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Some of them left the final moves until the last possible minute, but all 15 WNBA teams are down to legal opening day rosters. As explained below, in some cases that means keeping more than the regulation 12-player roster, but only via various technicalities. Developmental players have been added to our cap sheets, and also have their own page if you just want to see what teams have done with those spots so far.
In Part One I covered the teams who helpfully completed their roster moves before the final day (the only updates for any of those squads are a few developmental signings, and a correction to my maths on how much cap space Washington have left). Now on to the remaining rosters, and the franchises that made everyone wait as long as possible.
PG: Jordin Canada/Te-Hina Paopao/Indya Nivar
SG: Allisha Gray/Holly Winterburn
SF: Rhyne Howard/Isobel Borlase
PF: Angel Reese/Naz Hillmon/Sika Koné
C: Brionna Jones/Madina Okot
Dev: None, yet
Significant Additions: Reese, Okot, Borlase, Winterburn
Significant Losses: Brittney Griner, Maya Caldwell, Nia Coffey, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough
Remaining Cap Space: $215,175
Excuse any glee that comes through in this particular write-up, but I’m very happy for British guard Holly Winterburn, who was one of the players on the cusp of the Dream roster who just made it. Somewhat surprisingly, their final cuts yesterday were Spanish point guard Maite Cazorla, wing Taylor Thierry, and post Stephanie Jones. Considering Cazorla’s success and experience overseas, and the way Atlanta stuck with Thierry throughout last season, Winterburn and Nivar making the team ahead of them wasn’t necessarily expected. The Dream haven’t filled either of their developmental spots yet, so Thierry in particular may well be back.
Atlanta will be aiming high this season after managing to retain the vast majority of their core from the 2025 season where they went 30-14, and adding Reese to the mix. She’ll help cover for Brionna Jones, who starts the season out with a knee injury, and then provide more strength and power in the paint. For a head coach in Karl Smesko who likes to play fast and shoot a lot of threes, the Dream have assembled a collection of posts in Jones, Reese, Hillmon and Okot who will happily fight for supremacy in the paint and on the glass.
Meanwhile the perimeter looks very familiar, with Howard still developing into a star (while hopefully searching for a little more efficiency) and Gray coming off the best season of her career and a fourth-place finish in League MVP voting. The Canada/Paopao tandem returns at point guard, with young Aussie wing Borlase joining Winterburn and Nivar in hoping to add some depth. There’s no reason this team shouldn’t be at least as good as last year, and they’ll be hoping to take the next step into becoming a true championship contender. If they can fit Reese in smoothly and avoid serious injuries to their stars, the Dream’s first playoff series win in a decade should be the least of their ambitions.
PG: [Leïla Lacan]/Shey Peddy/Charlisse Leger-Walker/Hailey Van Lith
SG: Saniya Rivers/Diamond Miller
SF: Kennedy Burke/Gianna Kneepkens/[Nell Angloma]
PF: Aaliyah Edwards/Aneesah Morrow
C: Brittney Griner/Olivia Nelson-Ododa/Raegan Beers
Dev: Ashlon Jackson
Significant Additions: Griner, Burke, Kneepkens, Peddy, Miller
Significant Losses: Marina Mabrey, Tina Charles, Lindsay Allen, Bria Hartley
Remaining Cap Space: $547,653 (with 14 players – will increase when two are released)
First let’s get the mechanics out of the way. There are 14 names listed above, because Leïla Lacan and Nell Angloma haven’t arrived from France yet. Lacan is still playing after her team beat Angloma’s in the semifinals, so Angloma might arrive first. Because of their surplus cap space, Connecticut have the room to temporarily suspend Lacan and Angloma, and keep two extra players in those roster spots. When they arrive, players will have to be waived to open up the space to add them to the active roster.
