Kelsey Mitchell tipped off a fresh round of headlines around the world’s most scrutinized women’s basketball team.
“I have to be selfish,” the high-scoring Indiana Fever guard said this past week in addressing her upcoming free agency. “I think that’s where I am in my career … what I probably need and what’s probably best for me. So I have to be selfish in that room. … I’ve only been with one team my entire career, so it’s all kind of like figuring this out. It’s hard, man.”
Minnesota Lynx superstar Napheesa Collier was a bit more circumspect, while pulling up way short of committing to the franchise in free agency after playing out a notable one-year contract.
“I haven’t even thought about that,” Collier said in an exit interview free of fireworks for a change. “I can tell you that I love it here. I love the organization. I love my team and everything like that, but I just haven’t had the time to give that any thought.”
(A businesswoman enterprising enough to co-found a $650 million startup and the mother of a young child hasn’t given any thought to where she wants to work next year, sure, carry on.)
Las Vegas Aces gold-medal guard Jackie Young rounds out the top three in the WNBA’s 2027 free-agent class, eligible to begin negotiating seven-figure deals with any of the league’s 15 teams starting on Feb. 4.
So while some of their fellow contenders sweat out the status of a prominent unrestricted free agent, that isn’t something the Liberty have to worry about, at least.
The Liberty — who got swept Friday in the semifinals by the Dream — do not have a significant pending unrestricted free agent on the roster.
Veteran wing Rebecca Allen, who signed a one-year, $350,000 contract last winter, has said she will retire from the WNBA at the conclusion of this season.
Anneli Maley, functionally the 12th player on the roster since signing a standard contract with the Liberty in September, is also set to be an unrestricted free agent, according to the Her Hoop Stats database.
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was playing on an expiring contract to begin the season, but after a protracted saga in which she was dropped from the rotation during failed trade talks, she was waived and finished the year with the Washington Mystics.
The Liberty’s Big 3 of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu are each signed to three-year contracts through 2028.
Satou Sabally will be entering Year 2 of her free-agent pact as she continues to recover from a midseason concussion.
Marine Johannes and Rebekah Gardner are set to become restricted free agents, and Leonie Fiebich, Pauline Astier, Han Xu and Marine Fauthoux remain under club control.
So changes loom for the Liberty — but it won’t be from free-agent departures.
