More Than 50% of WNBA Players Are With New Teams This Season

The WNBA is getting a fresh start this season. Many, in fact.

A new collective bargaining agreement raised salaries across the board—the minimum rose from $66,000 to $270,000, and the maximum increased from $250,000 to $1.4 million. The league’s new media rights deal will deliver a record 216 regular-season games to national audiences across nine different networks.

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It’s also a fresh start for more than half of the league’s players. Teams finalized their rosters on Thursday afternoon, and only 84 of the 180 players are returning to teams for which they played last season, not counting developmental contracts or overseas players.

WNBA players anticipated pay raises this year due to the labor dispute, and many timed their contracts to expire this offseason so they could enter free agency in a more lucrative market. More than 30 of those free agents switched teams, including three-time All-Star Satou Sabally, who joined the New York Liberty, the 2024 champions.

Two free agents signed deals with new teams worth an average of $1.25 million annually: Gabby Williams with the Golden State Valkyries and Alanna Smith with the Dallas Wings. Dallas added four additional free agents to bolster their roster surrounding a pair of No. 1 overall draft picks—Paige Bueckers (2025) and Azzi Fudd (2026).

Another cohort of players has new homes via the Expansion Draft held on April 3. The two expansion franchises beginning play this season, the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo, selected players from other teams to fill out their rosters. The Fire’s top expansion-draft pick was Bridget Carleton, previously on the Minnesota Lynx, and the Tempo selected Julie Allemand from the Los Angeles Sparks with the second pick.

There are also 38 rookies on opening day rosters—the Washington Mystics have the most with six.

The Valkyries have the most continuity from last season, going into Year 2 of the franchise with nine returning players. Aside from the expansion franchises, the team with the most fresh faces is the Connecticut Sun, with just four returnees from the 2025 roster.

Despite the massive reshuffling of the decks, most of the league’s superstars stayed put. Napheesa Collier and A’ja Wilson—the top two players in MVP voting each of the past two seasons—signed max contracts to return to the Lynx and Las Vegas Aces, respectively. Caitlin Clark is still under contract with the Indiana Fever. The big exception: Angel Reese, the women’s basketball player with the most Instagram followers, who was traded from the Chicago Sky to the Atlanta Dream.

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