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How the 2026 free-agency calendar worked
The WNBA and WNBPA announced the 2026 dates on April 5, 2026. The calendar separated teams’ decisions about player status from negotiations and the start of signing:
| Phase | 2026 date | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Designation Period | April 6–7 | Teams sent qualifying offers and Core Player designations. |
| Negotiation Period | April 8–10 | Teams and players negotiated. |
| Signings could commence | April 11 | New contracts could be signed. |
These are dates for the 2026 cycle, not a standing annual calendar. The league’s annual calendar may change, so don’t use these dates to infer when 2027 free agency will begin.
Which WNBA free-agent category applies?
Being out of contract does not, by itself, mean a player can choose any team. The category assigned under the league’s rules—and the former team’s qualifying offer or designation—determines who controls the next negotiation.
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| Status | Who can negotiate? | Former team’s rights and key terms |
|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted free agent (UFA) | The player can negotiate with any team. | The former team has no restricted-free-agent matching right just because the player previously played there. |
| Restricted free agent (RFA) | The player can negotiate a multi-year offer sheet with another team. | If the former team made a restricted qualifying offer, it has a right of first refusal and can match the offer sheet. If it matches, the player signs with that original team on the offer-sheet terms. |
| Reserved player | The former team has exclusive negotiating rights. | A player with three or fewer years of service becomes reserved if her former team extends a reserved qualifying offer. If the team declines to offer a contract, she becomes unrestricted. |
| Core player | During free agency, only the team making the designation may negotiate or sign the player. | The Core Qualifying Offer is fully guaranteed for one year at the supermax. The player and team may still agree to a sign-and-trade. A team may have no more than one veteran free agent it has cored on its roster at a time. |
Unrestricted free agents
A UFA can negotiate with any team during the free-agency period. Her former club cannot match another team’s offer solely because she used to play there.
Restricted free agents
The WNBA’s 2026 explainer says a player whose contract ends with four years of WNBA service may receive a restricted qualifying offer. If her former team makes no qualifying offer, she is unrestricted. When the player is restricted, she can negotiate a multi-year offer sheet elsewhere, but her former team can match it under its right of first refusal.
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Reserved players
A player out of contract with three years of service or fewer is reserved only if her former team extends a reserved qualifying offer. That offer gives the team exclusive negotiating rights; if the team declines to offer a contract, the player becomes a UFA.
Core players
Core status is a retention mechanism, not a general label for a star player. The designating team has exclusive negotiating and signing rights during free agency under the Core Qualifying Offer. A move is still possible through a sign-and-trade if the player and team agree.
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What the salary cap and pay figures mean
The seven-year collective bargaining agreement took effect with the 2026 season and runs through 2032. The full CBA was signed May 22, 2026. Its broad financial context helps explain the scale of the new league environment, but cap and salary figures do not determine a player’s free-agent category or tell you the terms of an individual contract.
| Figure | What it describes | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| $7.0 million | 2026 team salary cap | Announced by the WNBA and WNBPA in March 2026; the same announcement compared it with the 2025 cap of $1.5 million. |
| $1.4 million | Projected 2026 maximum salary | A projection in the WNBA and WNBPA’s March 2026 announcement, not a statement that every eligible player earned that amount. |
| $583,000 | Projected 2026 average salary | A league-and-union projection announced in March 2026, not a verified final average for all players. |
| $270,000–$300,000 | Projected 2026 minimum salary range | The March 2026 league-and-union projection varied by years of service. |
The league and union also projected higher salary figures for later years in that announcement. Those are projections, not guarantees of realized salaries. The broad figures above do not establish a particular player’s cap charge, offer-sheet calculation, contract protection, or final compensation; those require the operative CBA terms and any announced contract.
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What changes from 2027 onward?
The CBA announcement says that starting in 2027, a player with seven or more years of service cannot be designated Core. That restriction is specific to 2027 onward and should not be applied retroactively to the 2026 free-agency cycle.
How to read a free-agency move
When a team announces that a player is available, retained, or joining another club, check the factors in this order:
- Identify the player’s status. Is she unrestricted, restricted, reserved, or designated Core?
- Check service time and the former team’s action. For restricted and reserved players, the relevant qualifying offer matters; for a Core player, the designation controls who can negotiate.
- Determine who controls negotiations. A UFA can talk to any team; a reserved player negotiates exclusively with her former team; a Core player can negotiate only with the designating team during free agency. An RFA can negotiate elsewhere, subject to the former team’s matching right.
- Look for confirmed contract terms. Do not infer offer length, guarantees, or salary from a player’s status. The explainer specifically identifies a multi-year RFA offer sheet and a fully guaranteed one-year Core offer; other terms need confirmation from the CBA or the team’s announcement.
- Keep cap figures in context. The 2026 cap and salary figures announced by the league and union provide financial context, but projections are not proof of an individual player’s deal.
Roster context
The WNBA’s 2026 explainer describes teams as having 12 standard roster spots plus two developmental players. If a team falls below 12 standard players during the regular season, it generally has 72 hours from the roster move to fill the roster, subject to league exceptions. That roster framework is separate from free-agent status: it does not change whether a player is restricted, reserved, unrestricted, or Core.
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