Winners and Losers of WNBA Free Agency 2025: Los Angeles Sparks, Indiana Fever, and More

WNBA free agency is when players can negotiate and sign with other teams in the league. There are different types of free agents, including unrestricted, restricted, and reserved. As the 2025 WNBA Draft approaches in April, some of the most talented players in the world are part of this Draft. A significant shift is coming across, so let’s dive into understanding and decoding the terminology and principles behind that shift.

Winners of WNBA Free agency 2025

The 2025 WNBA free agency period has stopped. Some notable players remain unsigned, including Breanna Stewart. For the most part, though, we have a pretty good idea of what teams will look like heading into the 2025 season. Here’s a look at the winners from 2025 free agency:

Indiana Fever

Key Acquisitions: DeWanna Bonner, Sydney Colson, Sophie Cunninghan, Natasha Howard

Key Loses: Temi Fagbenle, Katie Lou Samuelson, NaLyssa Smith, Erica Wheeler

The WNBA team Indiana Fever traded for Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally, two of the most versatile forwards in the league, who are less than two years removed from both being on the All-WNBA First Team. There’s not much more you can do in one off season from a talent perspective, and that doesn’t even take into account adding veteran role players like Kalani Brown and Sami Whitcomb.  

Of course, sacrifices had to be made to add two max players. Franchise icon Brittney Griner walked in free agency, while Rebecca Allen, Natasha Cloud, and Sophie Cunningham were all traded away. Depth once again looks to be a concern, though less of one than last season given their upgrades at the top of the depth chart. There’s also a lot riding on Sabally’s health, which has historically not been a wise bet. 

There are certainly ways for this to go wrong, but the Mercury’s ceiling is much higher than it was last season now that they have three of the top 15-20 players in the league. 

Phoenix Mercury

Key Acquisitions: Kalani Brown, Satou Sabally, Alyssa Thomas, Sami Whitcomb

Key Loses: Rebecca Allen, Natasha Cloud, Sophie Cunningham, Brittney Griner

The Phoenix Mercury made several big moves last offseason that didn’t work, so they ripped it all up and started over with even grander ambitions. They traded for Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally, two of the most versatile forwards in the league, who are less than two years removed from both being on the All-WNBA First Team. There’s not much more you can do in one offseason from a talent perspective, and that doesn’t even take into account adding veteran role players like Kalani Brown and Sami Whitcomb.  

Of course, sacrifices had to be made to add two max players. Franchise icon Brittney Griner walked in free agency, while Rebecca Allen, Natasha Cloud, and Sophie Cunningham were all traded away. Depth once again looks to be a concern, though less of one than last season given their upgrades at the top of the depth chart. There’s also a lot riding on Sabally’s health, which has historically not been a wise bet.  There are certainly ways for this to go wrong, but the Mercury’s ceiling is much higher than it was last season now that they have three of the top 15-20 players in the league. 

Also Read: When Does the 2025 WNBA Season Start: Date, Time and More

Los Angeles Sparks

Key Acquisitions: Kelsey Plum, Mercedes Russell, Maria Kliundikova

Key Loses: Kia Nurse, Lexie Brown

The Los Angeles Sparks haven’t made the playoffs since 2020, which is the longest playoff drought in franchise history and the longest active one in the league. Over the past five years, they’ve been bleeding talent: Candace Parker, Nneka Ogwumike, Chelsea Gray, Kristi Toliver, Jordin Canada, Brittney Sykes, and Chiney Ogwumike have all walked out the door. 

This winter, they finally reversed that trend by acquiring Kelsey Plum in a blockbuster three-team trade involving the Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm. Plum is coming off something of a down year by her standards and still finished 10th in the league in scoring. She gives them a true No. 1 option on offense who will command defensive attention and help the development of Rickea Jackson and Cameron Brink. 

The Sparks are not suddenly a contender, but they could compete for one of the last playoff spots. At the very least, Plum’s arrival makes them a much better team than they were last season.

Atlanta Dream

Key Acquisitions: Brittney Griner, Brionna Jones, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough

Key Loses: Cheyenne Parker-Tyus

Entering the free-agency period, the Atlanta Dream was expected to attempt to bolster their center room, find a reliable scorer off the bench, and add some shooting. The concept of Brittney Griner leaving the Mercury felt unfathomable, even in light of recent reporting. If she was going to leave, joining a ready-made contender like the Minnesota Lynx or Aces felt like a natural endpoint. Not only did the Dream swoop in for Griner, giving them a double-team magnet to complement Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray, but they also landed Bri Jones.

