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It’s finally here. For several years now, we’ve been joking about the 2026 edition of this list. How I’d just type “EVERYONE!” in big block capital letters and leave it at that. Because if you follow WNBA events in some capacity you’re probably aware that the current Collective Bargaining Agreement is about to expire. One of the effects of that is that virtually every player in the league who had any choice has avoided signing a contract that stretches beyond 2025. Everyone is expecting salaries to rise significantly in a new CBA, so no one wanted to be trapped on a contract signed under the old system. Therefore, we have a staggering number of free agents this year. Outside of players on rookie-scale contracts — the ‘three-year plus a team-option fourth year’ deals players sign after being drafted — there are only two players signed through 2026 (Lexie Brown and Kalani Brown, for the trivia fans).
The other key thing to bear in mind due to this year’s weird situation is that all rules are subject to change. They’re negotiating a new CBA, and the players in particular are asking for a transformative deal. Before anything else that means money, but once they’ve decided how much money the players are getting and how that’s going to be decided in any given year, everything else is on the table too. They could remove restricted free agency. They could throw away the league’s core player system, or change the limits on it, or come up with some other new way to try to help teams retain their stars. Concepts we’re about to explain below, like the ‘Reserved’ player status, could be restructured, or the years required for them could be changed. Experience of how the league has handled changes in the past suggests there would be a transition period — they would likely phase in changes like that over a couple of years — but nothing is definite. So bear that in mind through this article and the list you’ve probably already skipped down to — we’re all making assumptions until we have new paperwork to check for the next set of rules.
Having said all that, back to the stuff I essentially copy and paste in here every year. Welcome to what’s become an annual Her Hoop Stats tradition: the full WNBA free agency list. The WNBA will wait until at least January to release their official list, and you could also collate your own from our consistently updated salary cap sheets, but we’re here to do the work for you.
The league waits until January because the statuses of individual players don’t become 100% official until then. The dates were changed slightly in recent years but the process remains the same. From Jan. 11 to Jan. 20, teams are required to send out qualifying offers to make applicable players restricted or reserved (terms explained below). However, the vast majority of eligible players will receive those qualifying offers, because it’s non-guaranteed money that teams can cut at a later date if they want to. So the list below assumes each relevant player will have a qualifying offer extended. If they do not, we will update the list and cap sheets on the site at the appropriate time. The status of impending unrestricted free agents won’t change, outside of the possibility of core designations. Players are included on our lists if they received qualifying offers this year or were involved in some way in the 2025 regular season.
Whether everything happens on time in January will be dependent on that new CBA. These dates have been pushed back in the past if a new agreement wasn’t settled in time, and then everything gets compressed. They also have to fit in an expansion draft for the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, so while the process will likely remain fairly similar, the dates definitely might move.
As with everything in the cap sheets, all the information in this list has been carefully gathered and checked via league sources. However, in such an extensive list, it is possible that mistakes can be made. For any issues, questions or corrections, please contact us at Her Hoop Stats or on Bluesky or X.
Again, assuming most of the structure remains from the existing agreement, WNBA players that are free agents and/or out-of-contract heading into the 2026 season essentially fall into four categories: Unrestricted Free Agent, Restricted Free Agent, Reserved Player, and Suspended – Contract Expired.
Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA): Players who have just completed a contract need a minimum of five years of service in the WNBA to gain this status. Players can also become a UFA before their fifth season if they are cut by a team and pass through waivers without being claimed. UFAs are free to discuss terms and sign a contract with any team of their choice, unless cored (explained below).
Restricted Free Agent (RFA): This currently only applies to players with four years of service in the WNBA. Most commonly, players fall into this category when they have just completed their rookie scale contract. They can talk to and sign with any team they like, but their previous team has the “right of first refusal” to match any offer sheet they sign with another team and thereby retain the player.
