A'Ja Wilson & The Las Vegas Aces Take the WNBA Title But What Now?
A’ja Wilson & The Las Vegas Aces Take the WNBA Title, But What Now?
The Las Vegas Aces took the chip in the first seven-game Finals in WNBA history. Unfortunately, the extra games didn’t work to the advantage of their opponent, the Phoenix Mercury, who lost in four games on their home floor. The Aces took the deciding game 97-86, which looks closer than the game actually was.
The Aces leaned on their four-time MVP, Aces center A’ja Wilson, who cemented her mark in the GOAT conversation at just 29 years old. She was the WNBA Finals MVP, the co-Defensive Player of the Year, a member of the WNBA’s first team, and a WNBA All-Star.
“By the time it’s all said and done, she will be the greatest to ever do it,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. Wilson and the Aces marked their third title in four years, despite adding and deleting players they won with in previous seasons. The Aces were barely .500 before the All-Star break, then lost by 53 to the Minnesota Lynx, the league’s best team in the regular season. Then the Aces won 16 in a row, beating a surprisingly competitive Indiana Fever team to make it to the Finals.
But as Wilson and her boyfriend, Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, celebrated in Phoenix, the future of the WNBA looks murky. The collective bargaining agreement expires Oct. 31, which means over 100 players will become free agents. In the 2026 season, the W will add the Toronto Tempo, its 14th team and the Portland Fire, its 15th. Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia will be added by 2030 and the league has made historic media rights deals going into 2026.
Despite those accomplishments, there are big challenges. The W is united in its opposition to Cathy Englebert, the former CEO of international accounting firm Deloitte and Touche, who was named the league’s first commissioner in 2019. Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier called out Englebert after the team was eliminated in the playoffs, saying the league had the “worst leadership in the world.”
So what happens now? Here are the most intriguing storylines in the WNBA off-season.
Is the WNBA heading to a lockout?
Maybe. Nneka Ogwumike, the president of the WNBA Player Association, and Collier, its vice-president, have said along with other players that the offer they’ve been extended so far is untenable, if not insulting. The players believe they deserve more of a share of the $2.2 billion media rights deal, which includes more than 125 regular-season and playoff games broadcast on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, NBC, USA Network, Peacock, and Prime Video. CBS and Ion will also air WNBA games to the tune of an additional $60M. The entire deal combined means the W’s media rights, negotiated as part of the NBA’s new media rights agreement, are worth six times more than they were worth under the last deal.
“With this surge of attention, accessibility, visibility, and, of course, investment in dollars, the most pressing thing to consider right now is how we use those dollars to continue to grow and also value the players,” Ogwumike told ESPN, “and seeing what that looks like in what feels like a very transformational period in our league.”
A lockout would derail that moment at a time when the league is the most popular it’s ever been, from TV ratings to attendance. The Golden State Valkryies became the first expansion team in W history to make the playoffs, leading the league in attendance. They also became the most valuable franchise in NBA history.
With a healthy Caitlin Clark expected to return to the Indiana Fever next season, the league, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026, is poised for its most successful year ever. The current deal offered by the league is a $300,000 veteran minimum and an $850,000 max deal, which are major leaps from the current player supermaximum of approximately $250K. The current minimum for players with up to two years in the league is $66K. In 2025, each team’s salary cap was $1,507,100 and the team payroll minimum is $1,261,440 per statistics on Her Hoop.
Among the four major sports leagues, which average around 50% revenue sharing, the W has the worst deal with revenue sharing at a paltry 9%. That is likely to be a tough negotiation as the women want much more of the larger revenue pie, though the league contends that it’s still not profitable.
“We don’t want (a stoppage), but you have to be prepared. … Make sure you have money squared away,” Collier said at All-Star Weekend in July.
Where will superstars land?
The CBA currently has a clause to allow teams to protect their stars, like Wilson. But with over 100 players becoming free agents, and two expansion teams, if that doesn’t make it the next CBA, there could be an all-out war for the league’s biggest stars. Every starting member of the Aces, including Wilson, is a free agent now that the season’s over, and it’s the same for the Mercury. Superstars Clark and the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese are both still on their rookie deals. Most wanted among free agents if they agree to move would be Collier, Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas, New York’s Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart, Atlanta’s Alisha Gray, and the Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell. The expansion draft is scheduled for December, which will mean more player movement, but until the CBA is final, that date is uncertain, as is the signing of free agents which would usually begin in January.
Where will fired coaches go?
The WNBA currently has 13 teams, and as of now, not one of their coaches is a Black woman. Noelle Quinn, the former coach of the Seattle Storm, was the second-longest tenured coach in the W, after Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve. As of now, the Storm is one of four coaching vacancies, along with the New York Liberty, who gave Sandy Brondello her walking papers after the team didn’t even make the Finals after winning the 2024 championship. Dallas Wings coach Chris Kolcanes was let go after his team earned the worst record in the league despite its star, Paige Beuckers, winning Rookie of the Year. Quinn could go to an expansion team as she has the experience to launch a young squad. Bordello could go to the Wings to help Bueckers evolve, unless she’s looking for more of an immediate contender in the Storm, who pushed the Aces in their semi-final series.
What’s the deal with Unrivaled and the other women’s league?
Co-founded by Stewart and Collier, Unrivaled’s second season starts on Jan. 5 with eight teams, up from six last year, increasing roster spots from 36 to 54. The 3-on-3 league will bring back Collier and Stewart, with Thomas, Phoenix’s Satou Sabally, and Los Angeles’ Rickea Jackson returning. Newbies Beuckers and Brittney Griner will join the league this season. Two roster spots remain, but it’s unknown whether Reese will return and Clark has already said she is not playing. Unrivaled players are paid an average of $200K for the three-month season. The upstart league which plays and is headquartered in Miami, has been valued at $340M after a second round of funding. Two games will be played in Philadelphia this season, with the Jan. 30 game close to selling out.
In Nashville, another women’s hoops league is now in its fifth year. Athletes Unlimited provides another option for players seeking additional income. The 5-on-5 league goes for four weeks starting in February. Nalyssa Smith of the Aces, Sydney Colson and Odyssey Sims of the Fever, the Liberty’s Isabelle Harrison and the Storm’s Alyshia Clark are signed to AU, which offers $500K in total prizes.
A’ja Wilson & The Las Vegas Aces Take the WNBA Title, But What Now? was originally published on cassiuslife.com
