As WNBA training camp is underway, let’s look at the 2026 depth charts

WNBA free agency is over, and training camp battles are fully underway. A couple teams have already made some cuts, injury timelines are becoming clear, and so it is time for my annual installment of this article.

Notably, Natasha Cloud is still unsigned, and other veterans like Aari McDonald and Tina Charles would likely take up decent minutes depending on if and where they sign. And Ezi Magbegor should probably be traded by the midseason deadline. So there are a few spots where teams’ depth charts could change in ways that matter.

Below, a pair of slashes means there is a clear difference in players’ places on the depth chart. One slash means the spot is either split or uncertain.

Read the breakdown for every team below, or skip to your favorite:

Atlanta Dream | Chicago Sky | Connecticut Sun | Dallas Wings | Golden State Valkyries | Indiana Fever | Las Vegas Aces | Los Angeles Sparks | Minnesota Lynx | New York Liberty | Phoenix Mercury | Portland Fire | Seattle Storm | Toronto Tempo | Washington Mystics

Atlanta Dream

Jordin Canada // Maite Cazorla
Allisha Gray // Te-Hina Paopao
Rhyne Howard
Angel Reese // Naz Hillmon
Brionna Jones // Madina Okot
Known developmental player(s): None

Two notes: First, figure that Reese will slide to the five and Hillmon will start until Jones is back from her meniscus tear and up to full minutes. Also, there are three open spots, and I have no idea how those will sort out.

The players competing for those last three spots (and, presumably, the two developmental spots) are Isobel Borlase, Indya Nivar, Taylor Thierry, Paige Robinson, Holly Winterburn, Bella Fontleroy, Laila Phelia, Sika Koné, Sacha Washington and Stephanie Jones. The Dream need a fourth big until Brionna Jones is healthy, so Koné probably makes it since she is the best pro of the three there. And Cazorla and Paopao being backups removes Winterburn’s only real selling point, since she is a pure point guard without a lot of skill elsewhere.

That leaves the sextet of Borlase, Nivar, Thierry, Robinson, Fontleroy and Phelia fighting for two roster spots and two dev spots. Two of the first three making the roster seems the most likely. Robinson, as someone who does a lot of interesting things but is probably two inches too short for most of them to matter in the W, is certainly worth a dev spot.

All in all, having Gray, Howard, Jones, Hillmon, Paopao and Cazorla all locked up for three years and Canada and Reese¹ for two is extraordinary work, even if the starting unit can get a bit clunky and Canada and Jones are past their primes.

Chicago Sky

Courtney Vandersloot // Rachel Banham // Hailey Van Lith
Skylar Diggins // DiJonai Carrington/Jacy Sheldon
Rickea Jackson // Carrington/Gabriela Jaquez
Azurá Stevens // Jackson
Kamilla Cardoso // Elizabeth Williams
Known developmental player(s): None

There’s one open spot left after the above list, so given the relative lack of backcourt depth I’m assuming it’ll be a big. The Sky’s options there are Latasha Lattimore, Megan Nestor, Maddy Westbeld and Sidney Cooks. Sure. Tonie Morgan would be a solid choice for a dev spot, too.

There’s a lot of potential for both fun and bafflingly poor fits here. For the former, Jackson should get a ton of play as a primary shot creator, a frontcourt pairing of Stevens and Williams sounds synergistic, and that’s a lot of off-ball guard depth to mix and match. For the latter, every good vet is on the wrong side of 30 — in some cases considerably so — Jackson is basically the only shot creator on the roster, Stevens is the only real power forward, and in no world is Diggins playing the two a good idea offensively — but Chicago’s locked itself into that for two years anyway!

Get ready for a lot of three-guard lineups that don’t totally work.

Connecticut Sun

Shey Peddy // Charlisse Leger-Walker
Leïla Lacan // Gianna Kneepkens
Saniya Rivers // Diamond Miller // Nell Angloma
Aaliyah Edwards // Kennedy Burke // Aneesah Morrow
Brittney Griner // Olivia Nelson-Ododa
Known developmental player(s): None

If you’re going to be “Doodoo for JuJu”² without making the experience miserable, this is a great place to start: A bunch of fun young returners, a veteran point guard good enough to set the table but not good enough to affect winning, some interesting rookies, and Brittney Griner. Even the highest upside for this roster still includes some porous defense at the one, five and backup wings, plus some one-way contributors. But there are more than enough exciting lineups here to make the Sun a top-tier team to watch on League Pass.