Reserved Player: If a player’s contract has expired but they have three or fewer years of service in the WNBA, they become “reserved”. That means that they can only negotiate with their previous team and are not allowed to discuss terms or sign with anyone else (unless released).
Suspended – Contract Expired: This status came to the fore in 2021 because of how many players skipped the 2020 Covid bubble season and fell into this category as a result. If a player’s contract expires while they are suspended, they are deemed to have been “withholding services” in the language of the CBA. Their previous team then retains their rights, and the player is not allowed to talk to or sign with any other team. In practice, it’s very similar to the reserved status described above, although no qualifying offer is required.
In a normal year, in order to make a player restricted or reserved, their previous team has to send out the relevant qualifying offer sometime from Jan. 11 to Jan. 20. If they don’t, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent. Players can then talk to teams from Jan. 21 onwards and begin signing on Feb. 1. Some players may immediately sign those qualifying offers, which is why we sometimes see players being signed even before Jan. 21. That’s the only type of signing you’d see before Feb. 1 under the current system, although as we’ve often seen in recent years, trades can still happen before then.
Under the current CBA, each team also has their core designation, which can be used on one UFA to prevent them from becoming a true free agent. The tag blocks the player from negotiating with anyone else, but comes with a one-year guaranteed supermax contract as the core qualifying offer. The team and player are free to negotiate a contract that lasts longer and/or costs a different amount, but the tag sticks to that player for the length of the contract (not including extensions) unless the player is traded, waived or retires. No teams currently have their core spot occupied for 2026 by a signing from a previous year, so if the rule continues to exist, then all of them will have the option available to them this offseason. It can be used on UFAs or RFAs, but in practice is virtually always used on UFAs as teams already have control of their RFAs. However, an increasing number of players have reached the current limit of two seasons played under a contract signed while cored, and are therefore ineligible to be cored again. DeWanna Bonner, Jordin Canada, Tina Charles, Kahleah Copper, Skylar Diggins, Brittney Griner, Natasha Howard, Brionna Jones, Jonquel Jones, Jewell Loyd, Nneka Ogwumike and Breanna Stewart are all in that position this year, where they will become true unrestricted free agents because their teams are no longer allowed to core them.
That’s about it, except for the reminder that the expansion draft should happen at some stage before free agency, and many of the people listed below will likely be eligible to be selected. So the status would be the same, but POR or TOR would be next to them instead.
On to the names.
Lindsay Allen (CON)
Rebecca Allen (CHI)
Yvonne Anderson
Ariel Atkins (CHI)
Marième Badiane
Rachel Banham (CHI)
Monique Billings (GSV)
DeWanna Bonner (PHO)
Crystal Bradford
