2025 will be the last season under the current WNBA CBA so this could be the final time that WNBA prioritization rules are effect. In a new agreement, the rules could be modified or removed entirely. Not players are subject to the periodization rules as they must have 3 or more years of service. Those who are already under contract must report to their teams by May 1st while those who are not under contract must be free of their contracts with any other basketball team by the start of training camp on April 27th. Any player who does not make those deadlines is banned from playing in the league for the entire season.
Both years of this section of the CBA being enforced have been a learning experience as the league has not always applied the rules in a manner that would seem to be the most literal interpretation of how they are written into the agreement. One important ruling made last year is that only club play counts for free agents and not national team play. There was still no clarification about how this affects 3×3 play as Tiffany Hayes signed with the Las Vegas Aces before this could be tested, but we will apply the same rules there if a player is competing on a national team even if the competition includes club teams.
There is an additional set of rules for contracted players who leave during the season to play elsewhere in one of the situations that does not have an exception or leave for any other unauthorized reason. This would include not returning within 48 hours from competing in a national team event or not returning after 24 hours from a significant life event that leads to an authorized absence. In addition to being suspended for the rest of the season, the player is banned from the league for the following season. Given that it is unlikely that any player would intentionally fall afoul of this portion of the rules, we do not anticipate needing a tracking table for players being punished under this paragraph.
No players who are already under contract are expected to punished by these rules this year. Any of those players who end up reaching a mutual suspension decision with their team before May 1st will not be included. For that reason, the tracker is likely to only include free agents confirmed to be participating in an Off-Season Playing Obligation on April 28th or later. That means that the player is in the lineup for a game during that time as it is not always clear whether a contract has already been terminated, especially for an injury. Some transaction data from earlier seasons may not be complete so it is possible that we report an older player as being subject to the rule who might in fact not have earned all of the years of service that were calculated based on available information. When possible, we are using Across the Timeline as a source for transactions.
Our goal is to update this tracker by the end of the day in North America if a player needs to be added due to being in a lineup that day, but that may not always be possible. Some of the more obscure competitions that players are involved in will not keep stats updated that regularly so those players may not be included until days after the participation that led to their ban. It is a daunting task to try to track every single organized basketball competition around the world. If you know of a player who should be added to the tracker, please let us know in the comments.
Updated 6/27
| Player | Off-Season Playing Obligation Team |
| Leilani Mitchell | Central Coast Crusaders (Australia) |
| Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis | Toulouse (France) |
| Danielle Adams | Adana (Turkey) |
| Reshanda Gray | Jairis (Spain) |
| Kayla Alexander | Valencia (Spain) |
| Stephanie Mavunga | Valencia (Spain) |
| Yvonne Turner | Valencia (Spain) |
| Imani McGee-Stafford | Sporting Club Beirut (Lebanon) |
| Alex Bentley | Ekaterinburg (Russia) |
| Megan Walker | Ekaterinburg (Russia) |
| Sasha Goodlett | East Perth Eagles (Australia) |
| Victoria Vivians | Adelitas de Chihuahua (Mexico) |
| Chennedy Carter | Adelitas de Chihuahua (Mexico) |
| Asia Durr | Correcaminos UAT (Mexico) |
| DiDi Richards | Panteras de Aguascalientes (Mexico) |
| Astou Ndour-Fall | Panteras de Aguascalientes (Mexico) |
| Cierra Burdick | 3×3 |
| Cayla George | Cathay Life (Taiwan) |
| Marie Gulich | Taiyuan Textile (Taiwan) |
| Abby Bishop | Mackay Meteorettes (Australia) |
| Erin Phillips | Woodville Warriors (Australia) |
| Jazmine Jones | Correcaminos UAT (Mexico) |
| Queen Egbo | El Calor de Cancun (Mexico) |
| Beatrice Mompremier | Panteras de Aguascalientes (Mexico) |
| Lynetta Kizer | Correcaminos UAT (Mexico) |
| Erica McCall | Bay Area Phoenix (WPBA) |
| Alex Montgomery | Hayward Reign (WPBA) |
| Blake Dietrick | 3XBA (3×3) |
| Alexis Prince | 3XBA (3×3) |
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