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WNBA offseason winners and losers: Mercury, Fever, Sparks rise, while the Sun spiral
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- WNBA offseason winners and losers: Mercury, Fever, Sparks rise, while the Sun spiral
After the most successful season in WNBA history in terms of impact and viewership, fans will see massive roster turnover as teams are stockpiling players and picks trying to dethrone the defending champion New York Liberty .
The flurry of trades and moves in free agency has fans itching for the May 16 tip-off and another WNBA season that could break more viewership records and put an even larger spotlight on the league that was sorely missing before last season.
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The Dallas Wings have the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft , but before they can make a selection on a potential franchise-changing player, teams have been wheeling and dealing, making trades, signing All-Stars, reshuffling the draft order. But there are a few teams – for better or for worse – that had interesting offseasons, and the 29th WNBA season is sure not to disappoint.
Here are the winners and losers of the WNBA so far in the free agency period:
Kelsey Plum is leaving Las Vegas and headed to the Los Angeles Sparks, while Jewell Loyd, right, is joining the Aces after a long tenure with the Seattle Storm.
OPINION: No banner big enough to reflect Caitlin Clark's legacy
Winners
Los Angeles Sparks
The Los Angeles Sparks aquired All-Star guard and Olympic gold medalist Kelsey Plum from the Las Vegas Aces in a trade that Jewell Loyd , another All-Star and Olympic gold medalist to Vegas, with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 draft headed to Seattle Storm as part of the blockbuster deal . The Storm also received forward Li Yueru from Los Angeles as well as the Aces first-round pick in 2026. In addition to Plum, the Sparks also get the No. 9 overall pick in 2025 and a 2026 second-round pick from the Storm, while Las Vegas gets the 2025 No. 13 pick from Los Angeles.
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New coach Sparks coach Lynne Roberts has plenty to work with and can start to build a competitive team. The Sparks, who have missed the postseason each of the past four seasons, have a core that can compete for a playoff spot in 2025 with Plum, Dearica Hamby , Rickea Jackson , and Cameron Brink , who should be fully healthy from a knee injury that wiped out her rookie season.
Truth be told, anything would be an improvement from a 2024 season where Los Angeles had the league's worst record and finished in the bottom three in offense and defense.
Phoenix Mercury
The newest and most intriguing superteam resides out in Phoenix, with All-Star forwards Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas heading to the Mercury after two big trades. Yes, the Mercury lost longtime stalwart Brittney Griner, who signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Dream . And, yes, the status of Diana Taurasi, the league's all-time leading scorer, is still a bit murky. But the Mercury are reloading as they try to make the jump to the league's upper echelon.
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With Kahleah Copper , who averaged 21 points a game last season, returning, the Mercury improve on both ends, but unless they can bring in some bench help, those three will be asked to play heavy minutes. Regardless, some more size and another reliable shooting threat couldn't hurt, and they will have to fill that roster spot through another acquisition, as they don't have a single pick in the three-round 2025 draft.
Indiana Fever
The Caitlin Clark effect is real, with players flocking to the Midwest to play with the league's Rookie of the Year . A 1-8 start led to a 20-20 finish and a first-round playoff exit, but that was enough to get two All-Star veterans, forwards Natasha Howard and DeWanna Bonner , to help with the core of Clark, 2023 Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston , and re-signed All-Star Kelsey Mitchell (19 ppg, 40% 3-pt FG). New additions Sydney Colson and Sophie Cunningham add depth and toughness, something that at times was lacking last season.
New head coach Stephanie White , who returned to her home state after winning Coach of the Year honors with the Connecticut Sun , has a starting five that can now compete for championships, and anything less than a top-three seed in 2025 will be a major disappointment.
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Losers
Connecticut Sun
The Sun's status as one of the top teams in the league has almost certainly come to an end – at least temporarily. First head coach Stephanie White left to take the same job with the Fever. Connecticut then saw its entire starting five depart either via trade or free agency, including Thomas, Bonner and Brionna Jones, who joined Griner in Atlanta. Scoring threat Marina Mabrey has now asked for a trade as well.
Connecticut did sign eight-time All-Star and former MVP Tina Charles, who is 36, guard Diamond DeShields and acquired guard Natasha Cloud in a multi-team trade with Phoenix, but with only two players that were on last year's roster, there isn't much of a sense of what's going on.
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There is no telling what this team will look like when the season starts, as new head coach Rachid Meziane, who is also the Belgian men's national team coach, has his work cut out for him.
Golden State Valkyries
Most professional sports leagues do expansion franchises no favors during their first few seasons, and the Golden State Valkyries, despite having resources most teams would love to have , are no exception. The WNBA's newest team is expected to struggle in their initial season. But all is not lost in the Bay, even though Golden State could not land any of the top players in the market in this free agent cycle.
The Valkyries did sign Tiffany Hayes, the 2024 Sixth Player of the Year with Las Vegas, and have to hope they hit with their selections in the draft, especially the no. 5 overall pick. Valkyries owner Joe Lacob admitted there are challenges in roster building, likening the franchise to a "startup." However, most of the current roster will rely on Hayes and international players from countries like Australia, France, and Belgium, so 2025 will be a work in progress. Adding Monique Billings and Kate Martin in the WNBA expansion draft helps, as their roles will significantly change, going from reserves to possible starters.
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Washington Mystics
There has hardly been a peep out of the Mystics this offseason, which is a surprise because they were one of the league's worst teams in 2024. New general manager Jamila Wideman inherits a squad that did get better as the season wore on and actually won eight of their final 12 games to close the season. The team does have two first-round picks – the No. 4 and No. 6 overall picks – and could package those selections to try to make some noise in the draft (wink, wink, Paige Bueckers) but they are drowning in salary cap hell and can't do much beyond what is currently on the roster.
This is no doubt a rebuild, even if Elena Delle Donne is healthy and decides she wants to come back and play. The biggest needs would be another shooter to go alongside Stefanie Dolson and a reliable point guard to get her the ball when she decides to go inside.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WNBA free agency winners, losers include Mercury, Fever, Sparks, Sun
