WNBA players are cashing in with record-setting deals under the new collective bargaining agreement
By Jack Maloney Apr 11, 2026 at 7:25 pm ET • 7 min read 
Getty Images WNBA free agency is in full swing and already we've seen several surprises, including Skylar Diggins signing with the Chicago Sky, Satou Sabally reportedly agreeing to join the New York Liberty (per ESPN) and Nneka Ogwumike deciding to return to the Los Angeles Sparks.
For a roundup of the biggest deals this week, check out our full free agency tracker:
2026 WNBA free agency tracker, top 50 rankings: Satou Sabally reportedly signing with Liberty in big splash Jack Maloney
As the action continues, here's a look at some of the early winners and losers from free agency:
Winner: New York Liberty load up with stars
The Liberty are on fire to start free agency.
After winning it all in 2024, the Liberty's title defense did not go to plan as the 2025 season was overrun by injuries. Before play had even started, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was ruled out for the season and Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones both missed significant time over the summer. Only one player, Marine Johannès, appeared in every single game.
Stewart, Jones and Sabrina Ionescu only played 234 minutes together over 15 games in the regular season, and the Liberty had to settle for the No. 5 seed. Stewart then suffered a knee sprain in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Phoenix Mercury. And early in their season-ending Game 3 defeat, Leonie Fiebich fractured a rib.
The early exit cost coach Sandy Brondello her job, and the Liberty hired Chris DeMarco to replace her ahead of a busy and complicated offseason. DeMarco and general manager Jonathan Kolb caught a bit of luck during the double expansion draft when they only lost one rotation player (Nyara Sabally). They then made waves to start free agency.
In a complete stunner on Saturday, the Liberty reportedly agreed to a deal with Sabally, a three-time All-Star. A short time later, the New York Post reported that Jones had agreed to re-sign with the team. While Stewart and Ionescu (cored earlier this week) are yet to ink new deals, both have made it clear that they're staying.
It's fair to have some questions about how Stewart, Jones and Sabally will fit together in the frontcourt, but no one expected the Liberty to add a fourth star to the mix this spring. Regardless of how the Liberty fill out the rest of the roster, the team is more talented than it was last season. Plus, Stewart and Sabally are injury insurance for each other, given their respective health issues in recent years.
Loser: Chicago Sky make another puzzling trade
If this exercise were limited strictly to free agent signings, the Sky would be a winner.
Historically, Chicago has not been a big free agent destination. But the combination of cap space and a new practice facility, which will open later this year, helped the Sky reverse that trend. On Saturday, the organization announced deals with Diggins, a seven-time All-Star, and veteran forward Azurá Stevens, who was on their 2021 title team.
Diggins is immediately one of the best free agent signings in franchise history. The 36-year-old is not the player she was in her prime, but she's still performing at an All-Star level and is one of the best two-way guards in the league. She's also a tenacious competitor and will help raise standards in the locker room and the organization as a whole.
Stevens has struggled with injuries throughout her career, including during her first stint in Chicago, but when healthy, she's one of the more versatile offensive bigs around. She's coming off a second-place finish in Most Improved Player voting and will give the Sky a big who can space the floor around Kamilla Cardoso. Last season, Stevens shot 38.1% on 4.4 3-point attempts per game.
The positive moves the Sky made in free agency were offset by a pair of poor trades, however.
Early in the week, the Sky traded two-time All-Star Angel Reese and a 2028 second-round pick swap to the Atlanta Dream for first-round picks in 2027 and 2028. Then, on Saturday, the Sky sent their 2028 first-round pick to the Washington Mystics in exchange for Jacy Sheldon.
There's no need to rehash the Reese trade. The organization mismanaged its relationship with its best and most valuable player and ended up trading her after just two seasons for a poor return.
Angel Reese trade grades: Why Sky get 'F' after moving on quickly, Dream make major splash Jack Maloney
The Sheldon deal is yet another example of general manager Jeff Pagliocca's flippant attitude toward draft picks. Just last year, he sent the No. 3 pick (Sonia Citron) and a first-round swap in 2027 to the Mystics in exchange for Ariel Atkins. Now, he's sent the Sky's 2028 first-round pick outright to the Mystics for Sheldon. Giving the Mystics full control of your next two first-round picks (and Citron) in exchange for Atkins and Sheldon does not make sense.
