The WNBA has never seen more player movement in free agency than in the last three years.
There are two contributing factors for this development: a change in the collective-bargaining agreement and Candace Parker.
The new CBA — ratified in 2020 — was notable for an increase in player salaries and changes to the core designation tag. Before 2020, teams could use the core tag on a player up to four times. In 2020 and 2021, that was decreased to three times. From 2022 -onward, a player can be given the core tag only twice in her career.
Enter Parker and her decision to leave the Los Angeles Sparks and sign with the Sky in 2021, signaling the beginning of a new era in WNBA free agency.
She was the first superstar in the league to leave the franchise that drafted her of her own accord. In 2023, she did it again, opting to sign with the Las Vegas Aces. Meanwhile, Breanna Stewart was making the biggest splash of the year by signing with the New York Liberty as an unrestricted free agent after six seasons and two WNBA titles with the Seattle Storm, who drafted her in 2016.
This year, it’s Nneka Ogwumike who’s causing a stir after her announcement that she wouldn’t be re-signing with the Sparks, who drafted her first overall in 2012, in favor of a fresh opportunity with one of five other teams.
According to an ESPN report, Ogwumike has met with the Phoenix Mercury, Atlanta Dream and Sky. She is set to meet with the Liberty and Storm before making a decision.
Unrestricted free agent Alanna Smith agreed to terms with the Minnesota Lynx, according to her agent, Sammy Wloszczowski of SIG Sports, after a season with the Sky in which she averaged 9.2 points and 6.6 rebounds.
The Sky are working with $511,448 in cap space with seven roster spots to fill, six if they plan to play with the league-minimum 11-player roster.
Ogwumike signed for under the standard max in her last season with the Sparks, but that doesn’t mean the eight-time All-Star and 2016 MVP won’t command a max deal in free agency. Point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith, who’s coming off a four-year supermax deal with the Mercury, is the other max player the Sky’s new regime is actively pursuing.
But can the Sky afford both players, and are they even interested?
Both match the culture being developed in Chicago by first-time WNBA coach Teresa Weatherspoon. Another intriguing landing spot for the pair is Seattle.
The Storm have even less cap space than the Sky, but coach Noelle Quinn could avoid a rebuild by signing Ogwumike and Diggins-Smith. Quinn’s team finished 11th in the league in 2023 but was able to sign five-time All-Star Jewell Loyd to an extension. Loyd’s decision to forgo the free-agent market was a statement of confidence in the direction of the franchise, which is scheduled to open a state-of-the-art player facility before the start of the season.
The league’s standard max contract in ’24 is $208,219, and the supermax is $241,984.
Neither Ogwumike nor Diggins-Smith qualifies for a supermax deal with the Sky or Storm but could net that pay standard via a sign-and-trade deal with their former teams.
The Sky don’t have much draft capital to offer in a sign-and-trade deal but could package one or more of their protected veteran contracts (guard Marina Mabrey’s or forward Isabelle Harrison’s).
Mabrey was the Sky’s No. 2 scorer in 2023, while Harrison sat out after tearing her left meniscus in May. Landing Diggins-Smith would crowd the Sky’s backcourt, prompting speculation about a sign-and-trade for the six-time All-Star that includes Mabrey.
