The WNBA is back on Sunday with a brand new collective bargaining agreement, loaded rosters and the 2026 season getting underway in a league that has already reshaped itself before the first full slate of games. One of the day’s first tests comes in Connecticut, where the Sun host the Seattle Storm at 1 p.m. ET.
All times are Eastern and accurate as of Sunday, May 10, 2026, at 6:08 a.m. The matchup gives the league an immediate on-court marker for a season that begins under a new media rights deal and with expectations running high across the board.
For fans watching Pauline Astier’s rise, the opener lands in a season where attention is already shifting quickly from offseason movement to actual results. A comparison to Candace Parker has already grown as Pauline Astier lifts Liberty past Mystics, and Sunday’s slate gives the league another chance to show whether those early storylines hold up once the games count.
The context matters because the WNBA has spent the offseason changing its framework as well as its roster balance. A new collective bargaining agreement is now in place, the league enters 2026 with teams packed with talent, and the revised business setup around the season adds another layer to every early tipoff. That is why a 1 p.m. start between Connecticut and Seattle is more than a date on the calendar; it is part of the first real evidence of what this new era looks like on the floor.
The friction point is that promise and proof are not the same thing. Loaded rosters and fresh rules create the sense of a league ready to surge, but Sunday’s opener will be judged on execution, not expectation. The Sun and Storm are the first of many teams that now have to turn an ambitious offseason into a season that matches the noise around it.
What happens next is straightforward: the ball goes up at 1 p.m. ET, and the WNBA begins answering its own offseason story with basketball. If the first day is any guide, the league has entered 2026 with the talent, the structure and the spotlight to make every result matter a little more than it did a year ago.
