After more than 17 months of WNBA collective bargaining agreement negotiations, including a weeklong marathon session at the end, the WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association verbally agreed to terms on a revolutionary new deal.
The news, toasted by the two sides early Wednesday morning, acts like a starting pistol for what will now be an expedited, action-packed WNBA offseason.
The next month is expected to be a full-on sprint for general managers, players and agents ahead of the 2026 season, which still is scheduled to tip off May 8.
First, the CBA needs to be officially ratified by the rank-and-file and the WNBA Board of Governors. It’s believed that lawyers need several weeks to put together a formal contract.
The offseason has been paused since the WNBA and players union agreed to suspend league business in January. That moratorium is expected to remain intact until the CBA is ratified.
Once that’s lifted, the chaos begins.
Here’s a look at what the next month could look like once the ink dries on the CBA, with the tentative dates for each step:
April 1-6: Expansion draft
The rules for the expansion draft are negotiated as part of the CBA.
General managers are just now learning the details of how the expansion drafts for new teams in Toronto and Portland will be handled.
Teams will tentatively have to submit their protected players lists in early April.
With the NCAA Final Four taking place April 3-5, the WNBA’s expansion drafts are slated to happen April 6.
April 7-8: Qualifying offers
Once the expansion draft is completed, the first stages of free agency would start.
In past years, teams would have 10 days to extend qualifying offers to reserved and restricted free agents as well as to designate a core player to a pending unrestricted free agent. (It remained unclear Wednesday morning what the parameters of the core designation would be under the new CBA, if it exists at all.)
The 2026 qualifying offer period will be winnowed down to a matter of days to fit the condensed timeline.
April 9: Free agency negotiations begin
April 12: Contracts officially can be signed
More than 100 players — or roughly two-thirds of the league — are seeking new contracts, including some of the league’s biggest stars: A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier and the Liberty tandem of Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu.
In a normal offseason, free agency starts Feb. 1 and can drag on for weeks. For example, despite Stewart publicly announcing her plans to return Brooklyn to help the Liberty’s 2024 title defense last offseason, she didn’t officially sign a contract until March 29, 2025.
Negotiations and signings will have to be accelerated this year. Some league observers have speculated it could lead to a trend of players re-signing with their former teams on short-term deals.
April 13: WNBA draft
The WNBA draft always happens roughly one week after the NCAA Tournament ends.
The 2026 draft is scheduled for April 13. That is likely to stand even if it means free agency is occurring simultaneously.
April 19: Training camp opens
WNBA training camps are scheduled to open April 19 — a little less than three weeks before the season opener.
April 25: Preseason games start
The Liberty are slated to open the league’s preseason action against the Fever on April 25.
Seattle is also slated to play the Valkyries that day.
The Liberty are scheduled to play a second preseason game in Connecticut on May 3.
May 8: Regular season tips off
The WNBA is slated to tip off its 30th season on May 8, and an on-time start is still viable after Wednesday’s agreement.
The Liberty, playing in one of three games that day, are scheduled to open their 2026 campaign in Brooklyn against the Sun.
