Lynx and WNBA head into a free-agency season overshadowed by the change just ahead

The negotiating window for WNBA free agency begins Tuesday, and it might be the last one that resembles anything like the league’s recent past.

The reason: the looming, still-being-negotiated collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players association. Rising ratings and revenue and league expansion will combine to push salaries up, significantly, when that new deal is agreed upon and starts taking effect in 2026.

In anticipation, nearly every high-profile star in the league will make sure to take advantage. That means those currently signed have a contract that will expire after the coming season and just about every significant free agent will sign a one-year contract.

But otherwise, free agency will look fairly familiar.

“I don’t think this year will be any different,” said Cheryl Reeve, Lynx president of basketball operations and coach. “We’ve been kind of dealing with this for a while. But it’s winding down. This is the last year for the short-term contracts. So, the climate [next year] is going to be 90 percent of the league is an unrestricted free agent.’’

Teams had a 10-day window that ended Monday to extend qualifying offers to restricted free agents and make the decision whether to use their core designation — which means a one-year offer at the current league maximum of $249,244 — on a veteran unrestricted free agent.

All five starters as well as backups Dorka Juhász, Diamond Miller and Alissa Pili are under contract from the team that reached Game 5 of the WNBA Finals last season. The only restricted free agent was lightly used backup guard Olivia Époupa.

Veteran backups Myisha Hines-Allen and backup guard Natisha Hiedeman are unrestricted free agents.

Some of the biggest moves around the WNBA this offseason could come via trades rather than free-agent signings.

With a relatively paltry $401,278 of cap space, the Lynx wouldn’t seem to be in position for a significant free-agency push. On the other hand, knowing the contracts offered will be for just one year would relieve much of the apprehension that comes with committing to a player long-term.

The goal?

“I think there are a few players that we think could be the missing piece to put ourselves in position to return to compete for the championship,” Reeve said. “I think we feel we could use a couple players to really bolster our chances.”

The Lynx are interested in bringing Hiedeman back as Courtney Williams’ primary backup at the point. The Lynx need to make up for the loss of Cecilia Zandalasini — a top perimeter backup — to the expansion draft. But that could come from the development of, for example, Miller, who was affected last season both by an early-season injury and Zandalasini’s rise.

“From a minutes standpoint, it gets pretty hard if you keep adding players,” Reeve said. “We have to make the decision: Do we have what we need on our current roster at the guard position?”

The Lynx need to bolster their depth and find players who fit within their ball-moving, five-out approach.

“We have a stretch-four [Napheesa Collier] who occupied, last season, 34 minutes of the game. We have a stretch-five [Alanna Smith]. We have someone like Dorka who will, I think, get back to being part of the rotation. We don’t necessarily have a big priority positionwise. There are a couple players [the team is looking at] who play on the perimeter, a couple who play in the post. We’re looking for the best fit.”

One player who would fit is veteran Belgian forward Emma Meesseman, who has not played in the league since 2022 while concentrating on playing for her national team. She is a two-time WNBA All-Star and was the Finals MVP when Washington won the league title in 2019, when current Lynx associate head coach Eric Thibault was an assistant with the Mystics.

But Meesseman will be highly coveted, and her national coach, Rachid Meziane, was just hired to coach the Connecticut Sun.

One thing is clear: Any additions will have to fit with the team both in style and attitude.

“We want to make sure that we continue with the chemistry of the way we play,” Reeve said.