The Indiana Fever, one of the WNBA’s most active franchises this offseason, are maximizing the rookie-scale windows of No. 1 draft picks Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston.

The Fever’s new hires — general manager/COO Amber Cox and president of basketball operations Kelly Krauskopf — re-signed All-Star guard Kelsey Mitchell, signed three multi-time champions in DeWanna Bonner, Natasha Howard and Sydney Colson and traded for an above-average 3-point shooter in Sophie Cunningham. The aggressive moves completed a roster overhaul that should compete for a top-two seed under first-year head coach Stephanie White.

“Our whole Fever organization, they want to help us win now,” Clark said ahead of her jersey retirement at Iowa on Sunday. “And I think that’s really important. I think they’re putting really good pieces together that are going to complement each other really, really well.”

The top task was keeping Mitchell, who endured a .218 winning percentage between being drafted No. 2 in 2018 and Boston’s arrival in 2023. The guard averaged a career-high 19.2 points per game on a career-best 46.8% clip last season with Clark, the best talent she’s ever had next to her in the backcourt.

That would have been enough to improve on a sixth-place finish with White, who covered many of Clark’s college games as a broadcaster, taking over at the helm. Clark will have a full season of WNBA experience, a healthy break from her year-plus long basketball grind and an offseason of targeted training. And the collective will have had a year together.

But that wasn’t enough for Indiana, which continues to make the right moves after nearly a decade of poor ones. Cunningham, a 2024 Sixth Player of the Year contender who finished one game out of qualification, will space the floor. Bonner, a two-time champion with Phoenix, followed White from Connecticut as a free agent. She creates mismatches with her size and length, which Clark knows well from their season opener and playoff series last season.

All of the additions will boost a defense that ranked in the basement in most categories. Howard, who won the 2017 championship with Minnesota and titles with Seattle in 2018 and 2020, is a former Defensive Player of the Year. She played for White in 2015 when the Fever reached the WNBA Finals. And Colson, a two-time Aces champion, played a defensive masterclass in the Aces’ unlikely 2023 Finals Game 4 clincher.

The Fever front office could add so much established talent because Clark and Boston combine for 10% of its salary cap ($161,437 of approximate $1.5M) while on their rookie deals. They will each command supermax salaries in the coming years, though it’s unclear what that will look like with a new collective bargaining agreement looming. The time to win is now, and the Fever are all-in. That sounds like a winner to us.

Here are the others who won and lost and whose status is unclear, but intriguing, as 2025 WNBA free agency winds down:

WINNERS

Unhappy players and their new homes

The free agency window was — and might continue to be — marked by players asking for and receiving beneficial trades. Kelsey Plum, Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas all asked for sign-and-trade deals when their franchises placed them under the core designation, while Jewell Loyd straight-up asked to be moved. Marina Mabrey also requested a trade this week from the sinking Sun.

All four were granted those requests and landed in good spots. Plum, 30, will join young frontcourt duo Rickea Jackson and Cameron Brink in Los Angeles to lead first-year head coach Lynne Roberts’ offense. The two-time Aces champion will also be closer to her hometown near San Diego.

Loyd, 31, won two titles with the Storm as a third option behind Breanna Stewart and Sue Bird. After issues in Seattle, she joins a title contender in the Aces and will be a down-the-roster option again.

Sabally, 26, toiled in Dallas where boatloads of draft picks, including lottery selections, never materialized into a contender. Thomas, 32, never won a title in Connecticut despite reaching the semifinals each of the last six years, including two Finals appearances. Both are heading to Phoenix.

Phoenix Mercury’s investment

Phoenix acquired the most coveted free agent in Thomas (with no disrespect to Breanna Stewart, who is a near-lock to re-sign in New York under the core designation) and one of the most wanted in Sabally. Both were lured by the Mercury’s overall franchise investment and new practice facility.

They will cushion the blow of losing Brittney Griner, who signed with the Dream as an unrestricted free agent, and the potential retirement of 20-year veteran Diana Taurasi. Should Taurasi retire, the organization set itself up for a smooth transition from DT-BG as the faces of its franchise to AT and Sab, known as the “Unicorn.”

Phoenix, which traded for Kahleah Copper last year, should improve on both sides of the ball and finish safely inside the playoffs. Expect more moves as the Mercury have $575,2016 in cap room and an absence of guards.

Chicago Sky and Courtney Vandersloot

Courtney Vandersloot and her wife, unofficially retired guard Allie Quigley, are legends in Chicago sports lore. Chicago drafted Vandersloot in the 2011 draft lottery and the point guard stayed around, slowly building the Sky into a contender. Quigley, who starred locally at DePaul, joined in 2013.

Along with hometown hero Candace Parker, they led the 2021 team through an OK regular season that sped into the franchise’s first and only WNBA title.

That team dissolved two years later when its stars jumped ship for competing superteams that were leading the charge on a league-wide facilities race. Vandersloot won a second title with New York last year, but in a reserve role. (Parker won with the Aces in 2023.)

“Slootie” is now back home to shape a young, developing squad that drafted Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso a year ago and hired Tyler Marsh, a two-time champion assistant with the Aces, as its head coach. It’s a win for the on-court product and the marketing department. And the franchise announced its state-of-the-art facility in July with a scheduled opening for the pivotal 2026 season.

The addition of veteran guard Kia Nurse (Canadian national team) and wing Rebecca Allen (Australian national team) will give needed leadership to the locker room as well as desperately missing offense. The Sky ranked second to last in offensive rating last season.