It’s Year 2 of the rebuild for the Sun, after losing their head coach and virtually every meaningful piece of their rotation following the 2024 season. Inevitably, they’re still very young and playing more for future seasons — which sadly for Connecticut fans are going to take place in Houston — than they are for the present. Griner and Burke have been signed to help lead the youngsters and keep the team competitive in their final year in Connecticut, but it’s the development of pieces like Rivers, Lacan, Edwards, Morrow and new additions Angloma, Kneepkens, Leger-Walker and Van Lith that should be the priority. After a dreadful start to 2025, once Lacan arrived the Sun were a much more watchable and competitive team, so hopefully they don’t have to wait too long for her this time and can be up to speed more quickly.
Their final cuts in camp were Madison Hayes and Taylor Bigby, neither a huge surprise, but there will need to be a couple more when the French players arrive (assuming they eventually do; it wouldn’t be the first ‘temporary’ suspension to last all season). The wait gives the fringe players extra time to press their case to stick around, which could be particularly useful now they look crowded at point guard after Van Lith was claimed off waivers when Chicago cut her. Barring something truly extraordinary, this team won’t be a contender in their send-off year in Connecticut, but they’ve got enough young skill and athleticism to be entertaining while we watch the kids develop. There’s still work to be done before Houston.
PG: Veronica Burton/Kaitlyn Chen
SG: Tiffany Hayes/Cecilia Zandalasini/Kaila Charles
SF: Gabby Williams/Janelle Salaün/Justė Jocytė
PF: Kayla Thornton
C: [Iliana Rupert]/Kiah Stokes/Laeticia Amihere
Dev: Miela Sowah
Significant Additions: Williams, Jocytė, Stokes
Significant Losses: Temi Fagbenle, Monique Billings, Carla Leite, Rupert
Remaining Cap Space: $174,781
After an inaugural season that surpassed all possible expectations for the first year of an expansion team, Golden State are back with a fascinating roster that promises to be very entertaining but also poses some questions. Several teams have retained fewer traditional ‘bigs’ than we’ve seen in previous seasons, leaning into the modern preference for more versatile forwards, lots of shooting, and 4-out or even 5-out lineups. But the Valkyries are taking it to extremes. The news yesterday that Iliana Rupert is pregnant (the team is applying for the exception that will allow them to replace her on the roster one-for-one) means they’re even smaller than anticipated, and far and away their best-shooting big is unavailable. While several of their cadre of wings can survive at the 4, the only players left on the roster who really want to hang out in the paint are Stokes and Amihere. Golden State were remarkably effective defensively last year, but handling opponents who can attack inside could require some creative defensive gameplans.
Of course, those teams are going to have to cope with the Valkyries in return. Most of the core from last year is back, including a recovered Kayla Thornton, who was an all-star before injury ended her 2025 season. The big free agent addition was Gabby Williams, and last year’s No. 5 overall pick Justė Jocytė is also expected to arrive (although the Spanish League playoffs could delay that arrival until nearly the end of May). It means the amount of length, talent and versatility among the wing spots for Golden State is frankly a little ridiculous, and the combinations Natalie Nakase can try out should be a lot of fun. They’ll switch a lot, will constantly be in the passing lanes, and after what we saw last season inevitably fire up a whole lot of threes.
Golden State’s final cut was fan-favourite Kate Martin, who picked up an injury in camp that might’ve hurt her chances, although it was always going to be difficult to make this roster. Through the course of training camp they also waived four players who are now on developmental contracts around the league, including gunner Miela Sowah who they re-signed themselves. Another of that group was Marta Suarez, who was part of the confusing draft-day trade where the Valkyries moved down from No. 8 for minimal return. None of the explanations for that move from the Golden State front office have made much sense, but that’s in the past now. They’ll need to sign a replacement for Rupert once the pregnancy exception is granted — it could just be Martin coming back if she’s healthy, but surely they’ll look for some size — and then it’s time for GSV Year 2. They won’t be as much of a surprise this year, but they might be even better.
