WNBA free agency and trade tracker 2023: Deals, news, more

We’re almost there, WNBA fans. Wednesday will see WNBA free agents officially sign deals and bids, and we’ll see the remaining dominoes of the 2023 offseason begin to fall. We’ve already had big changes through trades and some early announcements, including two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker moving to the defending champions Las Vegas Aces.

The decision of another MVP, Breanna Stewart, is the biggest news the league is waiting for, and Stewart’s goal — to stay with the Seattle Storm or move to the New York Liberty — could also impact Courtney Vandersloot’s pick. The longtime Chicago Sky guard, who won a league title with Parker in 2021, could become Stewart’s teammates.

Stewart has played her entire career in Seattle since being drafted No. 1 overall in 2016, winning the 2018 MVP award and leading the Storm to two WNBA championships. If she leaves Seattle in her prime, it will eclipse Parker’s move from the Los Angeles Sparks to Chicago in 2021 as the WNBA’s biggest free agent move to date.

The 2023 WNBA season — the league’s 27th — ends May 19. We already know that MVP Jonquel Jones will be with the Liberty in 2021 after a blockbuster three-team trade sent them there from the Connecticut Sun. Keep it here all offseason for the latest buzz, news and coverage from around the WNBA.

Ranking of the top 15 free agents | Key questions for all 12 teams | Free agency predictions, top storylines | trade classes

January 31 update

8:52 p.m. ET: Point guard Courtney Vandersloot announced in a social media post that she would not be returning to the Chicago Sky, setting the stage for her free move to another WNBA team. “Although I never planned this day, I’ve decided it’s time for me to start over,” wrote Vandersloot. “As I look forward to a new chapter with a new team in a new city, I know that Chicago, its fans and the Sky organization will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s goodbye for now, but thank you forever.”

Updates from January 29th

2:28 p.m. ET: Forward Isabelle Harrison, an unrestricted free agent who has played for the Dallas Wings for the past four seasons, has met with the Seattle Storm and will also meet with the Chicago Sky and Los Angeles Sparks, a source told Andraya Carter from ESPN.

2:10 p.m. ET: Breanna Stewart will sign with either New York Liberty or Seattle Storm, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and MA Voepel. Rachel Galligan first broke the news that Stewart had narrowed down her potential free agency targets.

January 28 update

5:28 p.m. ET: After two seasons with the Chicago Sky, Candace Parker announced via an Instagram post that she plans to sign with the Las Vegas Aces. “After assessing the landscape with my family, we decided that the Las Vegas Aces was the right organization for us at this point in our lives,” wrote the two-time WNBA MVP and unrestricted free agent. Parker’s contract with the Aces is for a year, her agent Boris Lelchitski told ESPN’s Alexa Philippou on Saturday. Parker’s salary is still being negotiated.

Updates from January 22nd

6:37 p.m. ET: Allisha Grey and the Atlanta Dream will eventually seek a contract extension for her in Atlanta, multiple sources told ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. Gray had just one year left on her contract when she was traded by the Dallas Wings this week.

3:07 p.m. ET: Breanna Stewart has made charter air travel a key factor in their freedom of choice, league sources said ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. The issue of private air travel has come to the forefront of free-agent talks surrounding the WNBA, multiple sources told ESPN, due to the assumption that Phoenix is ​​Mercury Center Brittney Griner must fly privately for safety reasons. Griner was unfairly held in a Russian prison for nearly 10 months before being released in a prisoner exchange in early December.

I would love to be part of a deal that helps subsidize charter travel for the entire WNBA.

I would contribute my NIL, posts + production hours to ensure we all travel in a way that prioritizes player health and safety, ultimately resulting in a better product.

who is with me

— Breanna Stewart (@breannastewart) January 22, 2023

Updates from January 21st

2:00 p.m. ET: The Dallas Wings acted Allisha Grey to the Atlanta Dream in exchange for two first-round draft picks, the teams announced. The Wings picked the #3 pick in the 2023 draft and the Dream first-round pick in the 2025 draft. Gray averaged 11.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game over six seasons at Dallas. The gray trade was previously reported by ESPN on Jan. 18.

8:05 a.m. ET: The Los Angeles Sparks have taken over Dearica Hamby and the 2024 first-round pick of the Las Vegas Aces in exchange for negotiation rights to Amanda Zahui B. and the 2024 second-round pick of the Sparks. Hamby is an eight-year veteran who is a two-time All-Star and helped Las Vegas win its first championship in 2022. Later in the day, Hamby claimed the Aces treated her in an “unprofessional and unethical manner that…was traumatizing” due to her pregnancy.

January 20 update

3:01 p.m. ET: Forward Breanna Stewart, widely regarded as the top-ranked free agent this offseason, will meet up with her current team, the Seattle Storm, and the Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty and Washington Mystics once the league’s free agency period begins at midnight ET Saturday night, shared Sources ESPN with Ramona Shelburne. Chicago Sky Guard Free Agency Courtney Vandersloot is also expected to factor into Stewart’s decision, sources said.

⛈️ 🐺 🏛️🗽

— Breanna Stewart (@breannastewart) January 20, 2023

January 18 update

7:15 p.m. ET: The Atlanta Dream made an agreement to receive the Dallas Wings guard Allisha Grey, sources told MA Voepel of ESPN. Details are still being worked out, but the deal also includes draft picks. Atlanta has the No. 3 and No. 8 overall pick in April’s WNBA draft. Gray was the 2017 WNBA Rookie of the Year and Tokyo Olympics 3-on-3 gold medalist.

January 16 update

2:02 p.m. ET: The Connecticut Sun announce they are sending in a longtime point guard Jasmine Thomas — who missed most of the 2022 season with a cruciate ligament rupture — as well as their 2023 first-round pick for the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for three youngsters: 2021 seventh overall pick Jasmine Walkerthe rights to 2022 16th overall pick Kianna Smith and 19th overall pick in 2022 Olivia Nelson-Ododa. Smith, the Sun said, will likely not play during the 2023 WNBA season after tearing a patellar tendon in December.

Thank you Connecticut Sun! 🧡☀️ pic.twitter.com/FC6eXkKwMN

— Jasmine Thomas (@jasztomas) January 16, 2023

January 15 update

5:35 p.m. ET: Forward Jonquel Jones, the 2021 MVP, was traded from the Connecticut Sun to the New York Liberty in a three-team deal, sources said ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. Jones, a four-time All-Star, specifically requested the trade to New York; She had one year left on her contract with the Sun. The deal will be made official on January 16th. As part of the trade Rebekah Allen and Natasha Howard are sent from New York to Connecticut or to the Dallas Wings. The Wings also get the rights to Crystalline Danger Field the freedom to send Kayla Thornton also to New York Tyasha Harris to Connecticut. The Sun also earns New York’s No. 6 pick in the 2023 WNBA draft.

2021 WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones is ready for her next chapter in New York 🙌 pic.twitter.com/3x5kgsU4TF

— ESPN (@espn) January 16, 2023

January 13 update

3:15 p.m. ET: The Atlanta Dream announce they’ve gotten a watch Danielle Robinson in a bargain with the Indiana Fever receiving guard Kristy Wallace in business. A three-time WNBA All-Star and three-time WNBA All-Defensive team pick, Robinson, 33, is expected to provide an experienced lead for the team.

Hands together dream fans 👏#DoItForTheDream pic.twitter.com/Y5zakFAe9j

— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) January 13, 2023