It's also worth noting that the Sky don't have the No. 2 pick in this year's draft because Pagliocca dealt their 2026 first-round selection to the Minnesota Lynx to move up one spot and select Reese, whom he then traded after two seasons for what will almost certainly be two late first-round picks from the Dream in 2027 and 2028.
Sheldon, the No. 5 overall pick in 2024, is a solid player. She's a feisty, physical defender with good size on the perimeter, and has shot 35.1% from 3-point range for her career while taking nearly half of her shots from behind the arc. Defensive-minded guards who are a threat from the perimeter are always helpful players to have around. But the Sky will be Sheldon's fourth team in three seasons, and long-term she's probably best suited as a reserve.
The 2028 draft class will be headlined by UConn's Sarah Strong, potentially one of the best prospects ever, and Vanderbilt's Mikayla Blakes. The Sky surely expect they will be much improved by then and won't be in the lottery, but there's no guarantee of that based on their current roster, even with the additions of Diggins and Stevens.
If any team should know that short-sightedly giving up future picks can come back to bite you, it should be the Sky. But apparently they haven't learned.
Loser: Phoenix Mercury hit hard after last year's Finals run
The Mercury completely revamped their roster last offseason. They added Alyssa Thomas and Sabally to form a big three along with Kahleah Copper, and made several savvy signings around the margins to create depth. Despite plenty of questions and an inconsistent regular season, the Mercury went on a surprise run to the Finals, upsetting the Liberty and Lynx -- the 2024 Finalists -- along the way.
Unless something unexpected happens over the next few days, it's going to be hard for them to repeat that success in 2026. During the expansion draft, the Mercury lost two rotation players, Lexi Held and Kitija Laksa. Now, Sabally is gone as well, having reportedly agreed to join the Liberty. Held and Laksa are replaceable, but not Sabally.
There are few forwards as dynamic as Sabally, who averaged a team-leading 16.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.3 steals last season. She also had some huge performances in the postseason before her season-ending concussion in Game 3 of the Finals. In 1,039 minutes with Sabally last season, the Mercury had a plus-7.9 net rating; in 721 minutes without her, they had a minus-1.6 net rating.
The Mercury have agreed to a deal to bring back Thomas, and as long as she's around, they're going to be competitive. But even if they re-sign Copper as well, this team won't be as talented as it was last season. And remember, they only went 27-17 in the regular season and needed some injury luck to get to the Finals.
Without Sabally, it's hard to see the Mercury making another deep playoff run.
Winners: The players
For well over a year, the Women's National Basketball Players Association engaged in a bitter labor dispute with the league that finally came to a conclusion in mid-March. The new collective bargaining agreement established the first comprehensive revenue-sharing model in women's professional sports history and the players won significant financial gains.
The minimum salary quadrupled, the average salary nearly quintupled and the supermax salary more than quintupled.
YearMinimum salaryAverage salarySupermax salary2025
$66,079
$120,000
$249,244
2026
$270K -- $300K (based on years of service)
$583,000
$1.4 million
2026
$340K -- $380K (based on years of service)
$1 million+
$2.4 million
The seven-figure salaries players are signing this week would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. While superstars such as A'ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier were already making significant money off the court, the salary increases have been particularly meaningful for mid-tier players.
Bridget Carleton, Marina Mabrey and Brittney Sykes have all signed max deals this week worth over $1 million, while Jessica Shepard's deal with the Wings is worth more than $1 million per year and Elizabeth Williams' two-year deal will earn her $1.2 million in total.
For comparison, Carleton made $125,000 last season, Mabrey made $210,000, Sykes made $195,000, Shepard made $78,831 and Williams made $100,000. It would have taken Carleton and Shepard a decade at their 2025 salaries to earn what they'll make in 2026. That is a life-changing difference.
Join the Conversation comments