Connecticut also has a small group in camp, so for the dev spots, Mamignan Touré’s probably got one of those locked in and it’s between Harmoni Turner and Taylor Bigby for the other.

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Dallas Wings

Paige Bueckers // Lindsay Allen
Arike Ogunbowale // Odyssey Sims // Aziaha James
Azzi Fudd // Maddy Siegrist // Alysha Clark
Jessica Shepard // Awak Kuier
Alanna Smith // Li Yueru
Known developmental player(s): None

If Curt Miller’s comment Thursday listing projected lineups is anything to go by, the Wings are again going to make some ill-advised roster moves. Sims and Clark are well into the phase of their careers where they probably should only be rostered as hardships, and keeping both over JJ Quinerly is malpractice. It wouldn’t even be too reasonable to keep Allen, a marginally above-replacement-level point guard, over Quinerly, who was a legitimate rotation piece as a rookie last year.

If Miller is indeed playing his hand, though, then Dallas either trades Quinerly or shunts her to a dev spot. In the latter case, several teams would immediately fight to sign her to their full roster.

That makes the other contenders for the Wings’ dev spots Grace Berger, Zee Spearman, Kyla Oldacre, Amy Okonkwo and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu.

Golden State Valkyries

Veronica Burton // Justė Jocytė // Kaitlyn Chen
Gabby Williams // Tiffany Hayes
Kayla Thornton // Cecilia Zandalasini
Janelle Salaün // Kaila Charles // Laeticia Amihere
Iliana Rupert // Kiah Stokes
Known developmental player(s): None

I suppose the Valkyries could start Hayes or Charles over Salaün, given the $600,000 they’re paying each of those two, but that could really compromise the unit’s spacing. So instead this is seven wings playing four positions across the depth chart. Jocytė is a good enough playmaker to play the point, although splitting primary playmaking responsibilities in the second unit between her and Williams would make the most sense.

It’s a weird roster, given the number of players who could start and the fact that there are seven wings who are all quite different from one another. But this looks incredibly fun. There are a variety of lineups that can do so much defensively while playing a gaggle of shot creators with spacing. That’s something no other team in the league can claim.

I figure Chen gets the last spot since she popped more in her minutes than fellow returning Valk reserve Kate Martin and having a third-string lead guard is a nice bit of insurance. Contenders for the dev spots would then include Martin, Marta Suárez, Ashlon Jackson and Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda.

Indiana Fever

Caitlin Clark // Raven Johnson
Kelsey Mitchell // Tyasha Harris
Sophie Cunningham // Lexie Hull // Shatori Walker-Kimbrough
Monique Billings // Myisha Hines-Allen
Aliyah Boston // Damiris Dantas // Makayla Timpson
Known developmental player(s): Justine Pissott

The Fever are the first team where it seems clear they don’t put as much scouting and outside-the-box thinking into the back half of the roster beyond signing decent vets. In fairness, Walker-Kimbrough and Hines-Allen are perfectly decent reserves, and Billings would be a great fit as the backup center here. But none of them really fit what Indiana does best, unless Hines-Allen looks more like she did in 2021-22 with Washington.

Billings is only impactful as a small-ball five, but the Fever are paying her two-thirds of a max salary for two years to likely start at the four, which limits her on both ends. Walker-Kimbrough plays far slower than this offense does and her skill set isn’t distinct enough to be more than a pure backup for whichever of Cunningham or Hull is coming off the bench. Dantas is also in the Sims/Alysha Clark group of skill progression as well.

Still, most of the roster should be electric. What the three stars can do with a healthy shooting rotation of Cunningham, Harris and Hull will be even more impossible to guard, and Johnson provides a legitimate point-of-attack defender who can spell Clark, with Harris able to run point if Johnson’s offense doesn’t translate to the pros.

Contenders for the second dev spot here are Jessica Timmons, Kayana Traylor and Megan McConnell.

