Make it two trades in three days.
On Sunday, a blockbuster three-team trade started the wheels spinning. On Tuesday, ESPN reported that the Phoenix Mercury are acquiring Alyssa Thomas from the Connecticut Sun.
Thomas, a perennial MVP candidate, spent her entire career in Connecticut after being drafted fourth in 2014.
And a longtime face of the Mercury, Brittney Griner, is headed to the Atlanta Dream in one of the biggest free agency moves in league history.
Sunday’s trade — the first WNBA trade involving multiple No. 1 draft picks — is sending Jewell Loyd to the Las Vegas Aces and Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks. The Seattle Storm received multiple draft picks as well as forward Li Yueru from the Sparks.
From Jan. 11-20, teams were allowed to extend reserved, restricted and core qualifying offers to players. Some notable stars — Thomas, Plum, the New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart, Dallas Wings’ Satou Sabally and Seattle Storm’s Gabby Williams — received a core qualifying offer, what is often referred to as “being cored.”
Negotiations officially opened last Tuesday, and players can sign contracts starting Feb. 1. With a new CBA featuring massive salary bumps expected to come into effect in 2026, expect to see players sign only one-year deals.
Loyd isn’t a free agent but requested a trade from the Storm. And earlier this month Sabally announced she had played her last game for the Wings and is working to find a new home. Because she has been cored, that would have to come via trade.
Other big-name free agents to watch include DeWanna Bonner and Nneka Ogwumike.
And questions still surround the future of WNBA legend Diana Taurasi, who indicated toward the end of the 2024 season that it could be her last in the league. There’s also uncertainty surrounding the future of Elena Delle Donne, who is technically an unrestricted free agent yet hasn’t appeared in the league since 2023.
Keep it here all offseason long for the latest buzz, news and reports surrounding the WNBA. The 2025 season — the league’s 29th — will tip off May 16.
Trade grades | Top free agents | Predictions | Core designation | Offseason guides
Jan. 31 update
10:04 a.m. ET: Natasha Howard will sign with the Indiana Fever as a free agent, sources told ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. The 6-foot-2 forward and three-time WNBA champion returns to the franchise that drafted her fifth overall in 2014.
Howard is a great addition for the @IndianaFever . They are one strategic signing away from contending for a title this year. (DeWanna Bonner would be perfect there. Eager to see where she ends up.) https://t.co/VUZorHij6V
— Rebecca Lobo (@RebeccaLobo) January 31, 2025
Jan. 30 update
2:45 p.m. ET: Brionna Jones is signing with the Atlanta Dream, her agent, Boris Lelchitski, told ESPN’s Alexa Philippou.
Jones, a three-time All-Star, spent her entire career with the Connecticut Sun, where she was selected No. 8 in 2017. She emerged as a critical frontcourt presence amid their run of six consecutive semifinal berths, along the way earning the 2021 Most Improved Player and 2022 Sixth Player of the Year awards.
Jan. 29 updates
4:54 p.m. ET: Free agent Courtney Vandersloot is expected to sign with the Chicago Sky on a one-year deal when contracts can be executed on Saturday, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne confirmed.
11 a.m. ET: Guard Kelsey Mitchell will return to the Indiana Fever for 2025, the team announced Wednesday. Mitchell has played all eight of her WNBA seasons in Indiana since being drafted No. 2 in 2018. She averaged a career-best 19.2 points per game and shot a season-high 46.8% from the field in 2024.
Jan. 28 updates
8:33 p.m. ET: Brittney Griner has agreed to a one-year deal with the Atlanta Dream, ESPN’s Alexa Philippou and Shams Charania reported. Griner has spent her entire 11-year WNBA career with the Phoenix Mercury.
MORE: How Griner fits in Atlanta and the legacy she leaves behind in Phoenix
MORE: How trades will impact fantasy women’s basketball
0:56
Alyssa Thomas traded to Phoenix Mercury
Kendra Andrews joins “SportsCenter” to break the news that Alyssa Thomas is being traded from the Connecticut Sun to the Phoenix Mercury.
5:44 p.m. ET: Natasha Cloud, Rebecca Allen and the No. 12 pick in the 2025 draft are headed to the Connecticut Sun in return for Alyssa Thomas, ESPN’s Alexa Philippou confirmed. Tyasha Harris is also headed to Phoenix in the trade.
