Most of the dust has settled in the WNBA offseason, with only minor moves left to be made ahead of the 2025 season.
While much attention has been paid to major moves like Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally going to Phoenix and DeWanna Bonner going to Indiana, there were a lot of other moves that have flown under the radar. What are some of those moves and what do they mean for the 2025 WNBA season?
Here are the five best under-the-radar moves from WNBA free agency.
Seattle Storm sign Erica Wheeler
2024 was a bad year for Erica Wheeler. The veteran point guard played just 14.0 minutes per game for the Fever, her lowest mark since her 2015 rookie season.
But it's hard to really blame Wheeler herself for that. Indiana drafted Caitlin Clark and paired her in the Fever backcourt with Kelsey Mitchell. Since both players are more than capable of being lead ball-handlers, there wasn't much use for Wheeler, especially when you factor in that she's not a major shooting threat so having her play off-ball wasn't going to help Indiana win games.
This offseason, Wheeler signed with the Storm, where she should be valued a lot higher. Sure, the Storm have Skylar Diggins-Smith at the one, but the team heavily lacks guard depth behind SDS, especially with Nika Muhl and Jordan Horston both injured.
We should see plenty of lineups with Wheeler at the one and SDS at the two. Wheeler is a skilled ball-handler and will get a chance to showcase that for a Storm team that won't be title contenders, but should still be pretty good.
Connecticut Sun bring Leila Lacan over
This offseason was an unmitigated disaster for the Connecticut Sun, who lost their entire starting five from last season. Now, the team is further mired in controversy after reports that they won't trade Marina Mabrey despite her trade request.
The 2025 Sun roster isn't awful, but it's also not a playoff team, especially because the bench depth is virtually non-existent. Sure, a starting five of Tina Charles, Diamond DeShields, Natasha Cloud, Mabrey and someone else isn't awful, but it's also not good.
But I do love one move the team made, which was to sign last year's No. 10 overall pick, Leila Lacan, to her rookie-scale contract, an indication that Lacan will come over for her WNBA debut this season.
Anyone who watched France at the Olympics last year had to come away impressed by Lacan, a 5-foot-11 combo guard who zips around the floor, using her quickness to find open spots. She has to work on converting those looks into made baskets, but all the talent is there. And on a rebuilding Sun team, Lacan should get plenty of opportunities to play.
Las Vegas Aces sign Cheyenne Parker-Tyus
It feels like Vegas adding Cheyenne Parker-Tyus got a little lost in the story of the Aces offseason, which saw the team essentially swap Kelsey Plum for Jewell Loyd and also saw the team lose much of its bench from last year.
Parker-Tyus was an All-Star just two seasons ago in 2023 and will give Vegas something at center that Kiah Stokes couldn't give them: an offensive threat.
Last season was a bit of a down year for Parker-Tyus as she shot 44.4 percent, her worst mark since her rookie year in 2015, but in Vegas, she should have an easier time scoring, as defenses won't be able to focus on stopping her.
This offseason could have ended up being a disaster for Vegas. It still can if Loyd is unable to scale down into a smaller role. But signing Parker-Tyus was a great positive move to help salvage something out of an offseason that saw four key players from last year's squad depart.
Dallas Wings acquire Tyasha Harris in the Sabally trade
There are two ways to think about the Wings offseason. One is that losing two of the team's top three players and then building a roster that's gunning for the No. 8 seed instead of embracing a rebuild around Paige Bueckers is a bad decision from a team-building perspective.
The other way — the way I'm choosing to look at it — is that Bueckers isn't in Dallas yet and the Wings need to build a roster that makes her want to be. If that means forsaking a shot at the 2026 draft lottery, then that's what it means.
Adding Dijonai Carrington and NaLyssa Smith is a great way to build a fun team for Bueckers to join, but one move that's gone under the radar has been getting Tyasha Harris in the Sabally trade.
Harris, who the Wings originally drafted with the No. 7 pick in 2020, is coming off her best WNBA season, starting 38 games for the Sun last year and averaging career highs in points, rebounds and assists.
If the Wings get Bueckers, then they'll have a reliable point guard who can serve as Bueckers' backup and can also play beside her when Arike Ogunbowale goes to the bench.
If Bueckers opts to force her way elsewhere, Harris is a great backup plan at point guard, assuming the Wings still plan to gun for a playoff spot in a world where they end up with someone else through the draft.
Golden State Valkyries sign Tiffany Hayes
The Valkyries entered the league at the weirdest time. Because the WNBAPA opted out of the current CBA, virtually every player is signing a one-year deal this offseason
Golden State won't be a playoff team in a league this deep, but the franchise has built a fun unit that should at least play entertaining basketball.
That's why I love the move to sign Tiffany Hayes. She's not one of the league's best players anymore, but she can be a fun, lead scoring option for Golden State.
Hayes retired in 2023, then came out of retirement to sign with the Aces last year, where the veteran guard won Sixth Woman of the Year after averaging 9.5 points per game.
That performance staved off re-retirement at least one more year. Sure, Hayes could have signed somewhere where she could try to win her first WNBA title, but instead, she chose to sign with a team where she'll have the green light to score as many buckets as possible. It's going to be fun, and isn't that what sports is about — having fun?