Skylar Diggins-Smith wants to be “supported and welcomed” by her next WNBA team.

The impending free agent hinted again at her rift with the Phoenix Mercury in an interview with Edition by Modern Luxury. The 33-year-old guard spent the 2023 season on maternity leave, and she seems set to depart the Mercury in the offseason.

In 2020, Diggins-Smith joined the Mercury via a sign-and-trade deal from the Dallas Wings after spending the 2019 season on maternity leave after the birth of her first child. Ahead of the 2023 season, she gave birth to her second child. Her desire to balance motherhood and her playing career created friction with her teams, she said.

“I’ve definitely been working towards trying to have one of my most productive years next year, because I think a lot of times—especially in sports—you’re not encouraged to have kids. And the teams that I played for in the past when I got pregnant didn’t like that,” she said. “And so I’m looking forward to being somewhere where my family and I are supported and welcomed.”

While she contemplates free agency, she is working her way toward her WNBA comeback. But she also is not pressuring herself.

“I have been trying to give myself grace and not putting that pressure on myself to be ready now,” she said. “I’m just going through flowing through the process. I’ve been feeling really good.”

And she knows she has time to get back into form. The next WNBA season is still more than six months away, so she is taking it “one day at a time” and spending time with her daughters.

“I hate this freaking snapback culture. Nope, I’m not conforming to that,” she said. “I was obviously blessed. I know not everybody has that luxury to take on maternity leave. So I was able to do that and just recover. So I didn’t feel the pressure to have to pop right back up to practice.”

Even still, she has “hated” missing this year as a competitor. But it’s made her eager to return next year.

And when she does return, she’ll be celebrating 10 years in the WNBA. That’s not something many players can say.

“It’s so dope. I wouldn’t even say 10% of women who come into the WNBA are able to sustain that for 10 years,” she said. “So I really am proud of that and I don’t take it for granted.”

Diggins-Smith “can’t wait to get back on the court again,” and she is excited to have her kids watch her play, she told Edition.

“I love for the idea for them to see me pouring into what I’m really passionate about and to see how high I can go,” she said. “You put your work into this craft, you don’t cheat it. It opened doors to me. … I definitely look forward to seeing what my personal best is because I feel like I still have more to give to the game.”

This weekend's NWSL action features top-table battles, Cinderella hopefuls, and a whole slew of teams hunting redemption wins to open May's league play.

Perched at the top of the NWSL standings, the Kansas City Current sits tied for points with the second-place Orlando Pride, while just four points separate the remaining six teams currently above the postseason cutoff line.

With last week's rollercoaster results setting up redemption arcs for this weekend's slate, the 2025 NWSL season's seventh matchday is full of bounce-back opportunities, a tight race to the top, and a California clash:

• No. 3 Washington Spirit vs. No. 9 Angel City FC, Friday at 8 PM ET (Prime): Both the Spirit and Angel City are coming off disappointing losses, with once-unbeaten LA slipping out of the Top-8 on a two-match skid. Can either contender regain their early season form?

• No. 7 Seattle Reign FC vs. No. 1 Kansas City Current, Friday at 10:30 PM ET (Paramount+): The Reign are hanging tough after two weeks of adding points, but they'll face a redemption-hunting Current squad determined to rebound from their first season loss last weekend.

• No. 6 Portland Thorns vs. No. 2 Orlando Pride, Saturday at 7:30 PM ET (ION): The Thorns have gained points in five of their last six games, and Portland will need all that resilience against a challenging Pride side that's more than capable of mounting their own comebacks.

• No. 5 San Diego Wave vs. No. 8 Bay FC, Sunday at 8 PM ET (Paramount+): The weekend's marquee matchup pits the Wave — quietly finding their identity under new coach Jonas Eidevall — against Bay FC in a California clash where neither team can afford to lose much ground.

It's back-to-school weekend for the WNBA, as teams travel to stars' old collegiate stomping grounds to tip off a series of preseason exhibitions.

While preseason matchups don't carry the same weight as opening day, the league raised the stakes this year to give fans a taste of what's to come during the gap between March Madness and the May 16th 2025 WNBA season tip-off.

Kicking off the preseason party is this year's No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers, who will make her professional debut when the Dallas take on Las Vegas on Friday. The showdown will occur at Notre Dame's Purcell Pavilion, as both teams boast Fighting Irish alumni in the Wings' Arike Ogunbowale and the Aces' Jackie Young and Jewell Loyd.

Later on Friday, reunited LSU teammates Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith will return to the Baton Rouge court when the Chicago Sky tips off against the Brazil Women's National Team.

After facing the Washington Mystics on Saturday, Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever will travel to the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year's alma mater Iowa for their own date with Brazil on Sunday.

Fever fans will be particularly grateful that Sunday clash will receive national airtime, as resale tickets for the sold-out game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena are averaging upwards of $440 apiece.

To cap off the weekend, Sunday will also see the new-look Connecticut Sun will battle a Seattle Storm squad hungry to jump back into title contention this season.

