In the wake of collective bargaining agreement (CBA) negotiations, WNBA and players’ union have agreed to a moratorium on upcoming free agency business, the league confirmed to IndyStar. Now, no free agency business will happen until the two sides agree to a new CBA.
This moratorium was a natural next step in the negotiating process between the league and the players’ union for a new collective bargaining agreement. The two sides have been negotiating for over a year, with major sticking points in salary structure and revenue sharing, and the collective bargaining agreement officially expired on Jan. 9 after two expensions.
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The two sides are currently in a state of status quo; it does not mean there is an owner-initiated lockout or player-initiated strike, but either side can call for one with no notice required.
If the moratorium were not agreed upon, teams would have been obligated under U.S. labor laws. to do certain procedural events, which would have included sending out qualifying offers between Jan. 11-20. Those qualifying offers, which would go out to potential cored players, restricted free agents and reserved players. Those qualifying offers would have been under the terms of the now-expired collective bargaining agreement, and it was unlikely that any players would have signed those as it would have locked them into the salary rates of the expired CBA.
The moratorium extends to all free agency activities, including the qualifying offer period, the negotiation period that was slated to start Jan. 21, and the signing of free agents that was supposed to start Feb. 1.
So, what happens now for the Fever?
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Indiana will need to wait until a new collective bargaining agreement to send out any qualifying offers or negotiate with free agents.
The Fever can strategize for some portions, like sending out a restricted qualifying offer to Lexie Hull. They could also strategize to send out a core qualifying offer to Kelsey Mitchell, assuming the core rues don’t change in the new collective bargaining agreement, or decide which free agents they’d like to target.
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Indiana will also need to prepare as much as possible for an expansion draft for the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, both of whom are slated to begin play in the 2026 season. Under a typical WNBA offseason, the expansion draft would have happened by now; the expansion draft for the Golden State Valkyries, who started play in 2025, was in December 2024.
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Neither the existing teams or the expanding teams know the rules of the expansion draft, as those are governed by the collective bargaining agreement.
The WNBA offseason schedule will be compressed. Whenever a new CBA is agreed to, offseason events, including the expansion draft, qualifying offer period and free agency, will happen quickly.
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Chloe Peterson is the Indiana Fever beat reporter for IndyStar. Reach her at capeterson@gannett.com or follow her on X at @chloepeterson67. Get IndyStar’s Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Caitlin Clark Fever newsletter. Subscribe to IndyStar’s YouTube channel for Fever Insiders Live.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: WNBA, players’ union agree to moratorium. What it means for Indiana Fever
