WNBA free agent negotiations open Monday

The WNBA's initial release about finalizing its collective bargaining agreement announced that "2014 free agency negotiations and signings can begin", but a couple of more recent reports have offered a bit more detail.

Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times reports that teams may begin negotiating with their own free agents this week until the 16th; Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune reports that there will be a negotiating period prior to teams being allowed to sign players.

Teams can start negotiating with free agents on the 16^th of this month, and can start signing them on the 20^th. The big free agent on Minnesota's agenda, of course, is center Janel McCarville, who played such a big role in the team's success last season. Griffith said he anticipated no problems getting McCarville re-signed. "It was a situation that was good for both parties," Griffith said.

So we still have a little while until player movement begins in earnest.

Either way, there should be more news - including the date for the 2014 WNBA Draft, as Evans reported - in the coming week after months of silence: in addition to free agent news in some form, Richie said that the date of the WNBA Draft will be announced in this coming week.

For more on the CBA negotiations, check out our storystream with details and commentary on the agreement.