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Las Vegas Aces

Chelsea Gray // Dana Evans
Jewell Loyd // Chennedy Carter
Jackie Young // Stephanie Talbot/Kierstan Bell
NaLyssa Smith // Janiah Barker
A’ja Wilson // Cheyenne Parker-Tyus // Brianna Turner
Known developmental player(s): None

Speaking of teams with less regard for the back half of the roster, the Aces brought only 13 players into camp, which is one fewer than the number of total roster and dev spots each team has. As long as Wilson, Young and Gray are as good as they are, the rest of the roster just needs to be fringe average for Vegas to be a title contender, but Aces president Nikki Fargas is making the margins way smaller than they have to be.

The bulk of the main rotation is the same as last year, and Carter should be a fun addition whose game is basically the complete opposite of Loyd’s. But with Evans out indefinitely with a leg injury, there’s a distinct chance that every other backup on this roster is no better than replacement level. There’s also a small chance Barker and Parker-Tyus are two of the better backups in the league, though it’s more likely that the Phoenix Mercury will cut multiple players who would be at least the eighth-best option in this rotation.

It’s also worth noting that Gray and Loyd were each signed to three-year contracts, and with both in the decline phase of their careers, the Aces could be in a very tough place within a couple years trying to compensate for that.

Jordan Obi should be a lock for a dev spot here.

Los Angeles Sparks

Kelsey Plum // Sevgi Uzun // Julie Vanloo
Erica Wheeler // Ta’Niya Latson
Ariel Atkins // Rae Burrell
Nneka Ogwumike // Cameron Brink
Dearica Hamby // Sania Feagin
Known developmental player(s): Laura Ziegler, Jihyun Park

That’s 11 names, with the last spot likely coming down to Emma Cannon or Chance Gray. No matter who wins, it’s a team constructed almost entirely of small two-guards and power forwards. It’s also imbalanced with well more backcourt bodies than frontcourt, which is kind of impressive in today’s WNBA.

There were a lot of strange decisions made here. Why sign Wheeler to significant money if you’re trading for Atkins, and why give the 35-year-old Wheeler two protected years at all? The best lineup here is probably Wheeler sitting for Brink and Atkins at the two, but then that’s three bigs, and the Sparks didn’t pay Wheeler like a backup. Why take on both Uzun and Vanloo but only one actual small forward in Burrell? Why Park?

This is definitely a better rotation than the Sparks had last season. I’m just not sure what kind of upside is even possible when the best lineup has either Atkins or Ogwumike at the three. It’s also baffling to draft players like Gray and Amelia Hassett, who, at least in the latter’s case, though possibly both, will be cut outright because an undrafted free agent and an unremarkable international vet are taking up the dev spots.

Minnesota Lynx

Olivia Miles // Jaylyn Sherrod?/Eliska Hamzova?
Courtney Williams // Lani White?
Kayla McBride // Aubrey Griffin?
Napheesa Collier // Nia Coffey // Anastasiia Olairi Kosu
Natasha Howard // Dorka Juhász // Jade Masogayo?
Known developmental player(s): None

Apart from getting to draft Miles, it’s safe to say the Lynx had the worst April of any team in the league. Five key pieces departed, including two starters, and the only free agents they signed from other teams were Howard and Coffey, both of whom required two years protected in order to sign.³

Everything beyond the starting five and three frontcourt backups is up in the air. As with Vegas, the entire bench here could be replacement-level at best, although with the likes of Hamzova, White and Masogayo as possible options, the Lynx are at least taking swings on players who could be better than a hardship-caliber veteran.

White is likely the only signee from the collegiate class of 2026 who could be WNBA-caliber. That leaves Masogayo and Emma Cechova in a battle for insurance at center if head coach Cheryl Reeve continues to like having extra depth there.

Sherrod and Hamzova are the two training camp invites who can passably play the point,⁴ while White, Griffin, Reigan Richardson and Antonia Delaere are the off-ball guard options. Kosu makes Liatu King redundant, although King did show some juice in limited minutes with Los Angeles last season. Any of those players could also be in contention for a dev spot if they don’t make the roster.

Minnesota is another team that should be pouncing on whoever the Mercury cut, because that’ll likely include better options for these last few spots than almost anyone I just mentioned.

