From expansion to Caitlin Clark’s return, we’re following four key storylines as the WNBA enters its 30th season

Philadelphia still has a bit of a wait before its WNBA franchise takes the court in 2030, but two new expansion teams will debut when the league’s regular season begins on Friday.

The league and its players successfully negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement in March, allowing the league’s 30th season to start on time. The wait for the new CBA means teams had to work quickly to finish their rosters for this season.

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That includes new expansion teams in Toronto and Portland, which brings the WNBA’s total to 15 teams. That number will jump to 18 by the time Philly’s team takes the court.

Need to get caught up before the WNBA season starts? Here’s a guide to everything you need to know about the W as it enters its 30th season:

The Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire will play their first regular season games on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The Tempo will host the Washington Mystics at 7 p.m. Friday, while Portland will host the Chicago Sky at 9 p.m. Saturday.

Both teams assembled their rosters through an expansion draft on April 3. Portland took Bridget Carleton from the Minnesota Lynx with the first pick, and Toronto selected former Los Angeles Sparks guard Julie Allemand with the second pick.

Toronto and Portland also participated in the rookie draft 10 days later. The Tempo took UCLA guard Kiki Rice sixth overall, and Portland selected Spanish guard Iyana Martín Carrión with the seventh pick.

Last season, the Golden State Valkyries won 23 games and became the first expansion team in league history to make the playoffs in its inaugural season. Can either of the league’s new expansion teams surprise the rest of the league like Golden State did?

After losing in the first round of the WNBA playoffs to the Phoenix Mercury, questions loomed over the future of the New York Liberty. Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart, and Sabrina Ionescu led the Liberty to a championship in 2024, but all three members of the Liberty’s core were free agents entering the offseason.

The Liberty re-signed all three to three-year contracts under the league’s new collective bargaining agreement and added Satou Sabally, who was an All-Star last season with the Mercury. As a result, the Liberty are the odds-on favorite to win the title this season, even with Ionescu set to miss at least two weeks after suffering an ankle injury in the preseason.

“Adding Satou to a pretty loaded roster already is really exciting,” Stewart said. “The biggest part from that is now, when it looks good on paper making it actually look good on the court. We’ve all really been invested in doing that in training camp and having a selfless mentality.”

The Liberty moved on from Broomall native and St. Joseph’s graduate Natasha Cloud in the offseason. Cloud, a veteran guard and three-time WNBA all-defensive honoree who averaged 10.1 points last season, signed with the Sky on Monday.

As seasoned as New York’s roster is, their new coach, Chris DeMarco, is inexperienced. The Liberty hired DeMarco to replace Sandy Brondello, who led the team for four seasons before being let go following the Liberty’s first-round exit.

DeMarco has no WNBA coaching experience but spent 14 seasons as an assistant for the Golden State Warriors and coached the Bahamian men’s national team from 2019 to 2025. Can the first-time head coach bring a star-studded Liberty roster back to the Finals?

Across the country, the Las Vegas Aces looked primed to repeat as WNBA champions under Becky Hammond. The Aces re-signed A’ja Wilson in April to a three-year supermax contract that pays the four-time MVP more per year than any other player in league history.

The Aces are betting on continuity as they chase their fourth title in five seasons. In addition to Wilson, the Aces re-signed other core members of its 2025 title team, including Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, and Jewell Loyd.

Can Wilson deliver Las Vegas its fourth title and match the Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, and now-defunct Houston Comets for the most championships in league history?

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Caitlin Clark arguably is the WNBA’s most famous player, but her stardom didn’t make her immune to the injury bug in her second season.

Clark never missed a game as a college player at Iowa and was the WNBA Rookie of the Year after averaging 19.2 points for the Indiana Fever in 2024.

» READ MORE: The Caitlin Clark Effect will continue as WNBA averts disaster | Marcus Hayes

Her second season in the league looked a little different. Clark was limited to 13 games with a groin strain and an ankle injury. She averaged 16.5 points in those games and was named an All-Star but was less efficient from the field than in her rookie season and shot 27.9% from three-point range.

Fortunately for the Fever, Clark participated in preseason and avoided injuries, though she did take a hard fall in the Fever’s preseason finale. Can a fully healthy Clark and 2023 Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston lead the Fever to the playoffs for a third-straight season?

The Dallas Wings picked Azzi Fudd with the first pick in the 2026 WNBA draft, reuniting her with former UConn teammate Paige Bueckers, the first overall pick in the 2025 draft.

Dallas became the fourth team to pick first overall in back-to-back drafts when it selected Fudd, and league history has shown back-to-back first overall selections can provide a good foundation for a dynasty.

Las Vegas has won three titles with Wilson and Young, first overall picks in 2018 and 2019, and Seattle won two titles with Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird, both No. 1 picks in 2001 and 2002. The Storm won another two with Loyd (2015) and Stewart (2016).

» READ MORE: Our favorite looks from the 2026 WNBA draft

Bueckers was the Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in 2025, averaging 19.2 points and 5.4 assists. But the Wings still finished 10-34. Bueckers said the season was a lesson in focusing on the process rather than the results.

“It was tough to go from a national championship-winning season to then a losing season and [remain] consistent in who I was every single day,” Bueckers said. “ … Being consistent in who I am, regardless of the wins and losses, and keeping the same faith and optimism that I’ve always had throughout my entire life, and still being a great teammate and a great leader — that’s my biggest growth area, in terms of where I want to improve in my second year.”

The Wings hired a new head coach, Jose Fernandez, in the offseason. The former South Florida head coach will be tasked with mentoring the young Wings, including former Villanova forward Maddy Siegrist, the third overall pick in the 2023 draft.

The Wings have one winning season since relocating to suburban Dallas in 2016. Will the team’s young core and a new coach bring playoff basketball to Dallas for the first time since 2023?