PG: Sabrina Ionescu/Pauline Astier
SG: Betnijah Laney-Hamilton/Marine Johannès/Rebekah Gardner
SF: Satou Sabally/[Leonie Fiebich]/Rebecca Allen
PF: Breanna Stewart/[Raquel Carrera]
C: Jonquel Jones/Han Xu
Dev: Marine Fauthoux
Significant Additions: Satou Sabally, Laney-Hamilton, Astier, Allen, Carrera, Han, new head coach Chris DeMarco
Significant Losses: Natasha Cloud, Emma Meesseman, Kennedy Burke, Nyara Sabally, Stephanie Talbot, Isabelle Harrison
Remaining Cap Space: $198,990
Leonie Fiebich (13), Sabrina Ionescu (20), and Jonquel Jones (35) of the New York Liberty. Photo credit: Chris Poss
For some of the other teams on this list, you’ll see them keeping 13 or 14 players when they’ve temporarily suspended people who haven’t arrived yet, as New York have done with Fiebich and Carrera (who are both still playing in Spain). The difference is cap space. You have to have enough room to fit the full-season salaries for both the players being temp suspended and the extra players being retained in their spots. Because New York only have just under $200,000 left, they don’t have room to keep a 13th player and will have to make do with a shorthanded roster to start the season. In fact, due to injuries to Ionescu, Sabally and Allen, they might be applying for a hardship exception almost immediately, or making use of developmental players earlier than most other teams.
The target for the Liberty will, once again, be championship or bust. The new CBA hasn’t shifted them out of their ‘superteam’ era, with Stewart, Ionescu and Jones all re-signing for another tilt and Satou Sabally joining the star-laden roster. While some of the names may not be completely familiar, there’s real depth of talent here, too. Laney-Hamilton returns after missing 2025 through injury and, alongside Fiebich, Allen and Gardner, offers length and skill on the wing. The international flavour that has often been part of recent Liberty rosters continues with the returning Johannès and fellow French guard Astier, who several WNBA teams have pursued in recent years. Inside they have Chinese center Han returning for another crack at the WNBA, and Spanish post Carrera finally coming over. Both have lots of experience while still being young enough that they’re continuing to improve. Fans will quickly remember how much they liked Han, and swiftly realise how much the likes of Astier and Carrera have to offer. This team can go deep down their bench and keep coming at you, and hopefully survive through the inevitable injuries without too much disruption.
Of course, expectations are very high and with a new head coach who hasn’t worked in the WNBA before there may be a transition period. There’s also the small fear that Stewart and Jones, while still true stars, are not quite the same level of individual dominant forces they once were. But once they’re up and running, and assuming they can be closer to full strength at the right time than they were in 2025, this is a definite championship contender that is capable of beating anybody.
PG: [Monique Akoa Makani]/Kiana Williams
SG: Sami Whitcomb/Jovana Nogic
SF: Kahleah Copper/DeWanna Bonner/Noémie Brochant/Sha Carter
PF: Alyssa Thomas/[Valériane Ayayi]/Peyton Williams
C: Natasha Mack/Kyara Linskens
Dev: Marta Suarez, Shay Ciezki
Significant Additions: Ayayi, Nogic, Brochant, Linskens
Significant Losses: Satou Sabally, Kathryn Westbeld, Lexi Held, Kitija Laksa, Kalani Brown
Remaining Cap Space: $526,400
The Mercury are going to be asking for some trust from their fans heading into this season, and hoping that last season earned them that period of grace. Because once again, they’ve pieced together a bench with players that a lot of people will barely have heard of, and with Satou Sabally having walked away for nothing it’s hard to argue that their front-line group is as talented as last year. But putting shooters around Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper worked pretty well last year, so they’ll be hoping that equation can be a success again.
You may notice there are too many people listed above. That’s because Akoa Makani’s season in France isn’t over yet, so she hasn’t arrived. Ayayi is in Phoenix but is apparently waiting on FIBA clearance, so she was also temporarily suspended. Given their surplus cap space, that actually means they could’ve kept 14 players, but presumably they’re hoping Ayayi’s situation is resolved quickly. When Akoa Makani arrives, they’ll have to waive someone in order to add her to the active roster. Their final cut in camp was an odd move where, after trading for her two days earlier, Australian big Chloe Bibby was waived yesterday.
