New York Liberty, who will play Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday.

Hammon also led the team with seven rebounds. Sophia Young scored 18 points in the victory for the Silver Stars, who were losing by one point after three quarters.

The deciding Game 3 will be played in Detroit on Monday night.

Katie Smith dropped 11 points while Plenette Pierson added 10 points for the Shock, who used a 25-9 fourth quarter to overcome a seven-point deficit headed into the stanza. Taj McWilliams-Franklin grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds in the victory.

Young led the way for the Silver Stars throughout with a game-high 21 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Becky Hammon hit two clutch three-pointers down the stretch, finishing with four triples overall and 19 points to help force Game 3, Sunday at AT&T Center.

Candace Parker had 19 points and 17 rebounds while Lisa Leslie collected 17 points and 12 boards. DeLisha Milton-Jones chipped in with 14 points and hit several key shots in the waning moments for the Sparks, who got 22 points from Leslie in an 85-70 series-opening victory over the Silver Stars.

Shameka Christon added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Liberty, who outscored the Shock 24-14 in the final frame.

Essence Carson chipped in with eight points for New York, which advanced to the conference finals by beating the Connecticut Sun in three games.

Candace Parker tallied 14 points, 12 boards and three blocks for the Sparks, who also got 14 points apiece from Marie Ferdinand-Harris and Temeka Johnson.

Ann Wauters had 18 points and Sophia Young ended with 16 for the Silver Stars, who also received 10 from Vickie Johnson.

Wiggins received 27 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters to earn the award.

Detroit Shock forward Plenette Pierson, the inaugural Sixth Woman of the Year in 2007, finished second with 10 votes while Seattle Storm guard Tanisha Wright finished third with two votes.

The procedure took place on Monday at the Stanford University Medical Center, the team said in a release Thursday. She has already begun a rehabilitation program at Stanford while she takes classes to finish her undergraduate degree.

Wiggins is expected to be fully recovered for the start of training camp next May.

Lisa Leslie had 15 points and seven rebounds before fouling out for the Sparks, who advanced to the conference finals to take on the Silver Stars, starting Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Marie Ferdinand-Harris tallied 12 points for the Sparks, who overcame a 1-of-9 shooting night by DeLisha Milton-Jones.

The Shock will match up with the New York Liberty in the conference final, after the Liberty won their series with the Connecticut Sun, 2-1. Detroit won three of the four regular-season games with New York.

Katie Smith added 15 points while Kara Braxton chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds for the Shock.

Becky Hammon contributed 14 points and Edwige Lawson-Wade added 13 points and six rebounds for the victorious Silver Stars.

Nicole Powell scored 21 points with seven rebounds and Kara Lawson added 16 points and seven assists for the Monarchs, who saw their season come to an end.

Shameka Christon added 13 points and Janel McCarville tallied 12 to go with seven rebounds and four blocks for the Liberty, who won the series in the deciding game at Mohegan Sun Arena. New York will play either Detroit or Indiana in the conference finals.

Ashja Jones scored 18 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for the Sun, whose top offensive producer was Lindsay Whalen with 19 points.