Dallas Wings make first moves of WNBA free agency — but have plenty of work to do
The Wings extended reserved qualifying offers to Sevgi Uzun and Jaelyn Brown. But, the departures of Satou Sabally and Natasha Howard loom large.
The Dallas Wings are slated to lose two of their best players to free agency this winter — Natasha Howard and Satou Sabally — and are entering an offseason of uncertainty.
But, on Saturday, the organization got free agency started with the first transactions of free agency, extending qualifying offers to incoming second-year players Sevgi Uzun and Jaelyn Brown.
Uzun, a 27-year-old rookie out of Turkey, started nearly half of Dallas’s games last season, averaging 4.4 points and 3 assists in 20.5 points minutes.
Brown, a 6’1 guard, appeared in 14 games, averaging 2.6 points and 1.5 rebounds in 10.1 minutes.
What are qualifying offers?
Reserved players — players with three or fewer years of WNBA service who are on an expiring contract — can be offered qualifying hours ahead of free agency. This is non-guaranteed money for the minimum base salary, so most teams extend qualifying offers to their reserved players.
The reserved player is free to negotiate a contract with their own team with different terms from the qualifying offer, but they may not negotiate with any other teams. The player can negotiate a new contract or accept the qualifying offer at any point, but may not sign a negotiated contract until February 1. If no reserved qualifying offer is extended, the player becomes an unrestricted free agent on February 1.
There are 22 reserved players in the WNBA, and those who aren’t offered qualifying offers immediately become free agents.
The state of the Dallas Wings roster
Extending qualifying offers to Uzun and Brown was expected on Dallas’s end. As far as the rest of the roster goes, Arike Ogunbowale, Jacey Sheldon, Kalani Brown, Maddy Siegrist, Teiara McCowan, and Lou Lopez Senechal are all under contract.
Satou Sabally and Natasha Howard, the team’s second and third leading scorer last season, are both unrestricted free agents. Both have expressed that they are moving on from the Wings organization, with Sabally recently telling reporters that she has informed Wings’ management that she’s played her last games with the organization.
“I’ve already communicated with Dallas how grateful I am, because they’ve made this a home for me for the past years, and I’m working with them together and finding a next home for me,” Sabally said during an Unrivaled media availability. “I’ve already played my last game in Dallas.”
Sabally, who averaged 17.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 5 assists last season, will likely be cored — and subsequently traded — while Howard will likely simply walk. Howard averaged 17.6 points and 6.7 rebound last year, and was one of the team’s most consistent players.
The Wings have the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, which they’ll presumably use to select UConn standout guard Paige Bueckers. But, the organization will have a tall task in replacing Sabally and Howard, their top two forwards. In addition, forward Monique Billings, who provided 8.8 points of the bench for Dallas last season, was selected by the Golden State Valkyries after being left unprotected in the expansion draft.