New York Liberty

Sabrina Ionescu // Pauline Astier
Leonie Fiebich // Betnijah Laney-Hamilton // Marine Johannès
Satou Sabally // Rebecca Allen // Rebekah Gardner
Breanna Stewart // Raquel Carrera
Jonquel Jones // Han Xu
Known developmental player(s): Marine Fauthoux

A lot of interesting things can be done here. The starting lineup plus the backups I’ve listed at the one through the four will almost certainly be the everyday rotation, which at the very least has a far higher ceiling than anything the rest of the league has to offer. If there’s anything clunky there, there’s flexibility to slide Sabally’s shot creation to the bench in a 30 minute-a-game super-sub role and have Laney-Hamilton’s defense and off-ball scoring take its place.

Xu is fun. Gardner as the fifth wing is frankly rude. Even Alex Fowler, who ought to have the second dev spot, is good enough that half the league should try to sign her as soon as she doesn’t make the Liberty’s roster.

Assuming Fowler is signed by another team, New York’s options from its training camp for the vacated dev spot are DiDi Richards, Ugonne Onyiah, Ny’Ceara Pryor, Derin Erdoğan, Anneli Maley and Ashley Owusu.

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Phoenix Mercury

Oh boy.

Monique Akoa Makani // [Quionche Carter/Kiana Williams]
Sami Whitcomb // [Lee-Seul Kang/Shay Ciezki/Aisha Sheppard]
Kahleah Copper // Valériane Ayayi // [Noémie Brochant/Kara Dunn/Morgan Maly]
Alyssa Thomas // DeWanna Bonner // [Maggie Doogan/Yarden Garzon]
Natasha Mack // Kathryn Westbeld // Kyara Linskens?
Known developmental player(s): None

Brackets above mean I’ve lumped together players as similar archetypes who are likely in direct competition for one or two spots. Players in the brackets are sorted by how likely I think they are to win said competitions. You’ve got:

• Carter and Williams as combo guards who can operate as capable if unspectacular pick-and-roll passers without Thomas
• Kang, Ciezki and Sheppard as plus off-screen shooters who to varying degrees can do something fun inside the arc
• Brochant, Dunn and Maly as wings with a real 3-point shot and either passing or some versatility scoring from two, along with, to varying degrees, real defensive impact across a couple roles
• Doogan and Garzon as athletically limited forwards with a heck of a spot-up three

There’s also Linskens, who I don’t think the Mercury keep but is solid enough to be worth mentioning.

Of all those players, Brochant and Kang seem like near locks. Garzon is missing Saturday’s preseason opener with a left shoulder injury and lacks enough skill beyond shooting that I can’t see her breaking camp. That leaves two spots left, one for one of the combo guards and one for either an off-ball scorer or Doogan. Carter’s size feels like a better fit for the inverted actions Nate Tibbetts loves, but Williams has more time in this system.

No matter what, Phoenix has a ton of versatility both within and between its lineups, and it might be able to attack in more ways than any other team. There’s league-leading shooting here, switching and help across the rotation, and also Alyssa Thomas.

Portland Fire

Sug Sutton // Carla Leite
Maya Caldwell // Karlie Samuelson // Sarah Ashlee Barker
Bridget Carleton // Nyadiew Puoch
Haley Jones // Emily Engstler // Chloe Bibby
Megan Gustafson // Luisa Geiselsöder
Known developmental player(s): Frieda Bühner

This will get you top odds at JuJu Watkins for sure. And there are some fun things the Fire can do with running the offense through the frontcourt in the meantime.

The real issue here is that for a team almost guaranteed to be sitting near the bottom of the standings, the Fire took no real swings on interesting internationals. Their only free agency pickups from overseas are a short 35-year-old point guard (Teja Oblak) and a 28-year-old American center from the Chinese league (Peyton Williams). You couldn’t have offered Brochant or Astier or Fowler a protected spot? Any of those would have been better swings at future impact pieces than signing Gustafson or Bibby.

The contenders for the other dev spot here should be Jordan Harrison and Serah Williams, although both internationals I mentioned are eligible.

Seattle Storm

Natisha Hiedeman // Jade Melbourne // Taina Mair
Flau’jae Johnson // Lexie Brown
Jordan Horston // Katie Lou Samuelson
Dominique Malonga // Awa Fam
Ezi Magbegor // Stefanie Dolson
Known developmental player(s): None

Speaking of tanking, this should be fun and this should be bad. The fact that the last spot likely comes down to Zia Cooke and Jaelyn Brown as the third-string two-guard really underscores that.

