The 2026 WNBA trade deadline is Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. Terms have to be agreed to and filed with the league office by then.
Eight teams are .500 or better. The Portland Fire sit ninth at 11-17, four and a half games behind the Washington Mystics with 16 games left. Los Angeles and Toronto are 10-17. Phoenix is 10-18, Chicago 9-18, Connecticut 7-21, and Seattle 6-24.
Ten of the WNBA's 13 teams were still in playoff range at this point last summer. The league made five in-season trades all year.
How the Cap Rules Work
A traded player carries her full season salary to her new team. Both teams have to finish under the cap with a legal roster, and nothing else about the money has to line up. Hardship contracts count against the cap.
Pregnancy and childbirth exception players do not count for trade purposes. The Golden State Valkyries are $128,145 over the cap on paper. Set aside the $276,585 committed to Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda and Nadia Fingall, who have split the replacement role for Iliana Rupert, and Golden State has $148,440 to work with.
Nobody in the league holds a no-trade clause. Shakira Austin and Rupert are the only players who would have to consent, Austin because Washington matched an offer sheet on her as a restricted free agent. Developmental players are not eligible to be moved.
The contracts on the board this week run the full range. Skylar Diggins is signed through 2027 with the Sky. Bridget Carleton signed a three-year deal in April with the Fire. Kelsey Plum and Nneka Ogwumike are both on one-year deals that expire at the end of the season with the Sparks.
Skylar Diggins' latest Instagram stories:
— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) July 6, 2026
“Now I'm coming off the bench?????? Cool.”
“And the crazy part about it all is that… I've been so quiet. I've been so good and quiet.”pic.twitter.com/dGyhkoK6Sl
The Surplus in Dallas
At 18-9, the Dallas Wings have more to trade from than anyone else in the top eight. Maddy Siegrist is 26 and playing the fewest minutes of any season since her rookie year. Awak Kuier is starting ahead of her. Both are restricted free agents after this season.
Alanna Smith has been coming off the bench on a large contract. She won Co-Defensive Player of the Year last season.
Dallas has a case to be shopping for a wing who shoots and defends, and either Siegrist or Smith could be a piece to move for one.
What Indiana and Atlanta Need
Indiana is 18-10 on the season. The Fever need defense, and the complication is fit rather than availability. Any guard or wing has to be good enough to take minutes from Lexie Hull and Sophie Cunningham. A big has to keep up with Indiana's pace and play next to Aliyah Boston.
Atlanta's rotation goes seven or eight players deep at 16-10. Rookie Isobel Borlase is the only real wing behind it. Aaliyah Nye and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough have barely played. Te-Hina Paopao is buried on the guard depth chart.
Angel Reese leads the league in rebounding. Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray each finished one spot short of an All-Star starting nod earlier this month, as did Reese.
The Capped-Out Contenders
Napheesa Collier returned July 22 at Seattle, her first game since offseason surgery on both ankles. She scored 24 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and played 22 minutes. Minnesota went 21-6 without her. She averaged 22.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists last season on 53.1% shooting from the field, 40.3% from 3-point range, and 90.6% from the line.
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve met with reporters in Seattle before tip-off.
"This isn't the end, but it's a huge step," Reeve said.
Minnesota is 23-6 and has not settled the third ball-handler role behind Olivia Miles and Courtney Williams. The Lynx are expected to use the season-ending injury exception on Emma Čechová after Sunday. That opens a roster spot through free agency rather than a trade.
Las Vegas is over the cap. The Aces signed Mai Yamamoto two weeks ago as a season-ending injury replacement for Janiah Barker. A front office planning to make a trade would wait until Monday to make that move.
Bench scoring has been the open question in Las Vegas since May. Chennedy Carter is no longer part of the answer. Dana Evans is working back from injury. Stephanie Talbot is averaging 3.9 points per game as a starter.
Golden State wants a defensive big who can shoot.
In New York, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton has been unhappy with her minutes. Rebekah Gardner and Rebecca Allen are in the same logjam behind Pauline Astier. The Liberty are 16-12, and Breanna Stewart was the AP player of the week earlier in July after a 36-point game against Minnesota.
The Rentals in Los Angeles
The Sparks were 10-11 on July 12, when they parted ways with general manager Raegan Pebley. They are 10-17 now. Assistant general managers Zach Knowlton and Nate Nielsen are sharing the job on an interim basis.
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts spoke about the move that week.
"But right now I'm just focused on the team," Roberts said.
Pebley was named general manager on Jan. 5, 2024. Los Angeles has missed the playoffs five consecutive seasons. Of the six players the Sparks drafted in 2024 and 2025, only Cameron Brink remains on the roster.
Plum has been out with a lower left leg injury since June 21. She is 31. Ogwumike is 36. Los Angeles should take the best offer available on either.
Phoenix is 10-18. Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper are still the core going forward, and Thomas is difficult to fit into a new offense this late in the season. Everyone else should be available.
Sparks "most likely" will trade Kelsey Plum by Sunday's trade deadline.
— Underdog WNBA (@UnderdogWNBA) July 29, 2026
(via Marisa Ingemi/Bluesky)
Seattle, Connecticut, and the Rebuilds
Seattle is building around Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam at 6-24. Natisha Hiedeman is 29 and having the best season of her career, with another year and a half of team control. Stefanie Dolson has a minimal role now that Ezi Magbegor is healthy. Magbegor has been listed elsewhere as the biggest piece available, though Seattle holding her into the offseason to rebuild her value is the likelier outcome.
Connecticut moves to Houston next season. Brittney Griner and Kennedy Burke signed expensive one-year deals to steady a young roster. Griner has been limited by injuries. Burke has not shot well. Olivia Nelson-Ododa is the third-highest-paid player on the roster and the most expensive under contract for 2027. Rookie Gianna Kneepkens has barely left the bench.
The Sun are 7-21 with roughly 30% of the season left. Griner or Burke should go for anything reasonable.
Chicago's Picks
The Sky do not control their own first-round pick in 2027 or 2028.
Diggins is 35 and signed as a free agent in the offseason. Chicago traded a first-round pick for Jacy Sheldon. Rickea Jackson tore an ACL and is out for the year. Diggins was moved to the bench, posted about it, and later missed games with a knee injury.
Kamilla Cardoso, Jackson, Gabriela Jaquez, and Sydney Taylor are the four worth keeping. Rachel Banham and Natasha Cloud, 34, are veterans a contender could fit under a cap. Chicago should take the best offer available on anyone else on the roster.
The Cap Space Nobody Is Using
Before the season, Toronto made moves to win now. The Tempo are 10-17 and have been thin in the post since May, with players still due back from injury. Isabelle Harrison is 32, posting career highs in points and rebounds, and headed to free agency.
Portland signed Carleton on April 11 and is 11-17. Karlie Samuelson, 31, is the veteran other outlets have listed as a candidate to move.
Portland and Washington hold the two largest amounts of cap space in the league. Neither needs to trade for a player it wants. Both should be absorbing somebody else's salary in exchange for draft picks, which is what a third team with room is for at a deadline.
Washington is holding the eighth seed at 15-12 with one of the youngest rosters in the league. The Mystics have not signed any of the veteran point guards available on the open market this season.
Seattle gave up a first-round pick for Brittney Sykes at the 2025 deadline. Minnesota traded for Myisha Hines-Allen the same summer.
The regular season runs through Sept. 24. Each team plays 44 games.
