WNBA training camps open across all 14 teams on Monday April 27 with the regular season set to begin May 16, and the league enters this year with the structural changes that were debated last summer now in place. The Golden State Valkyries and the new Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire are running their first full training camps as franchises after expansion drafts in December. The 2026 season will run 44 regular season games per team, the most in league history, and the All Star game returns to Phoenix in July. National TV deals with ABC, ESPN, CBS, Amazon Prime Video, and the new ION package mean roughly 75 percent of regular season games will be broadcast in some form.
The headline storyline coming into camps is whether the 2025 sophomore class can carry the league's commercial momentum. Caitlin Clark enters her third season with the Indiana Fever after a 2025 campaign that was interrupted by a quad injury that cost her 18 games. The Fever traded for Sophie Cunningham and DeWanna Bonner during the offseason and head coach Stephanie White has reshaped the roster around Clark's playmaking and the addition of veteran scoring. Angel Reese enters her third year with the Chicago Sky under new head coach Tyler Marsh, and the Sky drafted Kiki Iriafen with the third pick in 2025 to pair with Reese in the frontcourt.
The 2026 rookie class brings a different set of stories. The Dallas Wings selected Paige Bueckers with the first overall pick in the 2025 draft and her rookie season was cut short after a high ankle sprain that limited her to 22 games. She enters this year fully healthy and will be the focal point of a Dallas roster that traded for Arike Ogunbowale extension talks last fall. JuJu Watkins did not declare for the 2026 draft after returning from her ACL recovery and is staying at USC for her senior year, which moved the consensus first overall pick to UConn's Azzi Fudd, who was selected by the Toronto Tempo on April 14.
The expansion drafts in December set up two rosters that look different from the typical first year team. Toronto built around veteran Brittney Sykes, who was traded from Washington, and selected forward Cheyenne Parker from the New York Liberty. The Tempo are coached by Sandy Brondello, who left her position with the Liberty in October. Portland selected Jewell Loyd in their expansion draft and added Erica Wheeler in free agency, with first year head coach Lindsay Whalen overseeing the franchise's first practices at the Moda Center.
The Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty enter the season as the two clearest contenders, though both lost rotation pieces in the expansion drafts. A'ja Wilson is coming off her fourth MVP after averaging 27 points per game in 2025 and the Aces re run the same starting five with Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray, Jewell Loyd, and Wilson. Loyd was lost in the expansion draft, which put the Aces in the market for a guard and they signed Tiffany Hayes off her brief retirement. The Liberty kept Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu but lost Cheyenne Parker and Nyara Sabally.
The Atlanta Dream are the team most analysts have moved up the rankings after a quiet but productive offseason. Atlanta signed Brionna Jones and added Skylar Diggins-Smith on a one year deal, pairing both with Rhyne Howard. Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings round out the second tier of contenders. The Phoenix Mercury added Alyssa Thomas in a trade with Connecticut and re signed Kahleah Copper, with the franchise built around Diana Taurasi's continued play and the development of the younger guards. Los Angeles Sparks rebuilt around the Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson core that was drafted in 2024.
The CBA negotiations remain the structural backdrop to the season. The current agreement expires after the 2025 season and was extended one year by mutual agreement in November. The major issues being negotiated are revenue sharing, charter flights, supermax salary tiers, and roster expansion to 13 players from the current 12. The WNBPA filed a formal grievance in February over scheduling density, and the league office has acknowledged that the 44 game schedule will require careful load management. Players including Wilson, Stewart, and Clark have been visible in the negotiations and a new CBA is expected before the November 2026 deadline.
For Tennessee viewers, the closest WNBA franchise is the Atlanta Dream, and the Dream play three games at State Farm Arena that are within driving distance for Nashville fans. The Tennessee Lady Vols had three former players in the 2025 expansion draft pool. Nashville does not have a WNBA team, though Bridgestone Arena was on the league's expansion shortlist last spring and city officials have continued conversations about a 2028 or 2029 expansion bid. The viewership numbers from 2025 set records on every major network, and ESPN, CBS, and ION are all expecting the regular season opener week to draw between 2.5 and 4 million viewers per night.