The dust has settled on WNBA free agency, so it’s time to take an early look at the teams that came out on top and others that swung big and missed.
Almost all of the league’s top free agents have agreed to terms or signed, and there have been several league-shifting trades. It started with a three-team (Storm, Sparks and Aces) deal and continued with a four-team (Mercury, Fever, Sun and Wings) trade within a week. Four franchise stars were moved.
After 10 years and two titles in Seattle, Jewell Loyd is now a member of the Aces. Kelsey Plum, a two-time WNBA champion with the Aces, is the newest point guard for the Sparks. Satou Sabally, a once-promising young cornerstone for the Wings, will join Alyssa Thomas, who spent 11 seasons with the Sun, in Phoenix.
Quietly, the Fever were collecting pieces to push them from being competitive to real contenders. It started with the hiring of coach Stephanie White in the fall and ended with the signings of two-time WNBA champion DeWanna Bonner and three-time champ Natasha Howard to go with the re-signing of two-time All-Star Kelsey Mitchell.
On the losing end of free agency are the Sun, who, after being forced to trade Thomas, failed to re-sign Bonner and Brionna Jones. The Sun also had to move guard Rebecca Allen, whom they had acquired from the Mercury in the Thomas trade. To make matters worse, guard Marina Mabrey — for whom they gave up multiple draft assets to the Sky less than a year ago — is now requesting a trade.
Where, then, do the Sky land in the grand scheme of free-agency winners and losers? Second-year general manager Jeff Pagliocca has them somewhere in the middle.
Few general managers in the WNBA had a steeper hill to climb in free agency than Pagliocca.
Selling free agents after a losing record and with a first-year coach and a practice facility that’s still a year in the making is not an easy pitch. But somehow Pagliocca signed onetime franchise stalwart and future Hall of Fame point guard Courtney Vandersloot, then answered the Sky’s spacing issues with veteran three-point shooters Kia Nurse and Allen.
The difference between where the Sky were heading into free agency and this year can be summarized with a name: Tyler Marsh.
The Sky are playing a whole new game with Marsh at the helm.
A respected player-development coach, Marsh was in on all of Pagliocca’s meetings with free agents, and his strategy stood out to them.
“I had heard that he’s really good tactically,” Nurse said. “Really good at putting people in positions where they could be successful and using that to create a great system for all of the people on that team.
“I genuinely enjoyed talking hoops with him. Ultimately when you go into these free-agent meetings, you’re going to talk to these coaches, and they’re going to tell you roles.
‘‘Now with all the movement in coaching staff before free agency, you had to have a lot of conversations about hoops because these coaches were new to us.”
Talking shop with Marsh and Pagliocca’s honesty were ultimately what led to Nurse — who spoke with five other teams — signing with the Sky.
Pagliocca made another deal Friday, trading guard Dana Evans to the Aces for two second-round picks. The move puts the Sky’s roster at nine with $398,625 in available cap space.
To fill out the roster, Pagliocca could look to move the Sky’s No. 3 draft pick for an All-Star two-way wing. A move like that could take place closer to the WNBA Draft in April.