The 2026 WNBA offseason was the summer players received seven-figure salaries, a result of the new CBA signed in March. But not all were perceived to be great deals.
Of the 31 million-dollar contracts, none were more widely panned than the Wings handing $2.05 million and two years to Jessica Shepard.
She was one of the eight million-dollar players who had never been named an All-Star. But many of the others either went to expansion teams that had money to spend (Bridget Carleton, Temi Fágbénlé), were borderline All-Stars in previous seasons (Marina Mabrey, Azurá Stevens), or were younger than Shepard (Shakira Austin).
Alanna Smith, another non-All-Star, was Shepard’s Minnesota Lynx teammate and started ahead of her in Minnesota. She won the 2025 Defensive Player of the Year, then joined Shepard on the Wings on a three-year, $3.75 million max deal.
Shepard, who turns 30 in September, left the Minnesota Lynx for the first time since they drafted her in the second round of the 2019 draft out of Notre Dame. The American, who also obtained Slovenian citizenship in 2024, had been a role player for most of her career, starting in 51 of 125 career games before this season.
