There are no hard and fast rules on such a draft. However, teams are allowed to protect some players and the draft often ensures that the expansion team won’t pick first. In general, expect the expansion to team to be the WNBA’s worst team next year.
The WNBA will be expanding from 12 teams to 14 over the next two seasons. In 2025, the Golden State Valkyries will begin play and in 2026, Toronto will have their own team. The Valkyries are owned by Joe Lacob and the Golden State Warriors ownership group while the Toronto team is owned solely by Larry Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Sports Group as opposed to Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the conglomerate that owns the Toronto Raptors. Tanenbaum is the chairman of MLSE as well.
Anyway, when these two new teams begin play, the WNBA will have two expansion drafts for them. So how do they work?
What the WNBA CBA says about an expansion draft
In January pages 210 and 211 of the WNBA CBA, there is a section on how an expansion draft happens. If you are looking for a lot of specifics, unfortunately, there aren’t. But here’s what the verbiage does say:
- The WNBA MAY decide to make current teams decide which players to make available for the expansion draft. There is no set limit.
- Assuming teams allow to make players available, if the expansion team selects a player from another team, that player’s salary and negotiating rights will transfer over.
- Expansion teams can generally pick just one unrestricted free agent. They can then select other players regardless of contract status.
- The expansion teams could core a player that they select if that player is moving into unrestricted free agency.
- There is no language about where the expansion team would draft in its first year of operation.
What happened the last time the WNBA had an expansion draft?
There have been several WNBA teams that relocated in the last 16 years and two teams (the Houston Comets and Sacramento Monarchs) folded. But the last expansion team was the Atlanta Dream in 2008. Here’s what happened.
- The expansion draft was in February 2008 before free agency and trades could start.
- The other 13 teams at the time were allowed to protect six players each from being picked.
- Atlanta picked their players, including unrestricted free agent Betty Lennox, who played for the Seattle Storm before coming there. Lennox was also cored.
- Atlanta was given the fourth overall pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft and were not part of the lottery that year.
So how good were the Dream in 2008? They were 4-30, the worst team in the WNBA. In the following year, the Dream received the No. 1 overall pick to select Angel McCoughtry. They quickly improved to 18-16 in the 2009 season, and made the WNBA Finals for the first time in 2010. Atlanta made two additional Finals appearances in 2011 and 2013 with McCoughtry as their franchise player.
What does this likely mean for the Mystics in 2025 and 2026?
As we all know, the Mystics are likely a lottery team this season, and they are a good candidate to be the worst team in the WNBA in 2024.
However, I wouldn’t bet on the Mystics being the worst team for that long considering that they will probably be able to protect most of their key players for 2025 AND 2026 from going to the Valkyries or Toronto. Most teams will do just that, even with a new CBA likely coming after the 2025 season.
So being bad in 2024 is not a bad thing considering that Paige Bueckers is the consensus No. 1 overall pick next year. Theres’ almost no way that Golden State will have a Top 3 pick, considering what Atlanta had to deal with in their first year. Washington can also wash, rise and repeat for 2025 before 2026 when Toronto opens shop.
Do I think the Valkyries or Toronto will be good in their first season? No. The superstars for the most part, will be kept in their markets. But if Lacob and Tanenbaum become known as WNBA player friendly team owners, these teams could be very attractive for the best free agents in their second years of business.
Going back to Washington, if General Manager Mike Thibault plays his cards right and gets some luck, the Mystics could have a successful rebuild with a new franchise player while protecting their key contributors. If not, the Mystics could be having some down years during a period where the league and professional women’s basketball is otherwise booming.