5 biggest winners and losers from the WNBA offseason so far

Not every chip has fallen yet in WNBA free agency, but many of the biggest names have found their new homes ahead of the 2025 WNBA season.

With most of the dust settled, it's time to assess how various teams did this offseason. Who got better? Who got worse?

Here are the five biggest winners and losers so far from the WNBA offseason.

Winner: Indiana Fever

As I wrote earlier this month, the Indiana Fever are using this offseason as a chance to go all in around the Caitlin Clark-Aliyah Boston duo. The team added Natasha Howard, DeWanna Bonner and Sophie Cunningham, providing a huge influx of talent.

Sure, there are fit-related questions. Starting Boston-Howard-Bonner in the frontcourt isn't ideal from a spacing perspective, but Howard and Bonner's positional versatility means they can move up a position when Boston goes to the bench, with Cunningham coming in to stretch the floor,

Head coach Stephanie White will have some decisions to make about the lineup, but overall the team looks significantly improved from last season. NaLyssa Smith was a talented young player, but she didn't really fit what the team needed at the four. Erica Wheeler's loss is probably the biggest issue, but with Clark and Mitchell in the backcourt, Wheeler just didn't fit into the future plans here. Sydney Colson is a solid replacement as the backup point guard, though it's likely that Indiana will try to have one of Clark or Mitchell on the floor as much as possible, limiting the need for Colson minutes.

Overall, the Fever are significantly closer to title contenders now than they were before. It was a good offseason in Indiana.

Loser: Las Vegas Aces

Yes, the Aces added one of the league's top scorers in Jewell Loyd, but it came at the expense of losing Kelsey Plum, who was a perfect fit in this Vegas system.

There's a chance that we look back on this move a year from now and see it as a huge success. If Plum was set on leaving, Vegas wasn't getting a player better than Loyd back. The concern is just that we don't know how Loyd will scale down into a smaller role. She played very well when she shared the floor with Breanna Stewart in Seattle, but can she get back to that level of efficiency after three consecutive years shooting under 40 percent from the floor?

Because Vegas doesn't need Loyd to go out there and put up 25 points per game. In 2023 she led the WNBA in scoring but shot just 37.0 percent from the floor. Vegas needs a version of Loyd that the team is just hoping exists still.

Elsewhere on the roster, Alysha Clark and Tiffany Hayes are both gone, leaving some to question why the Aces protected Hayes, an unrestricted free agent, in the expansion draft instead of protecting Kate Martin, who was taken by Golden State.

There were a couple nice moves that could turn into wins for Vegas as the team added Cheyenne Parker-Tyus and Dana Evans, but overall this team feels like it's taking a step back.

The good news is the Aces still have A'ja Wilson. As long as the best player in the world remains on the Vegas roster, the team will have a shot at the title.

Winner: Atlanta Dream

You're free to debate the on-court fit between Atlanta's two marquee free agent acquisitions, Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones, but you can't question that Atlanta needed an influx of talent and get that here, swapping Tina Charles and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus for a duo that theoretically has more upside.

It might seem that playing Griner and Jones on the floor together will be a spacing nightmare. I'm not going to fully refute that, because it does seem an odd fit.

But while Griner might not stretch all the way out to the 3-point line on a consistent basis, she's a good mid-range shooter, ranking 20th in the WNBA last season in mid-range field goal percentage. She also attempted 18 3-pointers last year, the most of her career. I'm not going to read too much into Griner making half of those 3s because the sample size is small, but if she can continue to push out away from the basket more, the pairing can work.

Loser: Connecticut Sun

I mean ... yikes.

When the 2025 WNBA season tips off, the Connecticut Sun will be without their top nine players in minutes per game last season. Eight of those are already gone while the ninth, Marina Mabrey, has requested a trade.

An era that saw Connecticut consistently contend for the title but never quite make it all the way over the hump is officially over. The Sun are entering a rebuild.

While Natasha Cloud — acquired in the trade that sent Alyssa Thomas to Phoenix — and Tina Charles are a nice duo to have, this team just lacks the talent it needs to compete for a playoff berth.

It will be nice to watch Charles post huge numbers night after night though. Connecticut is where the former MVP began her WNBA career in 2010 and now she returns to Uncasville with a chance to build on her individual resume. Charles is the No. 2 all-time leading scorer in league history and while she won't come close to surpassing leader Diana Taurasi, 2025 can be a season where Charles builds a big gap between herself and everyone below her on the scoring list.

Winner: Phoenix Mercury

It's not often that you completely reinvent your team in the offseason and it turns out to be a good thing, but that appears to be the case in Phoenix.

Last season, the Mercury went 19-21, failing to live up to expectations after an offseason that saw the team add Natasha Cloud and Kahleah Copper. So what did the team do this offseason? Just move on from five of the top six players from last year's roster. Copper is still in Phoenix, but Cloud was traded. Sophie Cunningham and Rebecca Allen were traded. Brittney Griner signed in Atlanta. Diana Taurasi hasn't officially retired yet, but it'd be a shock to see her back.

With that level of change, one might think Phoenix would be in some trouble, but instead the team executed some big moves, trading for Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally.

Thomas is the singularly most fascinating player in the WNBA, maybe the truest ideal of what a point forward looks like. Two torn shoulder labrums that she's been unable to have repaired make her a non-entity outside of the paint — she was 8-for-28 on mid-range shots last season — but her ability to bully her way to the basket makes up for it. She's an elite passer and is the all-time WNBA leader in triple-doubles.

Then there's Sabally, the oft-injured forward who Phoenix is hoping can finally stay healthy. Trading for Sabally is a risk, but when she's on the floor she's one of the best 3-and-D wings in the league and is capable of playing the three, four and, if needed, some small-ball five.

There will be growing pains from this group, but the Mercury as previously constructed were going to regress this season. Now, the team has one top-five player in Thomas and a player in Sabally who could be a top-15 player in the league if she can stay healthy.