Though the exhibition results won't matter, testing players in front of a crowd while building excitement for the upcoming 2025 season can be just as crucial for teams as they look to polish their rosters over the next two weeks.

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How to watch this weekend's WNBA preseason games

Friday will see the Dallas Wings take on the Las Vegas Aces at 7 PM ET followed by the Chicago Sky's matchup against Brazil at 9 PM ET, with both games airing live on ION.

Indiana's busy weekend begins with Saturday's 1 PM ET clash with Washington on NBA TV before the Fever face Brazil at 4 PM ET on Sunday, airing live on ESPN.

The weekend's final exhibition pits Connecticut against Seattle at 6 PM ET on Sunday, with live coverage available with the WNBA League Pass.

World No. 4 Coco Gauff hit an exclamation point on Thursday, as the soon-to-be highest-ranked US player ousted clay-court titan Iga Świątek from the 2025 Madrid Open semifinals with a dominant 6-1, 6-1 performance.

"The mentality that I had in the whole match was aggressive," the 21-year-old said after her victory. "Maybe it wasn't [Świątek's] best level today, but I think I forced her into some awkward positions."

As for for No. 2 Świątek, Thursday’s loss continued a near-year of frustration for the 23-year-old, who's failed to advance past a WTA Tour semifinal round since winning her fourth French Open last summer.

"Coco played good, but I think it's on me that I didn’t really move well," she said after the semifinal. "I wasn't ready to play back the shots with heaviness, and with that kind of game. It was pretty bad."

With the once-dominant Świątek struggling on clay, questions are forming in the lead-up to the May 25th start of the Roland-Garros — the second Grand Slam of the pro tennis season.

While Świątek will hope to break her stumbling streak by defending her three straight French Open titles later this month, Gauff — who, prior to this week, hadn't advanced past a quarterfinals round since her 2024 WTA Finals win last November — is rising from her own frustrating 2025 start at just the right time.

The 2022 French Open finalist is grabbing significant momentum before returning to Stade Roland-Garros — but Gauff faces one more opponent before she can focus on the clay court's Grand Slam, with world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka awaiting her in Saturday's 2025 Madrid Open finale.

How to watch the 2025 Madrid Open championship match

Gauff will contend with Sabalenka in the 2025 Madrid Open women's singles final at 12:30 PM ET on Saturday, with live coverage airing on the Tennis Channel.

In this week's episode of The Late Sub, host Claire Watkins digs into what happened to Gotham FC's 2024 superteam — and whether the NWSL is built for such blockbuster rosters.

With the NJ/NY club kicking off with the same record over the first seven matches in 2025 as the 2024 roster achieved, Watkins uses Gotham to explore "a case study of how a super team does not work in the NWSL."

First, Watkins explains exactly what is meant by a superteam, defining the concept as being rooted in procuring massive talent through free agency — a strategy Gotham employed by signing four former No. 1 NWSL Draft picks and current USWNT veterans Rose Lavelle, Emily Sonnett, Tierna Davidson, and Crystal Dunn to build their 2024 superteam.

"Gotham is a perfect example of why super teams do not translate to the NWSL," says Watkins. "They were very good last year, they finished top four, they make it to the semifinals. They didn't win anything."

The reasons for the failure of a superteam in the NWSL, according to Watkins, include the pressures faced by players balancing the needs of their stacked club roster with their individual development needs to stay atop the international game.

"They need to be playing a certain amount of minutes. They need to be playing in certain positions," notes Watkins. "These players get notes from their US coaches on what they want to see. It's not a failing of anybody's character. It's their job, it's their livelihood. To get back to that level, they have to kind of be of two minds of what's best for them."

NWSL business model rewards parity over superteams

Watkins also digs into the role of the salary cap in NWSL teams' ability to retain top talent.

"It really doesn't seem like the salary cap is going anywhere, and that means the NWSL isn't in a place to reward established stars for the wages that they probably deserve," says Watkins.

Comparing the US league to European dynasties like Chelsea, Lyon, and Barcelona, Watkins explains, "That is not what the NWSL is built for. It's not really what the NWSL wants."

Instead, argues Watkins, the NWSL rewards "teams that build in a different way," by scouting less recognized talent and "building them up into All-Stars" — a "bottom-up" method that creates the league's most successful teams.

It's a lesson that Gotham is learning with the equitable success the club is experiencing this season, despite losing a significant amount of big-name talent from their 2024 superteam in the offseason.

"They haven't really stumbled in the wake of these departures, proving my point," remarks Watkins.

Ultimately, "the NWSL has decided that they don't really want the Gothams of the world," argues Watkins.

"They don't want roster stashing or this top-down talent that can really bulldoze a league. That is the opposite of what the NWSL is selling. And I think that's both cool and a little bit of a harder road sometimes."

About 'The Late Sub' with Claire Watkins

The Late Sub with Claire Watkins brings you the latest news and freshest takes on the USWNT, NWSL, and all things women's soccer. Special guest appearances featuring the biggest names in women’s sports make TLS a must-listen for every soccer fan.

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