Jaelyn Brown
Kennedy Burke (NYL)
Jordin Canada (ATL)
Emma Cannon (LAS)
Bridget Carleton (MIN)
DiJonai Carrington (MIN)
Kaila Charles
Tina Charles (CON)
Alysha Clark (WAS)
Natasha Cloud (NYL)
Nia Coffey (ATL)
Napheesa Collier (MIN)
Sydney Colson (IND)
Kahleah Copper (PHO)
Sophie Cunningham (IND)
Damiris Dantas (IND)
Marquesha Davis
Diamond DeShields
Kariata Diaby
Skylar Diggins (SEA)
Stefanie Dolson (WAS)
Dana Evans (LVA)
Temi Fágbénlé (GSV)
Allisha Gray (ATL)
Chelsea Gray (LVA)
Brittney Griner (ATL)
Megan Gustafson (LVA)
Bree Hall
Dearica Hamby (LAS)
Tyasha Harris (DAL)
Isabelle Harrison (NYL)
Bria Hartley (CON)
Tiffany Hayes (GSV)
Natisha Hiedeman (MIN)
Myisha Hines-Allen (DAL)
Joyner Holmes
Natasha Howard (IND)
Sabrina Ionescu (NYL)
Moriah Jefferson
Brionna Jones (ATL)
Jonquel Jones (NYL)
Liatu King
Elizabeth Kitley
Kyra Lambert
Kyara Linskens
Jewell Loyd (LVA)
Marina Mabrey (CON)
Ezi Magbegor (SEA)
Kayla McBride (MIN)
Megan McConnell
Teaira McCowan
Aari McDonald (IND)
Emma Meesseman (NYL)
Jade Melbourne (WAS)
Kelsey Mitchell (IND)
Tiffany Mitchell (SEA)
Murjanatu Musa
Kia Nurse (CHI)
Arike Ogunbowale (DAL)
Nneka Ogwumike (SEA)
Amy Okonkwo
Michaela Onyenwere (CHI)
Cheyenne Parker-Tyus (LVA)
Robyn Parks
Shey Peddy
Ajae Petty
Kelsey Plum (LAS)
Aerial Powers
Alexis Prince
Mercedes Russell
Satou Sabally (PHO)
Karlie Samuelson
Katie Lou Samuelson (SEA)
Jessica Shepard (MIN)
Odyssey Sims
Kamiah Smalls
Alanna Smith (MIN)
Azurá Stevens (LAS)
Breanna Stewart (NYL)
Kiah Stokes (LVA)
Serena Sundell
Brittney Sykes (SEA)
Stephanie Talbot (NYL)
Alyssa Thomas (PHO)
Kayla Thornton (GSV)
Brianna Turner (IND)
Courtney Vandersloot (CHI)
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough (ATL)
Erica Wheeler (SEA)
Sami Whitcomb (PHO)
Christyn Williams (DAL)
Courtney Williams (MIN)
Elizabeth Williams (CHI)
Gabby Williams (SEA)
A’ja Wilson (LVA)
Jackie Young (LVA)
Julie Allemand (LAS)
Shakira Austin (WAS)
Kierstan Bell (LVA)
Grace Berger (DAL)
Veronica Burton (GSV)
Luisa Geiselsöder (DAL)
Naz Hillmon (ATL)
Rhyne Howard (ATL)
Lexie Hull (IND)
Haley Jones (DAL)
Li Yueru (DAL)
Olivia Nelson-Ododa (CON)
Haley Peters (CON)
NaLyssa Smith (LVA)
Sug Sutton (WAS)
Cecilia Zandalasini (GSV)
Monique Akoa Makani (PHO)
Laeticia Amihere (GSV)
Chloe Bibby (IND)
Rae Burrell (LAS)
Maya Caldwell (ATL)
Kaitlyn Chen (GSV)
Zia Cooke (SEA)
Lorela Cubaj (ATL)
Ivana Dojkić (NYL)
Emily Engstler (WAS)
Rebekah Gardner (NYL)
Bernadett Határ (WAS)
Lexi Held (PHO)
Mackenzie Holmes (SEA)
Marine Johannès (NYL)
Maria Kliundikova (MIN)
Sika Koné (ATL)
Kitija Laksa (PHO)
Natasha Mack (PHO)
Nikolina Milić (CON)
Alissa Pili (LAS)
Iliana Rupert (GSV)
Janelle Salaün (GSV)
Madison Scott (WAS)
Jaylyn Sherrod (MIN)
Camryn Taylor (MIN)
Mamignan Touré (CON)
Sevgi Uzun (CHI)
Julie Vanloo (LAS)
Kathryn Westbeld (PHO)
Kiana Williams (PHO)
Julia Ayrault (PHO)
Raquel Carrera (NYL)
Maite Cazorla (ATL)
Maria Conde (GSV)
Han Xu (NYL)
Awak Kuier (DAL)
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton (NYL)
Klara Lundquist (PHO)
Helena Pueyo (PHO)
Seehia Ridard (NYL)
Lou Lopez Sénéchal (DAL)
Annika Soltau (NYL)
Kristy Wallace (IND)
Holly Winterburn (ATL)
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
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