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The WNBA’s offseason has been swift and sudden, with trades and signings that have impacted the fortunes of both contenders and rebuilders. Which teams are the biggest winners and losers of free agency so far?
Winner: Indiana Fever
The Fever vastly improved on the margins, signing veteran free agents like DeWanna Bonner and Natasha Howard and trading for a complimentary outside shooter in Sophie Cunningham. Re-signing Kelsey Mitchell also signals that the Fever are serious about building a true title contending team around Caitlin Clark.
The Fever added both shooting and frontcourt experience, which is something they severely lacked last year. The team could use another center to back up Aliyah Boston, but, for now, the team has done a good job building this roster around their core. The Fever know that the best time to be aggressive in free agency is now, while Clark is still on her rookie deal. They’ve done exactly that, turning this team into a true title contender overnight.
Loser: Las Vegas Aces
To be clear, the Aces are still a title contender because of A’ja Wilson alone; however that doesn’t change the fact that this offseason has been pretty disastrous. The Aces lost two beloved assistants in Tyler Marsh and Natalie Nakase to head coaching jobs with the Chicago Sky and Golden State Valkyries, respectively. Nakase was able to lure both Kate Martin and 2024 Sixth Player of the Year Tiffany Hayes to Golden State. The Aces also lost 2023 Sixth Player of the Year Alysha Clark to the Seattle Storm, while locker room favorite Sydney Colson signed with aforementioned Fever. Those losses crater their depth from last season.
Jewell Loyd is a decent return for losing Kelsey Plum, but Loyd is a downgrade from Plum and her fit in the offense could be questionable given her preferred style of play. To make matters worse, the Aces forfeited their first-round pick in this year’s draft due to the WNBA investigation into head coach Becky Hammon’s treatment of Dearica Hamby. The Aces did sign Cheyenne Parker-Tyus and will get to see former Virginia Tech star Liz Kitley make her WNBA debut, which means the team will have some frontcourt depth around Wilson. However, this offseason has been a step in the wrong direction for a Las Vegas team hoping to get back to the championship.
Winner: Seattle Storm
After Jewell Loyd’s trade request, the Storm recovered nicely, gaining the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft. Seattle was able to re-sign Gabby Williams, Nneka Ogwumike and bring home Alysha Clark. The team also traded for Lexie Brown, who brings outside shooting, something this team has sorely lacked for years. Erica Wheeler also was signed last week, giving the team plenty of guard depth.
Losing Jordan Horston to a torn ACL was a massive blow, but the Storm still retain most of their core from last year while having the option of selecting anyone in this year’s draft not named Paige Bueckers. Point guard seems like the obvious priority. One could only imagine what a Skylar Diggins-Smith and Olivia Miles backcourt could achieve. However, after the Wheeler and Brown signings, the team could be looking to go in a different direction in this year’s draft. Expect Seattle to be one of, if not THE, best defense in basketball this year.
Loser: Connecticut Sun
After multiple Finals runs in the Alyssa Thomas era, the Sun decided to pull the plug and trade her to Phoenix, signaling a rebuild, right?
Aside from the fact that the Sun’s return for Thomas was pretty underwhelming, they now have two veterans in Natasha Cloud and Marina Mabrey on the roster, both of whom could be moved for draft compensation. Instead, the team (for now) has decided to hold onto both players. The Sun are in a terrible spot because they don’t own their first-round pick next year, meaning it wouldn’t benefit them to tank this season. But given the talent in the 2027 draft class, tanking this year and next year should probably be the approach since the lottery odds combine team records from the previous two seasons.
Furthermore, keeping two veterans on one-year deals is a bad look and makes no sense from a team-building standpoint. Not to mention, Mabrey’s agent has been vocal about the 26-year-old wanting to be traded; he has criticized the Sun organization for essentially holding her hostage. A team in this situation should be collecting draft picks and looking to tank for a better return, not keeping around disgruntled veterans who have trade value for a pointless 20-win season that will ruin their chances of getting a superstar like JuJu Watkins in 2027.
