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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Blake Silverman

Explaining the WNBA Salary Cap & its Implications on Free Agency

A view of the ball during the second half of game five of the 2024 WNBA playoffs between the Minnesota Lynx and the Connecticut Sun. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

WNBA free agency kicks off in February when players can begin to sign new deals and subsequently change the league's landscape. In 2025, a new team enters the mix in the Golden State Valkyries, with the Toronto Tempo and unnamed Portland franchise to follow in 2026.

The WNBA's salary cap contains nuances and roster exceptions that are unique to the league and its current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) which has been in effect since 2020. Currently, the WNBA and the WNBPA, the league's players association, are negotiating a new CBA. The players opted out of the current CBA this past October, just before a deadline to do so on Nov. 1. The current CBA remains in effect through Oct. 31, 2025, which gives the league and the player's union until the end of the year to reach a new deal.

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