2:03 p.m. ET: The Phoenix Mercury are finalizing a trade to acquire five-time All-Star forward Alyssa Thomas from the Connecticut Sun, sources told ESPN’s Alexa Philippou on Tuesday.
MORE: Trade grades: Alyssa Thomas an unlikely star for Phoenix — but here’s why the trade makes sense
1:01
What blockbuster trade means for Sparks, Aces and Storm
Kendra Andrews reacts to the three-team trade that saw Jewell Loyd go to the Aces and Kelsey Plum to the Sparks.
Jan. 26 update
8:21 p.m. ET: In the first trade in league history involving multiple former No. 1 draft picks, the Las Vegas Aces acquired Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd while sending Aces guard Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania, Alexa Philippou, Ramona Shelburne and Kendra Andrews.
In the three-team trade, the Storm are also acquiring the No. 2 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft and forward Li Yueru from the Sparks, as well as Las Vegas’ 2026 first-round pick, sources told ESPN. Los Angeles receives the 2025 No. 9 pick and a 2026 second-round pick from Seattle. The Aces receive the 2025 No. 13 pick from the Sparks.
The deal will be made official Feb. 1, sources said.
MORE: WNBA trade grades: How Plum-Loyd blockbuster shakes up three teams — and possibly the Paige Bueckers sweepstakes
MORE: Fantasy Basketball: Plum, Loyd set to shine on new teams
Blockbuster WNBA deal: The Seattle Storm are trading six-time All-Star Jewell Loyd to the Las Vegas Aces in a multi-team move that sends three-time All-Star Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks, sources tell me, @ramonashelburne, @alexaphilippou, @kendra__andrews. pic.twitter.com/OlRb37RKIA
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 27, 2025
Jan. 20 update
Brittney Griner, who has spent 11 seasons in Phoenix since the Mercury drafted her No. 1 in 2013, is testing the free agent market for the first time in her career, according to The Associated Press. The center is meeting with multiple teams while in Miami competing for Unrivaled, according to Griner’s agent.
Jan. 17 update
The Connecticut Sun extended a core qualifying offer to Alyssa Thomas.
Jan. 16 update
The Indiana Fever extended a core qualifying offer to Kelsey Mitchell.
Jan. 14 update
The Seattle Storm designated Gabby Williams as their core player, meaning she will not become an unrestricted free agent, ESPN’s Kevin Pelton reported.
Williams joins Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces), Satou Sabally (Dallas Wings) and Breanna Stewart (New York Liberty) as players with the core designation, which allows them to sign the one-year qualifying offer at the WNBA’s highest possible salary ($249,244) but prevents them from signing with another team as a free agent.
Jan. 9 update
Unrestricted free agent Satou Sabally will be moving on from the Dallas Wings after spending the first five years of her career there, she told reporters Thursday from Miami.
“I’m working with (the Wings) and finding a next home for me,” Sabally said. “I’ve already played my last game in Dallas.”
What is the WNBA’s core system?
The WNBA’s core player designation is akin to the NFL franchise tag. A team can “core” a player to prevent them from becoming an unrestricted free agent by retaining their exclusive rights.
A core qualifying offer is a guaranteed one-year contract at the supermax, but the team and player can negotiate different terms to a deal. Each team can core only one player, and the 2020 CBA reduced the number of times players can be cored in their career gradually from four to three and, as of 2022, to two, a major change that opened up free agency movement throughout the league.
Six players — Sabally, Plum, Stewart, Mitchell, Thomas and Williams — have been cored so far in 2025, the most in one offseason under this current CBA. But that doesn’t mean those players will return to the teams that cored them. Sabally has already said she’s moving on from Dallas. With the Wings coring her — which they likely did to ensure they’d get some return for Sabally leaving — the only way for her to change teams is via trade.
According to tracking via Across the Timeline, the last time multiple players were cored and traded in one offseason was 2020 (Tina Charles and Skylar Diggins-Smith), but expect other big names to join Sabally in departing their franchises this free agency via that mechanism. And that doesn’t even include a trade that’s suspected to come when Seattle parts with Loyd, as the star requested out in December. — Alexa Philippou
