The WNBA and WNBPA negotiated for 18 months before agreeing to a new CBA early March, igniting a 100-yard dash of an offseason that completed an expansion draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, the collegiate draft, and free agency in less than two weeks.
The last time an orange and white basketball was bounced in a game that mattered, the Las Vegas Aces hoisted its third championship in the past four seasons into the air, defeating the Phoenix Mercury in the first-ever 4-0 sweep after the WNBA Finals was extended to a seven-game series. The league’s landscape has changed drastically, but that was always expected given that over 80 percent of the league is unrestricted free agents.
Three playoff teams from the 2025 season saw widespread personnel changes due to free agency, and others embraced new directions on their paths back to contending for a championship. Perhaps no team has endured a worse offseason than the WNBA’s best team record-wise in 2025, the Minnesota Lynx. What was once a championship-caliber core saw four of its most important members receive offers in free agency that Minnesota couldn’t afford to match.
After losing All-Star forward Satou Sabally to the New York Liberty after a Finals run, the Phoenix Mercury leaned heavily into the international market for talent in an attempt to replace her production alongside Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper. The Seattle Storm lost key leaders in Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, and Gabby Williams as the franchise stares down a rebuild with a ceiling-less core of Awa Fam, Dominique Malonga, Ezi Magbegor, Jordan Horston, and rookie Flau’jae Johnson.
With the WNBA’s 30th anniversary tipping off today, the storylines have already started writing themselves. Here are the three that will play a decisive factor for certain players and their respective franchises.
For the first time in the Becky Hammon era, the Las Vegas Aces went into the WNBA All-Star break last season with a .500 record. After acquiring six-time All-Star guard Jewell Loyd from the Seattle Storm in a three-team trade that sent two-time champion guard Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks, the Aces struggled out of the gate in 2025, mainly due to staggering its stars with reserves new to the system. The team appeared to be dead in the water after the Minnesota Lynx achieved the second-largest win margin over it in a 111-58 annihilation early August. From that game forward, Las Vegas exploded into one of the best runs in basketball history, winning 16 consecutive games, a WNBA record to end a regular season.
Got our squad. pic.twitter.com/aVhKcEIKev
— Los Angeles Sparks (@LASparks) May 8, 2026
It took five games and overtime for the Aces to send a hobbled Indiana Fever team home packing in the second round before sweeping the Phoenix Mercury in the first-ever best-of-seven in the WNBA Finals. Trading for forward NaLyssa Smith and Loyd’s request for a bench role played pivotal roles in Las Vegas claiming its third championship in the last four seasons. There wasn’t much to do in free agency after retaining eight key players, but adding Chennedy Carter, a full season of Cheyenne Parker-Tyus, sharpshooter Dana Evans, and a few others didn’t hurt. The Aces may not have enjoyed as glitzy an offseason as other teams did, but if there’s one thing this organization has proven through the years, it’s that betting against them is a lose-lose situation until proven otherwise.
Indiana enters the 2026 season as a top-four team, and it’s rightfully earned. Superstar guard Caitlin Clark only saw 13 games before being shut down for the rest of the 2025 season, and a host of other injuries kept the team from reaching its full form. No matter how you slice it, being an overtime period away from the WNBA Finals without three of your best players and reserves is a successful campaign.
hot off the press 📕
squad reporting for the Season Opener presented by @StateFarm 🦸♀️ pic.twitter.com/3t8WOjRhTk
— Indiana Fever (@IndianaFever) May 8, 2026
Instead of thinking about what could have been, Fever CEO/GM Amber Cox and head coach Stephanie White clocked in for free agency and the collegiate draft, re-signing their cornerstones, Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston, with versatile veterans in Myshia Hines-Allen and Monique Billings. Drafting South Carolina point guard Raven Johnson with the No. 10 overall pick and Justine Pissott in the second round answers questions about the defensive prowess of the guard rotation and a taller guard that can stretch the floor with three-point shooting. With only 13 games from Clark and several guards signed to hardship deals, the Fever still boasted one of the most potent offenses in the league, ending the 2025 season with the third-best offensive rating (106.2), third-most points per game (84.9), and the fourth-best net rating (4.5).
It was clear after signing former longtime Spark Nneka Ogwumike in free agency that Los Angeles was saying goodbye to yet another rebuild attempt, with its sights set on a WNBA title. It was even more so after sending talented forward and fan favorite Rickea Jackson to the Chicago Sky for All-Star guard Ariel Atkins.
Got our squad. pic.twitter.com/aVhKcEIKev
— Los Angeles Sparks (@LASparks) May 8, 2026
With Ogwumike as a surefire starter and Dearica Hamby’s emergence as an All-Star, Cameron Brink is coming off the bench for the Sparks. That’s a bit troublesome, considering Ogwumike is only 6’2” and Hamby isn’t a consistent defender at 6’3”. It will be interesting to see how the team starts games with its best defender on the bench.
Kelsey Plum is one of the best scoring guards in the league, but her defense at this stage of her career isn’t what it used to be. Atkins was out of place on a Chicago Sky team that couldn’t figure out how to best utilize her talents. She brings teeth to a perimeter attack on both ends, but her defensive abilities will be front and center in a rotation that needs them.
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Born and raised in Chicago, Christan Braswell is a women’s sports journalist with a focus on the WNBA and women’s college basketball. He’s an avid fan of elevator screens and stuffed-crust pizza. Outside of sports, he’s an avid cook and lover of the great outdoors.
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