With Free WNBA Agency Becoming strong, we saw players making shocking movements, and in a case, a shocking stay. Let’s take a look at the greatest moments to date in 2025, and the impact of these movements will take place in the coming season.
Bigger surprise: Kelsey Mitchell stays in Indiana
In 2024, the fever reached the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Alongside young stars like Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell reached the WNBA stars match for the second time. She equaled to Clark by leading the team with 19.2 points per game.
This efficiency is exactly the reason why Mitchell was a coveted free agent. Instead of testing waters, however, Mitchell decided to stay in Indiana For his eighth season and play for the new fever coach Stephanie White. Mitchell was drafted second in the general classification by fever in 2018.
The team did not disclose the terms of the agreement, but ESPN reported Mitchell signed a one -year supermax agreement worth $ 249,244. Mitchell was welcomed to Gainbridge Fieldhouse this week by applauding the employees of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, as well as Clark.
“Indy is a second house,” Mitchell said. “I thought I would say to this thing. Let’s find out where this program is going, what we are trying to accomplish. And on the basis of the way I like to see myself playing, I could do that with people like Caitlin, des People like AB, people like Lyss.
Pacers Sports & Entertainment Employey bordered the St. Vincent ascent entrance pavilion to welcome Kelsey Mitchell after signing today
In addition, its partner in the rear area Caitlin Clark was there to greet it ❤️ pic.twitter.com/vdrgtpvvrl
– Indiana Fever (@indianafever) January 29, 2025
Best return: Courtney Vandersloot returns to Chicago
Courtney Vandersloot was drafted by Chicago third in the general classification in 2011 and helped the franchise to win its first championship in 2021 before going to New York. Now that she has won a ring with Liberty last season, Vandersloot is would be back with the sky On a one -year agreement to help the young team find their identity.
Vandersloot came out of the bench in New York last season, with an average of 6.4 points and 4.8 assists per game. She is currently playing in the 3X3 League unmatched alongside the former Liberty teammate, Breanna Stewart.
Directed by Angel Reese and Kamila Cardoso, who both enter their second seasons, the sky has a new coach at Tyler Marsh and a ton of talent. They will seek to improve their 13-27 record last season. With Vandersloot, nicknamed the general, the sky will have a chief of floor which can take charge of the land.
The most sensible successful trade: Kelsey Plum in Los Angeles and Jewell Loyd in Las Vegas
As of December, Jewell Loyd was Ask for a business in Seattle. She had spent all her career and won two championships there, but so much on the franchise have changed since this title in 2020. Before asking for trade, Loyd had made allegations of intimidation and harassment in a complaint Against the staff of the storm coaches and an investigation found no violation.
The AS of Las Vegas 2024 failed to win a third consecutive title, despite a team full of superstars, including the MVP quarter A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum. It was difficult to determine the exact reason why the AS lost against freedom in the semi-finals. They looked like a team that was tired, and not as strong as they were in the past.
THE Trade with three teams This sent Loyd to Las Vegas, Plum to Los Angeles and several draft choices in Seattle gives a little to what they needed. For the Sparks, Plum is a dynamic playmaker and an experienced winner who can have a good influence on a young team which includes choice n ° 2 of 2024, Cameron Brink, who should come back from a torn ACL. The Sparks have a new coach at Lynne Roberts and will seek to improve their third place in the league in 2024, when they only won eight games. Loyd will bring fresh energy to the aces, which always have an exceptional nucleus. Seattle, on the other hand, obtains the recovery choices they need (including choice n ° 2 in the 2025 draft) to help strengthen the team.
The most likely to succeed: Alyssa Thomas in Phoenix
The defense of Phoenix Mercury 2024 was not among the best in the league, to say it slightly. They ranked ninth in a defensive note, last in defensive note and last in opponents obtaining second chance points. While they had a lot of players who could score (Kahleah Copper, Brittney Griner, Diana Taurasi), they had trouble preventing opponents from doing the same on the other side of the ground. Something had to change to help Phoenix at the top of the league.
Alyssa Thomas is the exact player who can make this difference, and She will head in the desert in a profession with the sun. She finished third in a mvp race tight last season largely because of what she is a big defender. Thomas does not only get rebounds (she has an average of 8.4 per match in 2024). Her presence forces teams not to want to play inside her.
Thomas is a five-time star who has spent his entire career in Connecticut, who has at least made the semi-finals of the playoffs in the last six seasons, but has not won a championship. In return, mercury would have Send the Sun Natasha cloud, Rebecca Allen and the choice n ° 12 in the draft, while Ty Harris will join Thomas in Phoenix.
Michael Jordan as a Wizard price: Brittney Griner in Atlanta
As Chicagoan, I tend to claim that Michael Jordan’s career ended with this perfect blow on Bryon Russell in Utah. To date, I am weird when I saw photos of Jordan playing for Wizards, and Phoenix fans must be in the same boat about the idea of Brittney Griner playing for Atlanta. Griner played 11 seasons with Mercury after writing his n ° 1 in total in 2013, and is a star at 10 times.
On paper, This decision of a one -year agreement makes sense. With the Thomas and Taurasi trade perhaps leaning on retirement, Mercury will have a new look. In Atlanta, Griner can be the center of a young team who needs a veteran presence and a terrifying player in painting. The dream has a new coach at Karl Smesko and continues to add, with three times All-Star BRionna Jones would also have signed with Atlanta.