WNBA free agency winners and losers: Fever build around Clark, Valkyries miss out

You just knew the WNBA free agency period that came immediately after a record-breaking season for the league would arrive with the same twists and excitement fans had come to expect in the regular season. Still, no one expected this much history would be made even in the off-season.

Free agency kicked off with a monumental three-team trade that moved some of the biggest available players in Kelsey Plum and Jewell Lloyd, and made history as the first WNBA trade to involve multiple first-overall picks.

But the Seattle Storm, Las Vegas Aces and Los Angeles Sparks weren’t the only franchises causing major disruptions during free agency. The Connecticut Sun made major moves in the opposite direction as they lost all five of last season’s starters.

After a year of exponential growth for the league, there’s a new precedent for what is possible in the WNBA and, feeding off that energy, teams have jumped at the chance to alter their trajectories. Still, not everyone can leave this period with exactly what they were looking for.

Here’s a look at the winners and losers of WNBA free agency.

When a team with the two previous Rookie of the Year winners in Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston adds two WNBA champs in free agency, it always leaves a winner.

It’s obvious new head coach Stephanie White is mapping out just that: a winning future for the Fever.

The first step was coring and re-signing All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell. Next, building a solid veteran presence around a young core by going after unrestricted free agents.

White, just months after shifting over from the Sun, brought in six-time WNBA All-Star and three-time Sixth Woman of the Year DeWanna Bonner on a one-year deal. After that, unrestricted free agent, three-time WNBA champ and 2019 Defensive Player of the Year Natasha Howard and two-time WNBA champ Sydney Colson both found their way onto the star-studded squad with a one-year deals.

These three became the last pieces in what will soon be a scarily speedy and defensively dominant roster in Indiana.

Losers: Golden State Valkyries

Expectations were high for Golden State but those expectations didn’t translate to reality.

Teams were allowed to start talking with players on Jan. 21; rumours of the first deal broke just five days later, and from there, an avalanche of deal-making involved many franchises — but not the Valkyries.

On Feb. 5, the newest team finally made some movies by acquiring three undrafted players in Janelle Salaün, Kyara Linskens and Chloe Bibby. Although they come with valuable international experience, they were not exactly the big moves fans were expecting following the Golden State expansion draft, where head coach Natalie Nakase shared how excited she was to build up a team from scratch.

The biggest acquisition for this new squad: Tiffany Hayes. Hayes won the 2024 WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year for her contributions with the Las Vegas Aces and will bring a strong veteran presence to this young squad. However, the 35-year-old guard has announced her retirement once already, in December 2023, before signing mid-season with the Aces in 2024. She could be looking to leave the court for good soon, leaving the Valkyries searching for veteran leadership once more.

Unfortunately for Golden State, its dreams of doing damage in free agency seem to have been squashed by the reality that it’s difficult to attract experienced players to a brand-new franchise.

The Mercury had a free agency period from another planet.

They secured the two hottest options available in Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally and managed to keep their first-round pick in the 2027 draft while doing so.

Thomas is a leader you can build a team around, and the Mercury, after losing key veteran Brittney Griner during the off-season, needed to secure another experienced player for the locker room.

As for Sabally, her scoring acumen speaks for itself. What’s almost as impressive is Phoenix found a way to land her. She started the free agency conversation on Jan. 9, when she told reporters she was ready to leave the Dallas Wings. However, Phoenix didn’t find a deal that worked until Feb. 2, and even then it took the inclusion of three other teams to make it happen.

The Sun leave free agency having lost their team’s backbone.

Of the five players who started last season’s last playoff game, none remain. Thomas left to Phoenix, Bonner to Indiana, Tyasha Harris landed in Dallas with DiJonai Carrington, and Brionna Jones is now with Chicago.

With the number of UFAs the Sun had to deal with, it was expected they would lose some, but other factors from off the court could have played a role in these decisions. Thomas spoke out after the Sun’s first playoff game last season and expressed that she thought the team’s practice facilities were disrespectful and that the team needed more.

All these changes have landed the Sun, whether they like it or not, in a rebuild season — a stark contrast for a team that held its own in Game 5 of the WNBA semifinals last season.  

Winners: The game in Canada

The free agency period has had a few standout wins for the growth of the game in the north.

To start, Canadians are finding new homes in the league. Unrestricted free agent and one-time WNBA All-Star Kia Nurse landed in Chicago with the Sky on a one-year deal. The move took the Hamilton native from the league-worst Sparks to a team fresh with young talent where she says she’ll be looking to grow her leadership.

Another Canadian, Laeticia Amihere, was claimed off waivers by Golden State, and now has the opportunity to forge her place in the WNBA on a team still searching for their footing and identity. As the Mississauga, Ont., native looks to establish herself in the league she’ll lean on her previous experience representing Canada at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.

And for the Toronto Tempo, this free agency period was a great time for them to take notes. They can see what worked and what didn’t for the Valkyries and begin to prepare for what could possibly be an even more electric free agency period next winter, following the new CBA that is expected to see the salary cap grow with the incoming $2.2-billion media deal.

All this means that right as the Tempo look to build their inaugural squad, the free agents who’ve secured only one-year deals will be equally as ravenous for new teams to call home.