The Dream could have 40 minutes worth of All-Star centers in their rotation, or they could play Jones and Griner together and force opposing defenses into uncomfortable positions. As for the reserve guard portion, it’s hard to make a better value signing than Shatori Walker-Kimbrough. She remains a quality guard defender, and her ability to oscillate on and off the ball should vibe well next to Howard, Gray, or even Jordin Canada in smaller lineups.

Losers of WNBA Free Agency 2025

The WNBA free agency has been a wild ride, and while some teams have made significant gains, others have unfortunately fallen behind. Here are the teams that are considered the losers of this year’s WNBA free agency:

Connecticut Sun

Key Acquisitions: Tina Charles, Natasha Cloud, Diamond DeShields, Leila Lacan, Jacy Sheldon

Key Loses: DeWanna Bonner, Veronica Burton, DiJonai Carrington, Tyasha Harris, Brionna Jones, Tiffany Mitchell, Alyssa Thomas 

Early in the offseason, Stephanie White decided to leave the Sun to take the Fever’s coaching job, which was a harbinger of things to come. In recent weeks the team has lost its entire starting lineup from the playoffs last season and multiple key role players. Of their top eight scorers from last season, only Marina Mabrey remains, and she’s requested a trade. 

The Connecticut Sun has long been one of the most consistent and competitive teams in the league. They’ve made eight consecutive playoff appearances, winning at least 20 games in each of those seasons — save for the 22-game COVID-shortened campaign in 2020. In the last six seasons, they’ve made it to at least the semifinals every single time, with two Finals appearances along the way in 2019 and 2022. 

Those days are now over. This is the beginning of what figures to be a long rebuild in Uncasville. In terms of location, facilities, and resources, the Sun has long been well behind the rest of the league, and now the same is true in terms of talent.

Las Vegas Aces

Key Acquisitions: Dana Evans, Jewell Loyd, Tiffany Mitchell, Cheyenne Parker-Tyus

Key Loses: Alysha Clark, Tiffany Hayes, Kate Martin, Kelsey Plum

The Las Vegas Aces made one of the first major moves of the offseason when they traded Kelsey Plum for Jewell Loyd in a major three-team deal with the Storm and Sparks. If Plum wanted to leave, which seemed to be the case, getting Loyd in return was much better than nothing. But even if you assume that Loyd can’t possibly be as bad as she was last season, the Aces got the worse end of that swap. 

It seems that the Aces also made some miscalculations with the expansion draft and their free agents. Back in December, they left Kate Martin unprotected and lost her to the Valkyries. In a vacuum that was not an egregious decision, and everyone assumed it was made with an eye on keeping Tiffany Hayes and Alysha Clark. But come February, both of them walked. The Aces ended the offseason down their two most important veteran role players and one of their few young talents. 

Since then, the Aces have taken a few swings by signing Cheyenne Parker-Tyus and Tiffany Mitchell and trading for Dana Evans. Entering this winter, the primary goal for the Aces was improving their depth, which was a major issue last season. Instead, it arguably got worse. 

As long as A’ja Wilson is leading the way, the Aces are going to be in the mix, but this was a disappointing winter in Las Vegas. 

Washington Mystics

Key Acquisitions: None

Key Loses: Julie Vanloo, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough

What a strange offseason in D.C. The Washington Mystics waited forever to make new hires on the general manager (Jamila Wideman) and coaching (Sydney Johnson) fronts after closing the book on the Thibaults era way back in October. Other than that, the organization has essentially sat on its hands. 

They lost Julie Vanloo in the expansion draft and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough in free agency and have made no notable additions. 

With no guaranteed money on the books past this season, and Aaliyah Edwards (unprotected rookie deal), Sike Kone (team option), and Jade Melbourne (team option) as the only players under contract for 2026, it appears the Mystics are heading toward a complete reset. But if that is indeed the direction, why not look to trade some of their veterans this winter to help jumpstart the rebuild? It’s clear from all of the activity around the league in the last few weeks that teams were willing to do business, and the Mystics have several players who could help contenders this season. Surely they could have added some future picks or young talent.

Golden State ValKyries

Key Acquisitions: Tiffany Hayes, Janelle Salaün, Chloe Bibby, Kyara Linskens

Key Loses: None

The Valkyries entered the offseason with the most cap space in the league. 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. Eventhough 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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