Big changes appear to be coming for Lynx and WNBA: ‘Everything is up in the air.’

PHOENIX − As the WNBA playoffs started, Napheesa Collier took a moment to reflect on the emotion of the weeks ahead. The Lynx All-Star was anticipating a postseason stretch that ended sooner than Minnesota wanted, and sooner than many expected, with a semifinal series loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday night.

“You don’t want to leave these people,” Collier said of her teammates. “You never know what teams look like from year to year. You know, everything is up in the air.”

Her sentiment came in the face of a WNBA offseason marked by unprecedented uncertainty. A new collective bargaining agreement needs to be reached between the league and its players. League-wide free agency is pending. Two new expansion teams are entering the market.

After coming seconds away from beating the New York Liberty in the WNBA Finals last season, the Lynx decided to return their core pieces and run it back while chasing a league-record fifth title in 2025. And the Lynx were favored to see that redux turn into redemption as the No. 1 playoff seed until three straight losses to Phoenix knocked them out of the playoffs.

After Sunday’s Game 4 loss, veteran guard Kayla McBride covered her eyes with her shirt as she tried to hold back tears: “I would feel like this 100 times over to be with people that I’ve been with. You just want it to keep going.”

But this coming offseason, all the league’s teams — not just the Lynx — will face major questions that make shakeups seem inevitable.

Much of the wheeling and dealing can’t begin until the league and the WNBA’s players association, the WNBPA, agree on a new collective bargaining agreement.

As league viewership and team valuations have swelled, the players union exercised its right to opt out of the current agreement’s 2027 expiration date. Players wanted increased revenue sharing as part of their salary makeup, so that they could benefit from the record media deal with ESPN that is set to go into effect next year and additional money, like that from increasing merchandise sales.

“We’re on a time crunch. No one wants a lockout,” Collier told reporters in July at this year’s WNBA All-Star Game, where players took the court wearing warmup T-shirts reading, “Pay Us What You Owe Us.”

“But at the end of the day, we have to stand firm, and we’re not going to be moved on certain topics,” added Collier, who, as a vice president of the WNBPA, has been a frequent advocate for the players in negotiations.

The league and the players association could agree to an extension of the current CBA while negotiations continue past October, but major roadblocks in the two parties coming to consensus could lead to a play stoppage and player lockout. That could delay typical offseason events, like the college draft and free agency.

And even a new CBA could spell change for the league. Roster sizes, salary caps and free agency procedures are among the issues determined in these types of contracts.

That leaves the entirety of Minnesota’s starting five — Collier, McBride, Courtney Williams, Alanna Smith and Bridget Carleton — set to become unrestricted free agents. Key reserves Natisha Hiedeman, Jessica Shepard and DiJonai Carrington will also be UFAs.

But the Lynx’s core eight won’t be alone in the free-agent pool. They will be joined by all of the league’s biggest names, excluding those still on their rookie contracts like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers.

From cemented stars to reliable role players, veterans across the WNBA will have the freedom to consider teams that try to court them with more money, a starting role or simply a change of scenery. Free agents are slated to begin signing in February, should a lockout be avoided.

At the same time, teams will be able to try to retool if they would like, extending offers to a wide array of players they could acquire in place of those on their current roster. And there will be more teams hungry for impact players this year, as expansion franchises in Toronto and Portland enter the fray.

For the Lynx, Anastasiia Kosu is still on her rookie contract, as is center Dorka Juhasz, who remained in Europe during this WNBA season. Deeper bench players Masha Kliundikova, Jaylyn Sherrod and Camryn Taylor are all “reserved players,” meaning their three or fewer years of experience in the league gives the Lynx exclusive rights to negotiate new contracts, unless released.

All that comes without mention, yet, of an expansion draft.

Last year, as Golden State entered the league, teams were able to protect six players before each lost one to the Valkyries, who picked Cecilia Zandalasini from Minnesota’s squad. The specifics of a two-team expansion draft are still undisclosed.

Despite having the league’s best regular-season record this year, the Lynx will get a lottery pick in 2026.

On the eve of the 2024 WNBA draft, the Lynx traded down from the seventh draft spot to the eighth, swapping with the Chicago Sky. The Sky drafted Reese. The Lynx took Alissa Pili, who finished this season playing for Los Angeles after being waived by the Lynx.

But part of that trade was also Minnesota pocketing the right to swap first-round picks with the Sky in 2026. And because Chicago finished in 12th place out of 13 teams this season, that pick swap only became more valuable.

Of course, there is still an NCAA season left to play before WNBA teams get to welcome college basketball’s top young talent. But the 2026 draft is expected to hold size (6-foot-7 UCLA center Lauren Betts and 6-6 Spanish big Awa Fam), sharpshooting (Connecticut guard Azzi Fudd), a floor general (TCU point guard Olivia Miles) and versatility (LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson), among others.

That 2026 draft pick could turn into a burst off the bench or could be called upon as a key starter, depending on how free agency falls for the Lynx and how much of their current roster stays intact.

The Lynx’s season ended Sunday with Collier on the bench because of an injury and coach Cheryl Reeve suspended for heavy criticism of the officials during a Game 3 postgame news conference. Reeve had been ejected from that game for getting her second technical when she stormed the court to protest a late non-call that led to Collier gruesomely rolling her left ankle.

An update on Collier, who also leads the 3-on-3 Unrivaled league that starts in January, is expected when the team has postseason briefings Tuesday.

Reeve, who also is the team’s president of basketball operations, and the players will face questions about the season in which they “ran it back.”