Who's Left? WNBA Rosters Ranked By Players Under Contract (East Edition)

The Fever flourished just before the last CBA expired, but several WNBA squads in the East succeeded at stockpiling talent.

A certain hullabaloo has arisen about WNBA signatures in recent weeks. Certain players on the league ledgers perhaps wonder what all the fuss was about.

With the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement in place, just in time for the landmark 30th season to commence without interruption, the WNBA is set to embark on a transactional frenzy: with the prior CBA set to expire, many players either signed one-year deals last season or had their long-term contracts’ expirations coincide with the new one’s arrival.

A handful of players, however, will watch the chaos as spectators, their status assured mostly by rookie contracts that keep them aboard for three or four years. With that in mind, Ballislife opts to rank the WNBA rosters constructed amidst the calm before the storm, going by conference. We begin with the six assembled out east …

(Note: expansion teams Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo will obviously be exempt from these lists)

Photo Credit: Jineen Williams | Ballislife

1. Indiana Fever

Aliyah Boston
Caitlin Clark
Makayla Timpson

The basketball goddesses smiled upon the Fever in the final years of the prior CBA, granting them two lottery wins that yielded two prime talents that wasted no time establishing themselves as future faces of the league and perhaps women’s basketball as a whole.

Their early breakouts could force them to put together a financial puzzle when it comes to figuring their incoming supermax deals over the following two offseasons (both are eligible as previous All-WNBA entrants), but, provided they build on last year’s Caitlin Clark–less run to the final four this season, there are certainly worse problems to have.

Also on board is Timpson, a recent second-round pick who forged a role for herself with last year’s group. Quality over quantity is the name of the game for the Fever in this case, and will make them one of the two teams to watch over the next seven months.

Kiki Iriafen Mystics WNBA

2. Washington Mystics

Georgia Amoore
Sonia Citron
Kiki Iriafen
Lucy Olsen
Jacy Sheldon

There’s no denying that the Mystics are still a work in progress, but Jamila Wideman spent her first season as general manager stockpiling, allowing her group to field a relative starting five if things got truly dire.

Such transactions were headlined by her wheeling and dealing at the 2025 draft, which allowed her to escape from New York with half of the top six picks, including All-Stars Citron and Iriafen.

Injuries sidelined Amoore for her entire rookie season, but it’s clear that the Mystics still have high hopes for her potential. Olsen arrived in the second round while Sheldon was acquired for Aaliyah Edwards at the 2025 trade deadline, but appeared in only two games due to an ankle injury.

Citron and Iriafen already make the Washington leftovers hot enough. The potential kept with them allows them to lock in loftier goals in year two of the Wideman/Sydney Johnson era.

3. Connecticut Sun

Aaliyah Edwards
Leïla Lacan
Rayah Marshall
Aneesah Morrow
Saniya Rivers

It’s hard to fully analyze the Sun’s future on the floor without clarity on exactly which floor that will be (Uncasville? Boston? Houston?). Wherever they play, that locale is in for a solid showing of youth in revolt after year one of Morgan Tuck‘s oversight as general manager.

Whereas the Mystics dominated the first half of the premier parts of the last draft, Connecticut handled the latter portion, landing Morrow and Rivers with back-to-back choices. The incoming duo made a name for themselves during the Connecticut rebuild, while Lacan, a 2024 first-rounder who made her debut after spending the prior year at Olympic prep in Paris, proved to be a formidable depth star. In-season, Tuck and Co. took a waiver on Edwards, who has some welcome stability after a successful Unrivaled reprisal.

With Lacan’s de facto suspension of her 2024 deal, the Sun’s sun is bright on the road ahead: while Edwards will probably opt out for a larger deal brought about by a growing salary cap, Lacan, Marshall, Morrow, and Rivers are all signed on through at least 2028. Credit to Connecticut for figuring out the who. Now the question of where takes center stage.

4. New York Liberty

Leonie Fiebich
Nyara Sabally

Having made big swings on the veteran fronts in their recent run of prosperity (and sitting somewhat pretty with implied commitments from some of those headliners), the Liberty’s youth cabinets are somewhat sparse, especially after trading their 2026-27 first-rounders for Natasha Cloud. Even if they wind up losing some veteran names, a couple bits of championship panache nonetheless linger on the Liberty roster.

It did, however, strike international gold in the form of Fiebich, who leaped into the starting lineup during the 2024 title run and established herself as an essential two-way star after quietly coming over in a cost-cutting trade just before the famous splurge of winter 2023. Also on board is fellow German Sabally, who recently had her fourth-year option exercised.

Injuries have eaten away at Sabally’s opportunity to fulfill her fifth round potential but her breakout performance in the clincher to the Liberty’s aforementioned championship makes her a lasting metropolitan heroine at the very least.

Photo Credit: Shawn Mclurkin | Ballislife

5. Chicago Sky

Kamilla Cardoso
Angel Reese
Hailey Van Lith
Maddy Westbeld

On paper, the Sky boasts a relatively packed group on its current ledgers. But it feels like the best statements Chicago can make would be of the on-floor variety, especially after the turmoil of last season.

Questions pepper the future but the Sky will have at least one more year to showcase the Cardoso-Reese tandem. Both can still opt out for new deals with new fourth-year options in 2027 not picked up but Reese’s more recent Windy City thoughts hinted that she would be interested in a change in the near future (though things have since been quiet on the Midwestern front).

It’s also likely too early to make any judgments on Van Lith and Westbeld, both of whom struggled to find lasting roles in the Chicago rotation (though the latter took advantage of some late entries as the Sky played out the stretch). Further potential lingers in Ajša Sivka, the 10th overall pick in last year’s draft who played in Spain before her projected WNBA debut this time around.

Te-Hina Paopao (6/15/25) pic.twitter.com/3nAIjl9jqA

— @balapattyszn (@balapattyvids) June 15, 2025

6. Atlanta Dream

Te-Hina Paopao
Taylor Thierry

So much has transpired since the Dream placed third on the last WNBA leaderboard (and first in the East, even if conference placement is mostly irrelevant) that it’s easy to forget the relatively big swings they took to get there. Such transactions included signing Brittney Griner, waiving recent primary choice Laeticia Amihere and Haley Jones, and trading what became last year’s sixth overall pick for the (needed) services of Allisha Gray.

That leaves them with a lot to do once the free agency frenzy tips off, though potential backcourt absences could be offset by the burgeoning emergence of Paopao, who left her mark on the 3-point line when Nyadiew Puoch dealt with lower body issues. Thierry stuck around as a third-round pick but averaged just over two minutes a game. Further consolation lies in 2024 first-round choice Nyadiew Puoch, whose professional endeavors have been staged in her native Australia.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags