WNBA free agency opens with $1.4 million franchise tags for Ionescu,
Collier and Plum
[April 09, 2026]
By DOUG FEINBERG
NEW YORK (AP) — New York's Sabrina Ionescu, Minnesota's
Napheesa Collier and Los Angeles' Kelsey Plum were all extended
franchise tags by their WNBA teams worth potentially $1.4 million as
free agency opened up.
By giving the “core” designation to those players,
their teams have exclusive negotiating rights which comes with a
guaranteed one-year deal at the new supermax salary. That's more than
five-times above the top salary they could earn in the last CBA. |
Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier moves the ball during the first
half of Game 2 in the first round of the WNBA basketball playoffs
against the Golden State Valkyries, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in San
Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File) |
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Players can negotiate different terms to help their teams sign
other players to fit under the new salary cap that's expected to
be around $7 million.
Other players giving the “core” designation include Indiana's
Kelsey Mitchell, Dallas' Arike Ogunbowale, Atlanta's Allisha
Gray, Chicago's Ariel Atkins and Seattle's Ezi Magbegor.
Expansion franchises Portland and Toronto extended franchise tag
offers to players. The Fire selected Bridget Carleton with the
first pick in the draft last week and offered her the tag. The
Tempo did the same for Marina Mabrey, who they took with the
sixth pick.
The franchise tag is a way for a team to prevent a player from
leaving in free agency without getting anything in return for
them. The teams and players can also negotiate doing a
sign-and-trade agreement for those players.
Starting in 2027, players can only be given the core designation
twice and it can only be if they have less than seven years of
experience in the league.
Teams were also able to send out reserved and restricted
qualifying offers to players during this designation period,
which began Monday. Negotiations will go from Wednesday to
Friday with players able to start signing Saturday.
Training camp is scheduled to begin on April 19 with the first
preseason games on April 25.
The start of free agency was delayed until this month because of
a prolonged negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement
that didn't get agreed to and ratified until late March. The
long form contract is still being executed by both sides.
More than 80% of the league’s veteran players are free agents
this year, as players had signed deals that expired at the end
of last season to capitalize on higher salaries from the new CBA.
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