There is talent in this supporting cast, even amongst the players many American fans may not be familiar with. Ayayi is a long and agile forward, who regularly starts for the French national team that nearly beat the USA in the Olympics a couple of years ago; Nogic is a wing with years of experience with Serbia; Linskens is a big center who tasted the WNBA with Golden State last year, and starts alongside Emma Meesseman for Belgium; and after the success they had with surprising pieces last year, don’t rule out Brochant, Carter or Williams translating their play from overseas as well. They’ll miss Sabally, but if Copper can stay a little healthier than last year, Ayayi settles well and Akoa Makani takes a step up in her second WNBA season, there’s still plenty of potential for success here. And I for one am not betting against a team with Alyssa Thomas at the controls for several years yet. Possibly not until the day she retires.
PG: Sug Sutton/Carla Leite/[Teja Oblak]/Jordan Harrison
SG: [Kamiah Smalls]/Sarah Ashlee Barker
SF: Bridget Carleton/Haley Jones/Karlie Samuelson
PF: Luisa Geiselsöder/Emily Engstler/Nyadiew Puoch
C: Megan Gustafson/Serah Williams
Dev: Frieda Bühner
Significant Additions: Everybody, obviously
Significant Losses: Not applicable, unless you count drafting Iyana Martín at No. 7 and her deciding to stay in Spain this year
Remaining Cap Space: $1,675,101 (with 14 counting, so even more once healthy)
To get the procedural stuff out of the way, they have 14 names listed on the main roster above because Oblak and Smalls are injured. Because they arrived with those injuries, they can be temporarily suspended in the same way as players who haven’t arrived in the US yet. As they have so much cap space, the Fire can keep other players in their roster spots and easily fit in 14 players (they have room for six more, insanely enough). When they get healthy, players would have to be waived from the current active 12 in order to move Oblak or Smalls to the active roster. Most of their training camp moves were made without the need for cuts. They sent Maya Caldwell to Minnesota for a token draft pick, and Chloe Bibby to Phoenix for the rights to Julia Ayrault (who hasn’t played in a year since going undrafted). Add in the suspensions for Smalls and Oblak, and the full-season suspension for Nika Mühl (who sadly tore an ACL overseas again), and they were down to a legal group.
Last year’s Valkyries have taught us that unexpected performance is possible from expansion teams, even if the roster looks a little iffy at first glance. However, this squad really looks like an expansion team, if that makes sense. Unlike Toronto they didn’t make any big moves in free agency, so they’ve got lots of decent role players and people who’ve shown flashes elsewhere, but very little in the way of star talent. They’ll be hoping Carleton can step into a bigger role away from Minnesota after being their first pick in the expansion draft, and similarly that players like Gustafson and Geiselsöder thrive with additional responsibility. But there’s a lot more relying on hope here rather than expectation.
The fans may have to survive on enjoying the development of young players like Leite, Puoch and Geiselsöder and simply having a team, rather than witnessing too many wins in Year 1. Golden State showed that almost anything is possible in expansion, but if this squad wins anything close to GSV’s 23 games from last year, it’ll be a shock.
