Lynx Open as 2027 Favorites With Collier's Future Unsettled

The 2027 WNBA season is months away, and the market has already picked its favorite. Minnesota opens at +310 to win the championship, ahead of Las Vegas at +340, Atlanta at +400 and the defending champion Golden State Valkyries at +450. The long shots tell the expansion story: Portland at 90-to-1, and Toronto and the returning Houston Comets at 120-to-1.

Minnesota's price comes with a condition attached, and her name is Napheesa Collier. The Lynx's franchise player is headed toward free agency, and if she bolts, the favorite's number won't just drift — it'll be rewritten. Oddsmakers are pricing the roster Minnesota has today, not necessarily the one it will have in May.

Las Vegas has its own version of the same problem. Jackie Young played 2026 on a one-year, $1.19 million deal and is now an unrestricted free agent, the biggest single decision the Aces face. Bleacher Report's final power rankings slot the Aces third for 2027, with depth problems behind five-time MVP A'ja Wilson flagged as the concern. Keep Young and the core holds. Lose her and the +340 looks generous.

Atlanta sits at +400 after pushing Golden State to the first Game 7 in Finals history, and the champions themselves are fourth at +450 — a price that says the market believes in the Dream and Lynx cores more than it believes a second-year expansion team runs it back.

The calendar will start sorting rumor from reality fast. The draft lottery is November 15, and free agency follows in the new year under a cap that's expected to climb toward $7.91 million. Every one of these numbers is a snapshot of rosters that don't fully exist yet.

The new CBA sharpens every one of these negotiations. From 2027, only players with six or fewer years of service can be cored — the designation teams use to hold a free agent in place — which shifts leverage toward veteran stars exactly like Collier and Young. The players the market most wants are the players their teams can least control.

The money sloshing around the league explains the confidence at the top of the board. Golden State's players each collected a $60,000 championship bonus under the new CBA, and the cap's climb toward $7.91 million means the favorites can pay to keep their cores. The board isn't just rating talent. It's rating which front offices can afford their own success.

That's the honest way to read an opening board in November. The Lynx are favorites because their foundation is the league's most proven. But the two biggest names on the market — Collier and Young — both wear the colors of the top two favorites. One signature each way, and this board gets built all over again.