The WNBA’s Injury Question: Are Players Paying the Price for Year-Round Basketball?

In the dreamscape of sports, fans often love to live in an endless loop. Prime time. Packed arenas. Rivalries, wins, and hopes that we will come back stronger live rent-free. Leagues know this. And they’re delivering—more games, access, and moments. Every calendar is stretched thin. The offseason is disappearing. And the WNBA stands as the clearest example.

In May 2023, it was one of WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s interviews that brought smiles.

“The first thing when I came in, I said, ‘OK, we have 12 teams in a country of over 300 million people. That is not enough.” Months later, she served it.

In October 2023, the commissioner announced the addition of the Golden State Valkyries, and excitement swept through the league. Fast forward to 2025, and the Valkyries are already chasing playoffs in their debut season.

But the expansion doesn’t stop at 13.

Portland and Toronto are suiting up for 2026, taking the total number of teams to 15. But that won’t be enough either. “The demand for women’s basketball has never been higher, and we are thrilled to welcome Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia to the WNBA family,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert, taking the total to 18 teams by 2030.

Yes, we have the demand. And it is a win for women’s basketball. But for the players, it is a different story.

With pay and workload tensions already a recurring headache, players were now being forced to squeeze in four more games on top of an already brutal schedule (jumped from 40 to 44). That’s basically asking for trouble, because it isn’t stopping at 44.

And to nobody’s surprise, injuries were stacking up faster than Caitlin Clark ticket prices on game night. And LA Sparks coach Lynne Roberts struck it right.

“I was just talking to my staff about it, wondering what do you think it is, why are there so many injuries? There’s probably a lot of reasons, and I think…you have to look at the whole calendar year for these athletes, not just the W season.” Most W players travel to China, Australia during the WNBA offseason, and now, Napheesa Collier’s Unrivaled has managed to woo the players, too.

EssentiallySports’ take: Players may have a choice, but it’s an illusion. Financial realities push them overseas in the offseason. A good CBA can change that. If demands are met this October, the number of players stepping out of the States will drop, helping the WNBA in the long run.

Even Lynne Roberts’ comment, “They’re playing overseas, they’re not getting that break that most professional athletes get. There really is no offseason,” rings an alarm on a similar tone. But how accurate is her assessment of reality? We tracked the current injury landscape of the WNBA. Because an athlete’s worst nightmare is injury.

Injuries hit hard across the WNBA this season

According to The IX Basketball’s injury tracker, in the 2025 calendar year (all numbers as of 1st September*):

• 232 players* have already spent time off the court
• Missing a total of 901 games* so far
• By comparison, in 2024, 203 players missed a combined 711 games. That’s a significant jump of 190 games since the addition of the Golden State Valkyries. The average isn’t good either. Jumped from 3.5 injuries per game in 2024 to 3.9* in 2025.

Analysis by Hunter Summers on X shows that the 2025 WNBA season has already seen an increase of nine injuries as of August 19. The worst part, if injuries continue at this pace, the league could see up to 214 total injuries this season, which would be 57 more than last year. That’s a 36.3% rise projected rise.

Take Paige Bueckers’ rookie year as a study.

Time to stop considering it as bad luck, because it’s already a warning sign.

Last year, injuries dropped significantly after the Olympic break. This year, however, players haven’t had a similar break. Athletes like Napheesa Collier (7 games), Breanna Stewart (13), and Angel Reese (10) have all missed time due to injuries—a situation likely compounded by their offseason participation in Unrivaled. It’s easy to see why Lynne Roberts emphasized that playing year-round can have its consequences.

Why is Lynne Roberts right about WNBA players’ situation?

The WNBA added four extra games to the schedule this year following the inclusion of the Golden State Valkyries, which Satou Sabally called ‘terrible,’ since the season calendar wasn’t extended.

• The 2025 season spans over 114 days, excluding the All-Star break, compared to 102 days in 2024.

A 12-day gap seems manageable. However, in 2024, players also enjoyed roughly a month off for the Olympic break—a break that didn’t happen this year. With the WNBA planning to expand to 18 teams by 2030, it’s clear that even more games will be added to the calendar, and that will only increase the rate of injuries if things remain the same. Precisely, the roster size.

The WNBA currently limits teams to just 12 players, with some even forced to run with 11 to stay under the hard cap. The Indiana Fever were a prime example of this earlier in the season. Unlike the NBA, the W doesn’t have the luxury of a 15-player roster or the G League.

Just like coach Lynne Roberts, LA Sparks’ Cameron Brink raised this issue: “Personally, I think roster sizes need to be expanded before we add any more expansion teams. Because it’s kind of crazy—12 people for a roster? It’s kind of insane.”

Amid all the debate, let’s not deviate from the core: everyone wants expansion. Fans demand it, and growth depends on it. The sport only thrives when the league spreads its reach. But expansion means nothing if the foundation—player safety—is overlooked. Without protecting the athletes, what’s the point of building anything bigger?

The WNBA wants to prioritize its own interests by urging players to avoid offseason leagues. Players, in turn, prioritize theirs—chasing opportunities that pay far more. Unrivaled’s average salary of $220,000 nearly doubles the WNBA’s $102,249, making the choice obvious.

The math is simple: the more games crammed into the calendar, the higher the risk of injuries—especially for athletes already grinding through overseas and offseason commitments. That’s why the WNBA and WNBPA must address this in the next CBA. But it isn’t just about pay when injury is at play. Bigger rosters and smarter scheduling are the way forward because these are basic protections for player health.

At the end of the day, the WNBA is its players. Fans don’t show up for logos; they show up for the women who make the game. Without them, there is no league.