PG: Natisha Hiedeman/Jade Melbourne
SG: Flau’jae Johnson/Lexie Brown/Zia Cooke
SF: Jordan Horston/Katie Lou Samuelson
PF: Ezi Magbegor/Awa Fam/Grace VanSlooten
C: Dominique Malonga/Stefanie Dolson/Mackenzie Holmes
Dev: Taina Mair
Significant Additions: Fam, Johnson, Hiedeman, Melbourne, hopefully a healthy Horston and Samuelson, new head coach Sonia Raman
Significant Losses: Skylar Diggins, Gabby Williams, Nneka Ogwumike, Brittney Sykes, Erica Wheeler
Remaining Cap Space: $682,671 (with 13 players, so will increase when one is released)
It’s virtually all-change in Seattle. The veteran stars left en masse, alongside the old coaching staff, and the Storm have been thrust into a rebuild whether they wanted to head in that direction or not. The most interesting element is going to be how they figure out the three-headed monster in the paint of Ezi Magbegor, Dominique Malonga, and Awa Fam. Magbegor had a down year last season, never quite seeming to find her fit amongst the other stars, but she’s still only 26 and was given a lot of money to stay in Seattle. Malonga showed last year just how terrifyingly high her ceiling might be, and is a clear building block for Seattle’s future. And Fam was this year’s No. 3 overall pick, another teenage post from Europe who’s actually looked more polished than Malonga in her nascent career, albeit without quite the same extraordinary physical gifts. Magbegor picked up an injury and Fam is still participating in the Spanish playoffs, so we’ll have to wait for the full group, but once they’re available it becomes a fascinating puzzle to get the most out of all of them — or to come to a decision on which of them needs to be traded.
There are other elements to retain the interest of Storm fans, even if a lot fewer people are going to consider Seattle anything close to a contender heading into 2026. The return of Jordan Horston from injury alongside rookie addition Flau’jae Johnson on the wing gives them length and agility on the perimeter to develop as parts of their young core. Hiedeman and Melbourne have been brought in as reliable options to run the show from the point. It’s a much less established group than they had the last couple of years, but rebuilds usually start off with a hell of a lot less talent than you see on this roster.
Their final cuts were Rennia Davis and Jaelyn Brown, neither of which were a huge surprise. The reason you see 13 names listed is because of Fam’s continuing overseas obligations. Their significant cap space means they can temporarily suspend Fam’s contract and keep a 13th player to fill the spot (both Fam’s temp suspended deal and the 13th player count on the cap). When Fam arrives, they’ll have to waive someone — VanSlooten would probably be considered most likely — in order to create room for her to be activated. Then we get to see what a team featuring the two best young posts in Europe might actually look like.
PG: Julie Allemand/Kiki Rice
SG: Marina Mabrey/Lexi Held/Kia Nurse
SF: Brittney Sykes/Maria Conde
PF: Isabelle Harrison/Laura Juškaitė/Teonni Key
C: Nyara Sabally/Temi Fágbénlé
Dev: Mariella Fasoula
Significant Additions: As with Portland, everybody
Significant Losses: Again, not applicable
Remaining Cap Space: $627,985
While not exactly a superteam, the free agent pickups and lean towards a veteran core immediately make the Tempo look more like a regular WNBA roster than the jigsaw puzzle in Portland. Mabrey and Sykes were the headline-grabbers for their contracts to pair up on the wing, but they’ve also got an organiser in Allemand, interior presence in Sabally, Fágbénlé and Harrison (if they can stay remotely healthy), and young promise in Rice.
The Tempo had enough talent of a similar level in camp that the final cuts looked somewhat tricky. Eventually they waived shooters Aaliyah Nye and Kitija Laksa, and Serbian post Nikolina Milić. Post depth is a potential issue on this team purely because of the injury history of Sabally and Harrison, meaning there have to be concerns about their availability. Juškaitė and Key didn’t necessarily look ready to be relied upon in preseason, but clearly the team saw more they liked from them than they did from Milić. We may see some small lineups with Spanish wing Maria Conde doing her best at power forward rather than always using players who’d traditionally be considered posts at the 4. They also added Greek center Fasoula, waived by Golden State, as insurance in one of their developmental spots.
This is not an expansion team trying to be bad in their first year to maximise their chance in next year’s lottery. They’ve targeted real veteran talent in an effort to at least be competitive in their first season. There will be bumps along the road, but they could make a genuine impression in their inaugural season and establish a base for the franchise to push on in future years.
That’s everyone. Don’t forget you can go back to yesterday’s Part One to read about the teams that aren’t detailed above. Enjoy the 2026 WNBA season, everybody.
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