This past week in the WNBA was defined by some standout performances by some of the league’s brightest stars. Angel Reese picked up her first-ever triple-double in the Sky’s 78-66 win over the Sun on Sunday, and last week featured a multitudinous amount of 30-pieces put up by eight different players. Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, Napheesa Collier, Allisha Gray, Rhyne Howard, Sabrina Ionescu, and Jackie Young all scored 30 or more points for their respective teams.
But before I dive into the games to pay attention to, which include games of consequence for the Commissioner's Cup Final, I want to provide an explanation of assorted contracts which include hardship and rest-of-season (ROS) contracts. These are types of contracts which have popped up frequently in the league since the month of June began as many more injuries and overseas commitments (namely the EuroBasket qualifiers) have impacted rosters throughout the league.
It’s vital to understand what these contracts are especially when managing fantasy teams, and when players who didn’t begin the regular season on rosters begin playing games. From May 20 through June 17, WNBA teams have signed a total of 12 different assorted contracts.
Especially with three different assorted contracts signed on Tuesday including Grace Berger signing with the Sparks, and Haley Jones and Kaila Charles signing with the Wings, some of these players will see meaningful minutes.
What are hardship contracts?
Hardship contracts are the path that most teams take when players on roster are injured or otherwise unable to play for an extended period of time. In the WNBA there currently isn’t a mechanism like an injured reserve or injured list like in the NFL or MLB which allows for teams to open up additional roster spots.
But what if a team doesn’t have enough salary cap or roster space to be able to sign a player to fill the gap?
Instead, the WNBA requires that teams have 10 healthy players able to play, and if a team does not, then a general manager or executive is able to sign a free agent player who can suit up so the team has at least 10 available players to play in a game. This is called an emergency hardship.
That was what happened in Indiana when Aari McDonald joined the Fever roster on an emergency hardship when both Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark weren’t available to play for around two weeks. Because of the amount of high paid veteran contracts that the Fever signed during the offseason, Indiana only began the season with 11 players on their roster. That made the Fever eligible for an emergency hardship since they only had nine available players and they went over the salary cap with the league’s assistance.
Once Cunningham and Clark were deemed available to play on Saturday, McDonald was required to be released from her emergency hardship contract, and she became a free agent. The Fever could re-sign her down the line, but they’d have to wait 10 days and waive one of their 11 players according to the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Also, they would have to hope that McDonald doesn’t decide to go elsewhere.
Standard hardships are used when teams have two players out because of injury, illness or other personal reasons for at least three weeks, and the team doesn’t have enough salary cap space to be able to sign a hardship. A team can sign a standard hardship even when they have 10 players available.
Both the emergency and standard hardships primarily focus on teams that need salary cap relief to be allowed to sign these players. In cases where the team has the necessary salary cap but not the roster space, there is a roster hardship rule defined outside of the CBA.
A recent example of this was Haley Jones’ short stint for the Phoenix Mercury when Natasha Mack and Kahleah Copper were both unable to play for an extended period of time. This was in addition to an injury that Alyssa Thomas was working through. The Mercury had the space in the salary cap to sign a player, but they had the maximum of 12 players. Jones had to be waived right before Mack returned to play, even though Copper was still rehabbing.
The money that is paid for any hardshipcontract comes out of the team’s salary cap, and the salary the player receives is a prorated amount of their base salary dependent on when the contract is signed and the type of hardship signed.
What are rest of season (ROS) contracts?
A team that is also dealing with a lot of roster turnover is the Golden State Valkyries.
They have signed a lot of new players since Cecilia Zandalasini, Temi Fagbenle, Janelle Salaün and Julie Vanloo all left for the EuroBasket continental championship tournament. These players aren’t on hardship contracts but instead are on ROS contracts.
The reason for this is because all of these players going to EuroBasket were temporarily suspended, which means they now do not count against Golden State’s 12-player roster. None of these players were injured to be clear, and as a result a lot of roster room opens up for a team where the salary cap is a distant concern. The Valkyries can just choose to sign players until Zandalasini, Fagbenle, Salaün and Vanloo return.
That’s exactly the reason for recently-signed WNBA veteran Aerial Powers, and previous Golden State training camp players Kaitlyn Chen and Chloe Bibby.
What future lies ahead for some of these players?
For players signed recently by Golden State, there probably won’t be many opportunities to remain on the Valkyries as Golden State seemed quite content with that foursome of players before they all jetted off to Europe.
But for a player like McDonald, who made an impression during the Fever’s time of need, there's considerable appeal for teams who have a lot of injured players and could use a stable point guard. With enough cap space, a team could wait 10 days to sign her to a standard contract.
