With the 2025 WNBA season looming, teams have been adding preseason competitions to their upcoming training schedules, offering fans and players alike an early taste of both new squads and revamped rosters.

For those excited about the Golden State Valkyries, preseason will offer a first glimpse of the expansion team in action, with the franchise set to face the LA Sparks and Phoenix Mercury prior to their official WNBA debut.

WNBA returns to school for international exhibitions

Like the Valkyries, most teams will supplement their preseason camps with exhibition games against fellow WNBA squads. Two, however, have booked road tilts against the Brazil national team into their 2025 season prep.

Both Indiana and Chicago are strategically tapping into markets connected to their biggest stars, with the Fever traveling to Caitlin Clark’s alma mater, Iowa, for their May 4th bout with Brazil.

Two days earlier, the international visitors will contend with the Sky at LSU — the collegiate stomping grounds of Chicago star Angel Reese.

Adding even more flavor to the Sky's matchup is Kamila Cardoso. The Chicago center is also a rising star for Brazil, meaning the May 2nd tilt will pit her against her national squad teammates.

This wave of exhibitions at NCAA sites comes on the heels of last year's preseason success, which saw Las Vegas defeat Puerto Rico at Aces superstar A'ja Wilson's college home of South Carolina.

While Unrivaled and NCAA tournaments will keep women’s basketball in the spotlight, the WNBA’s 29th season is fast approaching — and teams appear eager to flex their refreshed rosters well ahead of the league's May 16th opening day.

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Sun deny Mabrey's trade request

One WNBA player who is likely not overly excited to report for training camp on April 27th is guard Marina Mabrey, who asked for a trade from the Connecticut Sun on February 5th. On Tuesday, team president Jennifer Rizzotti told Sportico that the Sun have denied Mabrey’s request.

Mabrey started the 2024 season with Chicago — a team she joined in February 2023 as a restricted free agent from Dallas — before landing in Connecticut last July after filing a midseason trade request.

"We knew at the time that she had already forced her way out of two teams, so it was a bit risky for us to trade for her," said Rizzotti, reflecting on her decision to roster Mabrey despite her trade-request track record. "But we felt like it was worth it."

In this instance, however, Mabrey asked to exit a Sun team that is wildly different from the 2024 WNBA semifinalist squad she joined last July. Head coach Stephanie White left to join the Fever after the 2024 season wrapped, and this offseason has seen Connecticut offload their entire starting playoff roster — including Alyssa Thomas, DiJonai Carrington, DeWanna Bonner, and Brionna Jones — via trades and free agency losses.

"The coach parted ways. No free agents returned and they are doing all they can to try and force Marina to stay when she clearly doesn't want to be there. It's interesting," Mabrey’s agent told ESPN.

As for the Sun, they're hoping to see Mabrey succeed alongside newly added Connecticut players like Tina Charles, Natasha Cloud, and Diamond DeShields.

"The reasons that we have for not trading Marina are rooted in positivity," Rizzotti explained. "It's rooted in a desire to build around her, have her here, have her be the catalyst for what we want to do offensively."

Sweden veteran defender Magda Eriksson is hanging up her international boots to focus on her health, with the 32-year-old officially announcing her retirement from her national team on Sunday.

Eriksson will continue competing at the domestic level for her German club, Bayern Munich.

The longtime captain sat out the most recent international window due to a head injury, watching as world No. 3 Sweden fell to No. 1 Spain in the two-leg 2025 Nations League semifinals.

"It's by far the toughest decision I've ever made," Eriksson said in her social media announcement. "But I'm listening to my body and mind instead of my heart."

"I've landed in the fact that unfortunately it's a decision that has to be made."

After an 11-year career with the Swedish senior national team, Eriksson retires as a two-time Olympic silver medalist, earning those podium finishes in Rio in 2016 and at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Games.

Often leading Sweden through major tournaments where early domination dissolved into a third-place finish, Eriksson also helped her team eke onto the World Cup podium in both 2019 and 2023.

