Earlier this month, the New York Liberty won their first title in franchise history by defeating the Minnesota Lynx in a thrilling 2024 WNBA Finals that went the full five games and had two contests decided by overtime and an average margin of victory of 5.2 points.Â
The Liberty celebrated on Thursday with a ticker-tape parade through New York City and a ceremony in front of Barclays Center with their fans. With that, the historic 2024 WNBA regular season is in the books and the offseason has officially begun.
Over the next six months, we’ll see some drastic changes across the league, including the introduction of a new expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries, who will fill out their roster with an expansion draft, the 2025 WNBA Draft Lottery, free agency and the 2025 WNBA Draft. And that’s to say nothing about labor talks, coaching changes and potential retirements and trades.
Ahead of one of the most important winters the league has ever seen, here are five key storylines to watch:
The coaching carousel
As the offseason begins in earnest, seven of the league’s 13 teams do not have a head coach: the Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, Dallas Wings, Los Angeles Sparks, Washington Mystics, Indiana Fever and Connecticut Sun. It’s no coincidence that list includes the league’s five worst teams last season.
The Dream had plateaued under Tanisha Wright. The Sky were concerned about Teresa Weatherspoon’s lack of experience. The Wings wanted a full reset of the organization ahead of what figures to be a monumental winter. The Sparks’ ownership group blamed Curt Miller for the team’s last-place finish. The Mystics’ brass decided a decade of the Thibault regime was enough, which spelled the end for both Mike and Eric. The Fever went a different direction despite making the playoffs for the first time since 2016. And the Sun let go of White after failing to break through the semifinals the last two seasons.
Rightly or wrongly, all of those teams have now made their choice. It would not be a surprise to see some of these coaches trade places. Miller, in particular, figures to be a candidate for multiple openings considering his resume. There will also be plenty of assistant coaches who figure to get a look, including, but not limited to, Katie Smith (Lynx), Rebekkah Brunson (Lynx), Briann January (Sun), Tyler Marsh (Aces) and Kristi Toliver (Mercury).
For further info regarding the current coaching landscape, check out our coaching tracker here.
An expansion draft
After years of discussion, the WNBA has finally put expansion into motion. The Golden State Valkyries will join as the league’s 13th team in the 2025 season, followed by yet unnamed franchises in Toronto and Portland in 2026. Beyond that, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert has stated she hopes to get to 16 teams by 2028. This is the first time the league has added a team since 2008, when the Atlanta Dream joined the mix.
To fill out the Valkyries’ initial roster, the league will hold an expansion draft on Dec. 6. Here are the main rules you need to know:
Each of the 12 other teams can protect up to six players, who will be ineligible for selection. The Valkyries can only select one player from each team. The Valkyries are not required to take 12 players, and can leave open roster spots for free agents or trade acquisitions. If the Valkyries select a player who is a free agent for the 2025 season, they will obtain whatever rights the previous team had to that player. For example, if a player was set to be a restricted free agent, the Valkyries would then have the right of first refusal on any contract offer from another team. The Valkyries can only select one player who will be an unrestricted free agent in 2025, and they can only do so provided that the player has not previously played pursuant to a Core Player contract for two or more seasons.
This is going to be an exciting process for the Valkyries and everyone watching from afar, but stressful for the other 12 teams, who are set to lose someone from their roster. The better and deeper teams, particularly the Liberty and Lynx, figure to be especially anxious about losing a member of their championship-level rotation.
Who will win the Draft Lottery?
The first major item on the offseason agenda is the 2025 WNBA Draft Lottery, which is set for Nov. 17. As always, the annual event will determine the lottery order for the 2025 WNBA Draft, including which team gets the No. 1 overall pick.
While this draft class doesn’t have as much star power as last year’s, it does boast one potential superstar in UConn guard Paige Bueckers. The presumptive top pick has dealt with injury problems during her collegiate career, but is an incredible offensive talent and improving defender who could immediately transform a franchise.