LOSERS

Connecticut Sun’s lack of investment

The Sun has set and it’s not pretty. As of Friday, Connecticut has retained two players from its 2024 opening day roster. Neither Olivia Nelson-Ododa nor Astou Ndour-Fall started a single game or averaged more than 12 minutes or four points. Caitlin Bickle finished the season rostered but on a hardship contract and with limited minutes. Marina Mabrey, the lone remaining player who started games last year, asked for a trade this week after being acquired in July.

The mass exodus wouldn't be so bad if the additions could level up. There is talent in Tina Charles, a 36-year-old former MVP; Natasha Cloud, a WNBA champion point guard; and Diamond DeShields, a piece of the Chicago Sky’s title team. It isn’t enough to compete for a hosting seed in the playoffs.

The Sun organization is going to have to take a good, long look at itself. Facilities are no longer an option or a privilege; they’re a requirement in this era. Thomas made that clear in both her words and her exit for the glistening setup in Phoenix. Players at Unrivaled, where the brand-new facilities meet their every need, spoke highly of the advantage and how it should be that way with their W teams.

It would be wise for the Sun to make changes in the next 12 months before nearly all of the league’s players become free agents in 2026.

Golden State Valkyries

It’s tough to be an expansion team these days. Golden State set itself up for major signings with a salary-cap-friendly expansion draft. Yet the Valkyries went O-fer on the best free agents in their first season, which may speak more to the league’s situation than their own.

Quite nearly every player in the league who isn’t on a rookie scale deal will become a free agent in 2026 — barring a work stoppage — as the sides negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. That sets up a gap year of sorts for this year’s free agents to try out new franchises and pairings without multi-year deals hanging over their heads. Instead of testing out expansion waters, most opted to try out more established routes.

But there is no such thing as a moral victory in the game of free agency. The Valkyries did sign 2024 Sixth Player of the Year Tiffany Hayes, a veteran guard who came out of retirement for Las Vegas last season. Other than that, they’ll have to make do with the mostly international talent they’ve brought in for Year 1. That will be complicated since EuroBasket is in June and the Valkyries could be without multiple players should their national teams qualify for the competition. And next year, they’ll be competing with two additional expansion clubs in Toronto and Portland.

Seattle Storm

The Storm faithful are hoping addition by subtraction works in their favor after a superteam roster fell short in 2024.

The Storm won the Loyd trade because their superstar building block wanted out, and they received the No. 2 draft pick for her. That could set them up nicely for a future franchise player, such as Notre Dame point guard Olivia Miles. But they lost in free agency by not adding anyone else.

They used a core designation on versatile wing and French national team star Gabby Williams, but she has yet to officially sign. Williams was a late arrival a year ago due to international commitments and has openly criticized the prioritization clause that requires players to report for the first day of training camp or face being suspended. ESPN reported in January that Williams’ representatives have been working with the organization on “determining her next steps,” an indication she may not stay in Seattle or play in the W at all.

Nneka Ogwumike said she is coming back but has also yet to sign an announced deal. The only transaction Seattle has in the books is the Plum-Loyd trade that brought in center Li Yueru.

Washington Mystics

It’s been all quiet on the Washington front. The franchise, which hired head coach Sydney Johnson and general manager Jamila Wideman in December, did not sign a single free agent as of Friday.

It is one of a handful of franchises that has been relatively dormant, joining New York (re-signed Kennedy Burke and two others to training camp contracts) and Minnesota (re-signed reserve Natisha Hiedeman and signed Marième Badiane). But unlike the Lynx and the Liberty, the Mystics aren’t in a position to stay stagnant and try to compete.

New York and Minnesota engaged in a five-game heavyweight battle for the WNBA title. The Mystics watched from home, awaiting the results of lottery-pick luck that landed them the No. 4 selection. Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger — who oversees the Mystics and Wizards — has said he wants to emphasize draft and development, so it could be a rough few years for the franchise.

NOT SURE, BUT INTRIGUED

Atlanta Dream

First-year Atlanta head coach Karl Smesko listed all of his Florida Gulf Coast University players as “shooters” on the school’s official roster during his tenure there. His teams regularly hit 300 or more 3-pointers in a season over the last 15 years, including an NCAA-record 431 in 2018.

So it was fair to be befuddled when Griner, a 6-foot-9 center, announced from a fishing boat near the Unrivaled facilities she was joining the Dream as an unrestricted free agent. Brionna Jones, a steady center from Connecticut, also joined them, as did Shatori Walker-Kimbrough.

The Dream, like the Fever, are putting a win-now roster on the court with a first-year head coach. What that looks like and how it works out is to be seen.

Dallas and the Paige problem

Hiring Curt Miller as general manager gives the Wings legitimacy, but this is a franchise that has historically wasted its haul of draft picks. There are questions on whether the ship is beginning to right itself.

When Sabally is healthy — she’s played more than 17 games in a season only once in five years — she’s one of the best in the league. But after Sabally asked out, Miller acquired DiJonai Carrington, NaLyssa Smith and Tyasha Harris to pair with Arike Ogunbowale.

The Wings’ big offseason move will be drafting at No. 1 with the rights to take former Player of the Year Paige Bueckers. While she has indicated it is her last season at UConn, she could utilize leverage.

To avoid being locked into the current CBA’s rookie salary structure, Bueckers could wait until 2026, when a new CBA will likely pay higher salaries and provide more benefits. That means an additional year at UConn because she has a redshirt option or she could take time off. She has an NIL deal with Unrivaled and said she intends to play in the league’s 2026 season.

If she did not want to land in Dallas, she could also pull an Eli Manning and dictate a landing spot. That would be unprecedented in the WNBA, but it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility as players gain more negotiating power at the beginning of their professional careers.