"It is heavy news," said Sweden head coach Tony Gustavsson after Eriksson announced her international retirement, calling her "one of our most important players for a long time."

"[Magda's] professionalism, courage, and heart have left a strong mark on the national team," he added.

Chelsea FC's £1 million gamble is paying dividends, as USWNT rising star Alyssa Thompson continued her goal-scoring momentum for the six-time defending WSL champs on Sunday.

The young forward found the back of the net in the ninth minute of the Blues' 1-1 Sunday draw with Liverpool, solidifying her status as a decisive attacking threat for her new club.

"You can see how much talent she has and the quality she brings to the team," Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor said of Thompson earlier this month. "She's improving game after game, becoming more connected to her teammates, and understanding the way we want to play better."

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Thompson left NWSL side Angel City for Chelsea on a then-record £1 million transfer fee in early September, with the 21-year-old going on to notch three goals and one assist in four matches across both WSL and Champions League play.

"Being able to play with players that are the best in the world is an amazing opportunity," said the striker. "I want to learn, grow, and develop a lot. I feel like Chelsea is such an amazing environment to do that in."

Beyond individual accomplishment, Thompson's success underscores Chelsea's depth as they continue to hunt domestic and continental honors on a now-34 match WSL unbeaten streak — while also looking to potentially draw more USWNT stars away from the NWSL.

Women's professional baseball has landed a home base, with Front Office Sports reporting on Monday that the newly formed WPBL will play the entirety of its 2026 debut season at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois.

The incoming league prioritized a neutral venue without an existing baseball team to house its four inaugural clubs — New York, Boston, LA, and San Francisco — for its first campaign, with barnstorming games also planned for each team market.

"Our sport is for everybody," WPBL co-founder Keith Stein told FOS. "It's for middle America, everybody. We thought, 'Our teams are on these two coasts, it would be good to be in the middle of the country.'"

Founded in 2024 as the first professional women's baseball outfit in the US since 1954, the WPBL will hold its first-ever draft on Thursday, with the league's four teams drawing from a pool of 120 eligible players.

The WPBL recently fielded an oversubscribed Series A investment round, telling FOS that they're closing a $3 million raise with another round planned ahead of its August 2026 season-opener.

Each 30-player team will operate under a $95,000 salary cap for the first year, with the league also covering living costs throughout the seven-week season as well as giving players a percentage of sponsorship funds.

How to watch the first-ever WPBL Draft

The 2025 WPBL Draft kicks off at 8 PM ET on Thursday, with live coverage streaming across the league's Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube channels.

Las Vegas Aces boss Becky Hammon spoke her mind last week, telling CNBC Sport that the WNBA might need "a change in leadership" for the league's CBA talks to successfully progress.

"I just think [player relations] might be too fractured at this point, but we'll see," Hammon said, while also noting that she's had only limited interactions with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

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Citing Engelbert's "private conversations...with individual players — or lack of the conversations," Hammon described the commissioner's current relationship with players as "rocky" while describing her widely criticized leadership style.

"I don't know if she can ever regret, retract, and get that traction back from those conversations," the Aces boss posited.

"When the players speak, people need to sit up and listen," she continued. "I think [Engelbert is] sitting up and listening now."

Hammon also voiced support for Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier after the five-time All-Star described the WNBA as having the "worst leadership in the world" in her now-viral 2025 exit interview.

"I completely agree with Napheesa that the players should be making more than coaches," the Las Vegas sideline leader — who publicly earns seven figures per year — continued. "They're due for a huge increase in salary, and it's got to be something that is sustainable. That's the biggest thing you got to remember, that this league is still a young league."

Ultimately, while the 2025 WNBA season is over, CBA concerns loom large over the league's current offseason and 2026 campaign, leaving Hammon and others looking to avoid a lockout as the November 30th extension deadline nears.