Phoenix Mercury extend qualifying offers to 4 players
The Mercury extended contract offers to four of their five reserved free agents on Thursday. Here is what that means for the team and those players moving forward.
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury extended contract offers to four of their five reserved free agents on Thursday.
Amy Atwell, Celeste Taylor, Kiki Herbert Harrigan and Natasha Mack all received reserved qualifying offers.
Charisma Osborne, the team’s other reserved free agent, is yet to receive a qualifying offer from Phoenix and the Mercury have until Monday to send her one. Osborne can begin talking to other teams on Tuesday if an offer is not extended and can sign with another team as early as Feb. 1.
What is a WNBA reserved free agent?
Atwell, Taylor, Herbert Harrigan, Mack and Osborne are all reserved free agents, meaning they all have three or fewer years of service and can only negotiate with the Mercury and are not allowed to negotiate or sign with any other team (unless first released by the Mercury or if a qualifying offer is not extended).
Teams could send qualifying offers and designate their free agents as reserved as early as Jan. 11 and will have until Monday to do so. Players are also able to accept qualifying offers during this time frame.
Once a qualifying offer has been sent, reserved free agents are not able to negotiate with other teams at all.
Qualifying offers are for the league’s minimum base salary, are for one year, are non-guaranteed and count as training camp contracts.
In Taylor’s case, she has one year of WNBA experience, so her offer is a one-year, non-guaranteed training camp contract for $66,079.
Atwell and Mack both have two years of WNBA experience, so their offers are also for $66,079. Herbert Harrigan however now has three years of WNBA experience, so her reserved qualifying offer is a one-year, non-guaranteed training camp contract for $78,831.
These contracts do not count toward the Mercury’s salary cap unless these players make the Mercury’s opening night roster.
Reserved free agents can reject their qualifying offer and instead negotiate a longer or more lucrative contract with their team, but they may not sign negotiated deals until Feb. 1.
If Atwell, Taylor, Herbert Harrigan and Mack all sign their reserved qualifying offers, the Mercury will have eight players under contract for 2025 (to go along with Kahleah Copper, Natasha Cloud, Bec Allen and Sophie Cunningham).
Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi remain unrestricted free agents. Unrestricted free agents can begin signing deals on Feb. 1.