Now for Jones, who just signed an emergency hardship following the announcement of Maddy Siegrist being out indefinitely for the Wings, there’s much more of an opportunity to contribute.
After the mid-season cut-down date on July 13, teams can sign players to seven-day contracts instead of rest of the season contracts, which are a “more flexible” alternative to teams that don’t have a ton of cap space. A player can sign at most three seven-day contracts with any one team each season before either that player is waived or that player joins on a ROS contract.
The Week Ahead
Now back to the present. Commissioner’s Cup games officially end on Tuesday night. I will address the multiple scenarios that allow teams to clinch a spot in the finals below. Once the cup games are over, we return to regularly scheduled programming with a bunch of other interesting regular season matchups to watch.
Atlanta Dream @ New York Liberty
(Tuesday June 17 at 7 p.m. et on League Pass)
The Dream and the Liberty face off for the first time of the 2025 season with a lot on the line. If Atlanta defeats the defending champs, the Dream clinch their first Commissioner’s Cup Final berth in franchise history. If the Liberty get back on track after their 102-88 loss on the road to the Fever, it’s up to Indiana to decide who advances to the Cup Final. If the Fever defeat the Connecticut Sun at home on Tuesday night— and any other outcome would be shocking— Indiana earns their first appearance in the Commissioner’s Cup Final. But back to the Dream and the Liberty: regardless of the Commissioner’s Cup implications, this is a battle between the first (New York) and the third (Atlanta) best offenses in the league. While many fans have been clamoring for the highly anticipated first WNBA Finals rematch between the Liberty and the Lynx on July 30, Dream vs. Liberty could deliver a similar competitiveness and high octane play.
Las Vegas Aces @ Minnesota Lynx
(Tuesday June 17 at 8 p.m. ET on League Pass)
To clinch their spot in the Commissioner's Cup Final, all the Lynx have to do is defeat the Aces on their home court. Minnesota can also clinch with a Storm loss to the Sparks. On paper this might not appear to be a game to keep an eye on especially when A’ja Wilson will be missing her third game in a row while she is in concussion protocol following a hit to the head during the Aces’ June 11 game against the Sparks. This game is simply worth watching to see how the Aces continue to put their offense and defense together without Wilson on the floor. Aces newcomer Jewell Loyd has had her two best offensive and most efficient performances during Wilson’s absence. Can she keep this going? Or will the Lynx and Napheesa Collier go off as they did against the Sparks on Saturday? The Lynx have shown complacency in spurts during the 2025 season so far, and the Aces are incredibly well-versed at playing spoiler (see Game 4 of the 2023 WNBA Finals).
Phoenix Mercury @ New York Liberty
(Thursday June 19 at 7:00 p.m. ET on Prime Video)
Kahleah Copper made her return to the court on Sunday afternoon against the Aces after being sidelined for a month following a left knee arthroscopy on May 18. She scored 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting in her 18-minute regular season debut and elevated the Mercury to their eighth win of the season. But how does the Mercury’s big three of Copper, Satou Sabally, and Alyssa Thomas face off against the defending champions in the Liberty? Thomas has previously struggled to defeat the Liberty’s big three in Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones during Thomas’ final two seasons playing in Connecticut finishing with a 2-11 record against the Liberty trio in two seasons. But how does Thomas do against New York with a very different looking supporting cast?
Indiana Fever @ Golden State Valkyries
(Thursday June 19 at 10 p.m. ET on Prime video)
Contrary to popular belief, it is the Golden State Valkyries who lead the WNBA in average attendance rather than the Indiana Fever. While the Fever’s 2025 marketing campaign was created around this idea that the Fever’s “road games sound like home games,” the loyal fanbase in the Bay Area might challenge that notion. In five home games at Chase Center, the Valkyries have eclipsed 18,000 people each time. Expect Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase’s well coached and defensively pesky squad to be ready to annoy the Fever’s offense and turn them over. The Fever will be flying cross country and changing time zones after they play the Sun, a team with the worst net rating, defensive and offensive ratings in the league.
Washington Mystics @ Atlanta Dream
(Friday June 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ION)
The Dream crushed the Mystics by over 30 points on June 15 on a monster performance from Allisha Gray where she shot 10-for-14 from the field including six made threes. It simply looked like she just couldn’t miss. The Mystics, while one of the youngest teams in the league, are a quite prideful bunch, and that begins with veteran and free throw drawing machine Brittney Sykes who only scored 9 points on 2-for-10 shooting and just five free throws made. Similar to how the Mystics played the Liberty a second time on June 5 after being blown out by also over 30 points the first time on May 30, I expect the second regular season matchup to be much more competitive.
Kurt Helin