Horston, Samuelson and Magbegor are all out indefinitely, with the first two recovering from ACL tears in winter 2025 and the latter suffering a foot injury that will keep her out for at least six weeks. That means a lot of minutes for Johnson early, Malonga at the five and what should be a starting role at the four for Fam, and more of both Melbourne and Mair. Once Horston returns, though, this is a young group at the two through five with crazy athleticism. Along with the Sun, this might be a high-priority League Pass team.

As an aside, Samuelson’s contract sits alongside Coffey’s as the most shocking to me of free agency. Two years protected over $100,000 above the veteran minimum for someone who wasn’t even fringe average before suffering an ACL tear that she’s still not cleared to play from, on a team that does not direly need wing depth. I don’t get it.

Contenders from Seattle’s training camp for the dev spots here include Jaelyn Brown if she loses the battle for the last spot, Grace VanSlooten and Elle Ladine.

Toronto Tempo

Julie Allemand // Kiki Rice
Marina Mabrey // Kristy Wallace // Kia Nurse
Brittney Sykes // María Conde
Temi Fágbénlé // Isabelle Harrison
Nyara Sabally // Nikolina Milić
Known developmental player(s): None

I know the Tempo really wanted a Canadian, but protecting Nurse means the last roster spot comes down to one of Lexi Held, Kitija Laksa and Aaliyah Nye. All three are considerably better and under three more years of team control than Nurse, and two of them are considerably younger. Then again, Toronto drafted Adja Kane over several better options, so maybe it just has a different idea of strategy and good play than I do.

Anyway, I’m not sure whether the most optimal strategy should be chasing the No. 8 seed as a first-year expansion franchise, but this could be a genuinely fun kind of near-.400 team. Some lineup combos are going to be weird, and there will be units where it’s clear this is an inaugural season, but tell me a Rice-Mabrey-Sykes-Conde-Fágbénlé lineup isn’t kind of exciting.

The dev spots probably go to whichever two players lose the three-way battle for the last roster spot, although Teonni Key should also be a contender.

Washington Mystics

Georgia Amoore // Rori Harmon
Sonia Citron // Lucy Olsen
Michaela Onyenwere // Cotie McMahon // Cassandre Prosper
Kiki Iriafen // Angela Dugalić
Shakira Austin // Lauren Betts
Known developmental player(s): Darianna Littlepage-Buggs

The last spot I think comes down to Christeen Iwuala or Nyla Harris, with either the loser of that battle or Madison Scott filling the other dev slot.

Making Littlepage-Buggs a developmental player, with how her shot’s looked in camp, is a very good piece of business. But other than that, this is a roster that isn’t maximizing any of its foundational talent and might be too good to definitely stay below Portland and Seattle in the standings.

Starting at point guard, there are only two options in camp, both of whom are very short. One is a 25-year-old rookie coming off an ACL tear (Amoore) and the other doesn’t have a real jump shot (Harmon).

Last year’s star rookie, Citron, is not only playing at her second- or third-best position, but she’s a secondary scoring option who may be the only good shooter on the entire roster. All of the other options at the three are better suited offensively for the four, and I don’t understand how any lineup is supposed to make Betts’ development any easier. Who was the competition for signing Onyenwere that she needed a contract of nearly $1.5 million with two years protected, as a player who does not fit with most of the Mystics’ young prospects?

Even if Washington would’ve had to pay more to attract free agents, Erica Wheeler, Lindsay Allen, Ty Harris and Karlie Samuelson would all have been much better fits with the roster, not only for on-court synergy but also for putting the young core in positions to develop more steadily.

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Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the group that owns the Washington Mystics, holds a minority stake in The IX Basketball. The IX Basketball’s editorial operations are entirely independent of Monumental and all other business partners.

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1. Assuming she doesn’t make All-WNBA this year and earn the right to a massive raise next season. ↩︎
2. Credit to The IX Basketball scout team member Lincoln Shafer for the phrase describing tanking for USC star JuJu Watkins. If you’ve got a better idea, I’m all ears. ↩︎
3. Given Coffey’s play over the past two years, her contract may be the most shocking to me of any given out this month. ↩︎
4. No pun intended. ↩︎