Jewell Loyd donned a grey dri-fit shirt with the Las Vegas Aces brand throughout the chest as she sat in entrance of a black backboard branded with extra of her new staff logos Saturday for her introductory press convention. A smile was plastered throughout her face.
After spending the previous decade with the Seattle Storm, Loyd is happy and rejuvenated for a brand new alternative.
She known as becoming a member of the Aces as a part of the three-team commerce that despatched Kelsey Plum to Los Angeles and the 2025 No. 2 total choose to Seattle a “contemporary breath.”
“I can’t wait,” Loyd mentioned. “I’ve been smiling the entire week.”
Loyd and Plum had been among the many first main strikes of free company that despatched shockwaves by means of the league.
Since information broke of that tentative deal earlier this week – which was made official on the primary day of the WNBA free company signing interval Saturday – many different high-profile gamers have determined to go well with up for various groups in 2025.
Alyssa Thomas is predicted to signal with the Phoenix Mercury after spending the primary 11 years of her WNBA profession with the Connecticut Solar. She’ll be taking part in alongside Satou Sabally, who was moved to Phoenix as a part of one other main three-team commerce.
Longtime Mercury heart and nine-time All-Star Brittney Griner landed on the Atlanta Dream as her subsequent vacation spot, the place she’ll staff up with Brionna Jones who left Connecticut this offseason after eight seasons.
Courtney Vandersloot is returning to the Sky after spending two seasons in New York, and Kelsey Mitchell is predicted to re-sign with the Indiana Fever.
The record can go on and on.
However this pattern of large participant motion in free company has been ramping up for a number of years now. It’s partly attributable to gamers being extra empowered than ever to dictate the place they wish to play.
“That’s simply the evolution of the league and what we’re seeing basketball and girls’s sports activities going,” Loyd mentioned. “There’s undoubtedly much more freedom and issues taking place and modifications.
“For me personally, I simply suppose that you just wish to all the time discover methods to enhance and get higher. That’s what I’m making an attempt to do each single day and that led me to be part of the Aces. And so I simply suppose that’s simply the evolution of the place the league goes.”
In some methods, the participant motion can be sending a message to groups to get with this system otherwise you’ll be left behind.
Some gamers, together with Sabally, compelled their method out of their present conditions in seek for higher environments and participant experiences.
Not each WNBA staff has its personal coaching facility with first-rate facilities.
In final yr’s playoffs, the Solar infamously had a follow disrupted by a 2-year-old’s party, which Thomas known as “the last word disrespect.”
Being part of Unequalled this offseason opened Thomas’ eyes much more to the disparity in what Connecticut doesn’t supply its gamers.
“We don’t have any of this type of stuff in Connecticut from the medical tools to the chilly tubs, the cooks, we don’t have something like that in Connecticut,” Thomas mentioned. “In order that’s what we had been accustomed to however being right here and seeing how these sorts of issues really feel, I imply, it’s undoubtedly a distinct expertise for me…
“We’re pro-level athletes. You want this stuff to handle your physique to achieve success and in Connecticut, we haven’t had any of that.”
Aces president Nikki Fargas mentioned free company additionally has benefited from elevated funding from WNBA groups, together with restructuring entrance places of work and bolstering teaching staffs.
The times of head coaches additionally being common managers are over.
However what’s unfolded over the previous week is just the start, in response to Fargas.
Most gamers will likely be signing solely one-year offers as a result of the brand new collective bargaining settlement that’s anticipated to deliver large wage bumps is slated to come back into impact in 2026.
The WNBA can be anticipated so as to add enlargement groups in Toronto and Portland subsequent season.
“We’re rising and increasing and bringing extra groups, I believe the alternatives are going to be limitless for the franchises to have the ability to put collectively high quality rosters as a result of we’re getting high quality gamers on this league,” Fargas mentioned. “Not solely are we utilizing the pipeline of gamers which might be coming from the collegiate degree but in addition internationally.”