Managers around the WNBA largely expected that this market for the low season would serve as an adjustment for the next winter. At the start of the low season, only two non-smoking contract players had deals that extended themselves after 2025. The seismic change appeared.
But after an avalanche avalanche, important shifts were out of season early as a hectic week of free agency is the reform of the coming season.
In six days, 10 multi-time All-Stars-Satou Sabally, Brittney Griner, Alyssa Thomas, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Brionna Jones, Dewanna Bonner, Natasha Howard, Tina Charles and Courtney Vandersloot-EntertoRandes via Trade or De Open Markt .
Veterans who had only played for one team, including Griner (11 years in Phoenix), Thomas (11 years in Connecticut) and Loyd (10 years in Seattle), are with various franchises. Plum had only spent her career with the aces and Sabally was a five -year pillar in Dallas.
Yet they all wear new uniforms in 2025. And maybe only before 2025.
All star players so far in the free agency have drawn deals for a year, which means that they will be on the market again next year. The short -term contracts enable them to maximize their earning potential in the long term.
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An economic windfall is expected to be in the competition in 2026. Assuming there is no work stop, a new collective negotiating agreement will almost certainly have higher player salaries and a League-Salaris-Cap peak. A new media right agreement that the WNBA will pay on average $ 200 million per season in the coming 11 years is expected to be an important economic engine. A season from now on, players will probably return to the inks of multi -year deals at higher rates.
But by changing teams in 2025, they can get a feeling for their new franchises and see how front offices adjust grilles on their strengths before they are committed in the long term. No situation is completely predictable, but the decision to try out new situations now, and not in the first year of a multi -year agreement, players should help to make more informed decisions in 12 months.
In the short term, stars in new teams can collect information about their new teams this season and at the same time retain future leverage.
These daring movements indicate a new era for WNBA players, who have more freedom of choice than ever in their decisions to play on their preferred destinations. Historically, stars were largely bound to the teams that set them up. Trade requests were relatively rare. Stars such as Chelsea Gray and Candace Parker changed from teams in the past seasons, but no multi-time All-Stars were traded in 2021 and 2022. In the last three seasons, including this season outside the season, there are seven multi-time all -Stars treated.
“That is just the evolution of the competition and where we see basketball and women’s sports go,” Loyd said. “There is absolutely much more freedom and things happen.”
Certainly, teams that took large swings – especially Phoenix, Atlanta and Los Angeles – hope they can build on the basis they laid last week.
But the short -term contracts mean that teams have taken risks with these transactions.
The Dream, who has not had a winning record since 2018, hopes that Jones and Griner will add that this season they will not only give a shot on a top-four play-off seed, but also with a considerable advantage in conversations next winter. The Mercury certainly wants their big three from Sabally, Thomas and Kahleah Copper – potentially large four when Diana Taurasi returns for the 2025 season – that is intact for years. Under the leadership of Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, the fever already has title ambitions and the veteran adds from Howard and Bonner could serve as missing pieces on the puzzle.
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The benefits of Incumbency can give teams a lead in negotiations after the following season. But even franchises such as the Chicago Sky and Dallas Wings, of whom are not expected to be in title turn, made movements (Chicago added Vandersloot, Kia Nurse and BEC Allen, while the Vleugels Dijonai Carrington, Nalyssa Smith and Ty Harris) could take over that That could help them become a more attractive destination for free agents in 2026.
More madness will certainly strike in January. More coupling and resuming of stars will occur. Unparalleled, the new winter 3 × 3 Professional Winter League, was an epicenter for Wnba-Roddels and Dealing. Next year it will also be a hub, with almost every unparalleled player in the inaugural season that hits the market.
This outdoor season was a reminder that there should be no surprises when a franchise tool looks somewhere else.
Change, even from players who have avoided it historically, is on the table for everyone.
(Photo of Satou Sabally and Brittney Griner: Megan Briggs / Getty images)