Free agency opened in the WNBA on Monday when teams were able to extend qualifying offers to players in order to exercise rights to retain them. Tuesday was the only other day that teams could make those decisions in this accelerated free agency timeline so most teams submitted those choices. As expected, the Golden State Valkyries extended six qualifying offers and now negotiations can begin from Wednesday through Friday before players can start moving teams.
Veronica Burton
As expected, a Restricted qualifying offer was extended to Veronica Burton. This means that she will be able to sign an offer sheet with another team, but the Valkyries would have the ability to match it and retain her under those terms. With the uncertainty of the restricted free agent market, especially with other teams knowing that the Valkyries would want to match, it is certainly possible that Golden State reaches an agreement with her over the next few days that suits both sides.
Cecilia Zandalasini
There was expected to be one more Restricted qualifying offer extended, but when Cecilia Zandalasini’s offer was reported on the official league transactions page, it was Reserved instead. There was some confusion about why that was the case, but it appears to revolve around interpretation of CBA language that dropped her years of service below the four that would have been required for that status. The CBA’s Definitions in Article I details the years of service calculation, including what actions can cause a season not to count in (ppp):
Notwithstanding the above, a player will not receive credit for a Year of Service for any year in which she: (i) withholds playing services called for
by a Player Contract for more than twenty-one (21) days after the Season begins
The quoted passage above is the portion that is relevant to this decision. Historically, the public interpretation is that the 21 day count only refers to the first 21 days of the season. The actual ruling instead is that is 21 days total over the course of the season. Zandalasini’s time with the Italian national team last season was barely above the threshold, but changed her free agency status. Golden State would have had this information when making expansion draft decisions so it would likely have made it an easier decision to protect her in that process. Janelle Salaun missed less time to play with France’s national team last year so she still earned her year of service for the season.
Other Reserved Offers
There were four players that were already known to have Reserved status and they were all extended qualifying offers. Janelle Salaun, Laeticia Amihere, Kaitlyn Chen, and Iliana Rupert can only negotiate with the Valkyries, which typically limits getting much beyond the minimum salary, something that might be even more true this season with the increased overall salaries in the new CBA.
Unrestricted Free Agents
The Valkyries could have extended a core qualifying offer to one of their four unrestricted free agents, which would have allowed the player to sign a guaranteed maximum contract. As expected, they did not do so even though ten teams around the league did designate a player under that rule. Tiffany Hayes, Kayla Thornton, Monique Billings, and Temi Fagbenle could definitely return, but it made sense not to commit that much of the salary cap to any of them at this point to retain flexibility to pursue other players.
Signing Players
Signing free agents from other teams or standard contracts with previous teams cannot happen until Saturday, but there may be some transactions that are made official during the negotiating period anyway. Players can sign their qualifying offers in that stage, and for many players under Reserved status, that makes sense as they have no leverage and there is no point in waiting. For the Valkyries, that would mostly impact Laeticia Amihere and Kaitlyn Chen. Cecilia Zandalasini, Janelle Salaun, and Iliana Rupert might sign immediately, but they could also wait until they are ready to report in order to ensure that they get credited with a year of service since they are not likely to be available for training camp on the first day.
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