Sports
WNBA free-agency chaos: Why did so many All-Stars move for one-year contracts?
Executives around the WNBA largely expected this offseason’s market to serve as a tune-up for next winter. At the start of the offseason, only two non-rookie contract players had deals that extended past 2025. Seismic change loomed.
But after an avalanche of moves, significant shifts have come an offseason early as a hectic week of free agency is reshaping the upcoming season.
In six days, 10 multi-time All-Stars — Satou Sabally, Brittney Griner, Alyssa Thomas, Jewell Loyd, Kelsey Plum, Brionna Jones, DeWanna Bonner, Natasha Howard, Tina Charles and Courtney Vandersloot — changed teams via trade or the open market.
Veterans who had only played for one team, including Griner (11 years in Phoenix), Thomas (11 years in Connecticut) and Loyd (10 years in Seattle), are with different franchises. Plum had spent her career only with the Aces, and Sabally was a five-year mainstay in Dallas.
Yet, they’ll all be wearing new uniforms in 2025. And maybe only for 2025.
All of the star players so far in free agency have signed one-year deals, which means they’ll be back on the market next year. The short-term contracts allow them to maximize their long-term earning potential.
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Grading and analyzing every WNBA free agency signing: Brittney Griner, Kelsey Plum, Alyssa Thomas on the move
An economic windfall is expected to hit the league in 2026. Assuming there isn’t a work stoppage, a new collective bargaining agreement will almost assuredly feature higher player salaries and a league salary-cap spike. A new media rights deal that will pay the WNBA an average of $200 million a season over the next 11 years is expected to be a key economic driver. A season from now, players likely will return to inking multiyear deals at higher rates.
But by changing teams in 2025, they can get a sense for their new franchises and see how front offices tailor rosters to their strengths before committing long-term. No situation is entirely predictable, but the decision to try out new situations now, and not in the first year of a multiyear agreement, should help players make more informed decisions in 12 months.
In the short term, stars on new teams can gather information on their new teams this season while also maintaining future leverage.
These bold moves indicate a new era for WNBA players, who have more agency than ever in their decisions to play at their preferred destinations. Historically, stars were largely tethered to the teams that drafted them. Trade requests were relatively rare. Stars like Chelsea Gray and Candace Parker changed teams in recent seasons, but no multi-time All-Stars were traded in 2021 and 2022. In the last three seasons, including this offseason, seven multi-time All-Stars have been dealt.
“That’s just the evolution of the league and where we’re seeing basketball and women’s sports going,” Loyd said. “There’s definitely a lot more freedom and things happening.”
Certainly, teams that took big swings — Phoenix, Atlanta and Los Angeles especially — hope they can build on the foundation they laid this past week.
But the short-term contracts mean teams took risks with these transactions.
The Dream, who haven’t had a winning record since 2018, hope adding Jones and Griner will provide them not only a shot at a top-four playoff seed this season, but also with a significant advantage next winter in talks. The Mercury surely want their big three of Sabally, Thomas and Kahleah Copper — potentially Big Four if Diana Taurasi returns for the 2025 season— to be intact for years to come. Led by Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell, the Fever already have title aspirations, and the veteran additions of Howard and Bonner could serve as missing pieces to the puzzle.
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WNBA free-agency winners and losers: How did the Fever, Valkyries and others fare?
The benefits of incumbency could give teams a head-start in negotiations next offseason. But even franchises like the Chicago Sky and Dallas Wings, who aren’t expected to be in title contention, made moves (Chicago added Vandersloot, Kia Nurse and Bec Allen, while the Wings acquired DiJonai Carrington, NaLyssa Smith and Ty Harris) that could help them become a more appealing destination for free agents in 2026.
More madness is bound to strike next January. More coupling, and recoupling, of stars will occur. Unrivaled, the new winter 3×3 professional winter league, was an epicenter for WNBA gossip and deal-making. It will be a hub next year, too, with almost every Unrivaled player in the inaugural season hitting the market.
This offseason was a reminder there should be no surprises when a franchise centerpiece looks elsewhere.
Change, even from players who have historically avoided it, is on the table for everyone.
(Photo of Satou Sabally and Brittney Griner: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
Sports
‘Demon’ Finn Balor settles score with Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio were once brothers in arms in the Judgment Day. The two helped the faction run “Monday Night Raw” for several years.
As championships and opportunities came and went, the rift between Balor and Mysterio grew. It came to a head when Balor caused Mysterio to lose the Intercontinental Championship to Penta. Balor leaving the Judgment Day left Mysterio and Liv Morgan as the leaders with JD McDonagh, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez sticking around.
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The latter four chose to ride with Mysterio and attacked Balor on one episode of Raw.
The bitter war led to a match Sunday night at WrestleMania 42. To make matters more interesting, Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made the match a street fight hours before the show was set to begin.
Balor had vowed to bring the “Demon” out and he certainly did.
JACOB FATU PUTS DREW MCINTYRE IN THE ‘REAR VIEW’ IN UNSANCTIONED MATCH AT WRESTLEMANIA 42
Finn Balor is introduced before his match against Dominik Mysterio during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Balor made his way to the ring in his “Demon” gear, dripping with red and black paint. Mysterio was in a mask with other Mysterio supporters.
