The 2026 WNBA season begins on May 8th, and the offseason has seen a multitude of free agency signings and important trades. Most notably, forward Angel Reese was traded from the Chicago Sky to the Atlanta Dream. In the 2025 season, Reese started 30 games, averaging 14.7 points and 12.6 rebounds per game. For the second consecutive season, she led the league in rebounds per game. Reese shot 45.8% from the field and 75.6% from the free-throw line, along with 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
According to the Chicago Sun Times, her trade from the Chicago Sky symbolizes an era of reconstruction, as the trade allows them to have future first-round picks for 2027 and 2028. The team wants to achieve roster balance and is securing draft capital; they will gain five first-round picks over the next three seasons. In line with this rebuild, they traded away Ariel Atkins for Rickea Jackson and veteran Skylar Diggins, who is a seven-time All-Star. The team hopes to use veteran experience to create a competitive team that revolves around their center, Kamila Cardoso.
Like the Chicago Sky, the San Francisco Valkyries looked to add a veteran to bolster experience and skill. This will be the second year since the Valkyries inaugural season in 2025, and they have signed Gabby Williams, who appeared in 44 regular-season games last year for the Seattle Storm.
She posted career highs in several categories in 2025, including 11.6 points, 4.2 assists and she led the WNBA in 2.3 steals per game. Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin emphasized Williams’s value, saying that “for a player of Gabby’s caliber to choose us in just our second year… means everything, she is world-class. One of the best defenders in the world, a WNBA All-Star, and someone who makes everyone around her better.”
In the WNBA Draft, the Dallas Wings took University of Conneticut guard Azzi Fudd with the first overall pick, making her the seventh number one overall pick to come out of UConn in the program’s history. In Dallas, she will play alongside former teammate Paige Bueckers, the top draft pick from the 2025 draft. Off the court, the two went public about their romantic relationship in 2025, but managers of the Dallas Wings have stated that they want their players to show their strength as athletes rather than have the press comment on their personal lives. The number two draft pick, Olivia Miles from TCU, went to the Minnesota Lynx, and the number three pick, Awa Fam from Spain, went to the Seattle Storm.
The WNBA offseason has been also monumental in terms of the contracts offered to top players. A’ja Wilson just signed a 3 year contract worth $5 million to return to the Las Vegas Aces. ESPN says, “The deal — $1.4 million for the upcoming season, with a salary that will increase over the next two years based on her receiving 20% of the team’s salary cap — is fully guaranteed and is the largest in WNBA history.”
During the 2025 season Wilson averaged 23.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 steals. This supermax deal shows significant progress for the WNBA in securing fair pay for its players. Forward Napheesa Collier also signed a supermax contract, a one-year, $1.4 million deal with the Minnesota Lynx.
The offseason trades and deals signify a large amount of movement between teams and significant funding for players and programs. This reshuffling of rosters is expected to lead to high-level competition this upcoming season. With new talent combined with veteran experience, this season is likely to showcase the league’s exponential growth and increased visibility of women’s sports.