The two then proceeded to beat the crud out of each other.
Mysterio wrapped Balor’s head in between a chair and hit a 619 on him. He tried to pin Balor, but to no avail. At another point, Mysterio tossed Balor through a table set up in the corner.
As many have learned, it’s hard to keep your demons down. Mysterio learned the hard way.
Balor would not give up. Balor clotheslined Mysterio, hit him with a chair multiple times before wrapping his head in between the chair and drop-kicking him into the corner. Balor put Mysterio onto a table and hit the Coup de Grâce for the win.
Dominik Mysterio is introduced before his match against Finn Balor during WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Balor excised his own demons, while Mysterio is still haunted.
Sports
Ryan Ward has a solid debut, but bullpen blows it again as Dodgers lose to Rockies
DENVER — What do you know? The once-stampeding Dodgers have been caged by the Colorado Rockies.
With a 9-6 loss Sunday at Coors Field, the two-time defending World Series champions lost back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Dodgers again couldn’t hold a lead, letting the Rockies tee off for 15 hits.
Nor could the Dodgers keep up offensively at the hitter-friendly park — though they put some pressure on in the ninth inning, when Shohei Ohtani led off with a ground-rule double and the Dodgers scored twice to cut the lead to three runs. Then the new guy, Ryan Ward, made the final out in his big league debut, robbed of a hit and a chance to keep chipping away by a diving Troy Johnston in right field.
Before that, the Rockies — who beat the Dodgers twice in 13 meetings all of last season — chased starter Roki Sasaki from the game in the fifth inning and then ruffled the Dodgers’ relievers. That included closer Edwin Díaz, who came on in the eighth and promptly gave up three singles, a walk and two runs before being pulled with the Dodgers trailing 8-4.
Dodgers starting pitcher Roki Sasaki gave up three runs on seven hits in 4-2/3 innings Sunday against the Rockies in Denver.
(David Zalubowski / Associated Press)
He and Blake Treinen combined to face eight batters without getting an out.
“They both weren’t sharp,” said manager Dave Roberts, who had theories but not many answers — though he did have real concern, especially about Díaz, who recently had his right knee checked out by the medical staff.
Roberts said the closer wanted to pitch after nine days off, even though it wasn’t a save situation. But his velocity was slightly down (95.4 mph vs. 95.8) and so, “today was a tough evaluation,” the manager said.
“It really was,” Roberts said. “Because, you know, I know what it’s supposed to look like, and when it doesn’t look like that, it gets a little concerning, really.”
And losing for the second time to the Rockies, who are now 9-13? Being in danger of losing their four-game series, after arriving in Denver without having lost to a National League opponent, against a club that hasn’t made the postseason since 2018?
It’s well below the bar the Dodgers have set, and it added a bitter note to Ward’s otherwise sweet debut.
Ward punched a big league clock for the first time wearing No. 67 and cranked his first hit off Rockies starter Michael Lorenzen in the fourth inning, lining a changeup to right field for a single that scored Andy Pages, made it 3-0 and got the 20-some members of Ward’s party up, jumping in place, hugging and high-fiving.
“When I was on first base, I got to see them all jumping around up there,” Ward said. “That was a pretty special moment.”
He also singled in the sixth and swung on the first pitch in his first at-bat, a fly out in the third inning.
The Dodgers gave Sasaki a 2-0 lead in the third. Alex Freeland drove in Hyeseong Kim, and Shohei Ohtani doubled in Freeland — and extended his career-best on-base streak to 51 games, moving past Willie Keeler into third place in Dodgers history.
Sasaki went 4-2/3 innings, threw 78 pitches and gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two and walking two. His ERA after his fourth start: 6.11, worst in the six-man rotation.
The Dodgers fell behind 6-5 in the seventh when Treinen — who was cleared Friday after he was struck in the head by a batted ball during batting practice — gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run by Mickey Moniak.
The result likely will be a minor detail when Ward tells the story years from now about getting the call after first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list.
The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect and reigning Pacific Coast League MVP spent the last seven years in the minors. Last season, he hit 36 home runs and drove in 122 runs with a .937 on-base-plus-slugging percentage for triple-A Oklahoma City, and he has a 1.020 OPS and four homers this year.
Ward made it a point to improve his chase rate, draw more walks and get on base more frequently, everything the Dodgers asked of him. He also passed the broadest patience test.
“The plate discipline, being a better hitter … he’s done all that,” Roberts said. “He’s improved his defense. But honestly, for me, just not to let his lack of opportunity in the big leagues deter him. That’s easy when you get frustrated and let it affect performance, and he hasn’t done that.”
If anything, Ward said, the waiting made him better.
“I used it to keep going. ‘OK, if I’m not there yet, what do I have to do to get there?’” he said. “‘What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’
“I used it as fire to keep working.”
That will be the Dodgers’ assignment too.
In the finale of the four-game series Monday, the Dodgers are expected to start left-hander Justin Wrobleski (2-0, 2.12) against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana (0-1, 5.63).
Sports
ESPN’s Stephen A Smith hears boos from WrestleMania 42 crowd
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
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