When the pomp and circumstance of the WNBA Draft has concluded, reality sets in that the draft is merely a set piece for the next major portion of the W calendar – training camps.
If there is one thing those within the WNBA universe understand about training camps is that the cuts that come with training camps can be very deep. This is especially the case the further we get into said camps and the closer we get to the start of the season as our now 13 WNBA teams have to narrow down their rosters to the 12 that made the cut.
The training camp rosters for all 13 teams are out. What we were interested in was not the names of those who made said rosters but how many are on each team’s roster as it varies from team to team. Because there are enough players on these rosters to field several additional WNBA teams.
There are two teams that have at least 20 players (21 to be exact) on their training camp rosters. One is the Minnesota Lynx and the other is the Connecticut Sun. The Lynx and Sun appear to be on opposite ends of the WNBA contenders spectrum with Minnesota looking to get back to the Finals and Connecticut appearing to be in rebuild mode.
Both teams will need to make nine cuts apiece.
Following the Lynx and Sun is the Phoenix Mercury with 19 players on its training camp roster. Phoenix may have lost Diana Taurasi to retirement and Brittney Griner to the Atlanta Dream but Phoenix is still a contender after adding Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally. Phoenix needs to cut seven.
Four teams will begin camp with 18 players – and will need to make six cuts. Those four are the Los Angeles Sparks, Chicago Sky, Dallas Wings and Golden State Valkyries. The Sparks, Sky and Wings are all entering this season with new coaches in Lynne Roberts, Tyler Marsh and Chris Kolcanes, respectively. Los Angeles added Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby in the offseason. The Sky brought back Courtney Vandersloot. The Wings, of course, lost Sabally as well as Natasha Howard but added Paige Bueckers via the draft.
Then – there is the expansion Valkyries. While Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas will be likely contenders for that eighth and final playoff berth, Golden State is expected to resemble what many expansion teams do indeed resemble.
The two teams that will enter camp with 17 players – and need to make five cuts apiece – are the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics. As is the case with Minnesota and Connecticut one would be hard pressed to find two teams on opposite ends of the WNBA spectrum more than the Aces and Mystics. Las Vegas lost Plum but added Jewell Loyd from the Seattle Storm while the Mystics had three of the top six selections in this year’s draft (Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, Georgia Amoore).
And in the case of the Aces, Elena Tsineke was already waived by the team prior to the start of camp.
Only one team will have 16 players to begin camp – those very Storm. Seattle is not a bad team as they still do have Skylar Diggins, Nneka Ogwumike and Ezi Magbegor not to mention Dominique Malonga will bolster Seattle’s frontcourt. It is doubtful as to if it is a championship contender. The Storm will have to cut four.
Three teams will need to cut three as they are entering training camp with 15 players apiece – the Dream, the Indiana Fever and the defending champion New York Liberty. All three teams are on some level of contenders’ status following this offseason. Atlanta added BG and Brionna Jones plus drafted Te-Hina Paopao. The Dream also now have Karl Smesko as coach.
Indiana’s moves included adding Natasha Howard and DeWanna Bonner plus bringing back Stephanie White following her stint in Connecticut. The Liberty welcomed Natasha Cloud to Brooklyn.
For each team to narrow their rosters down to 12 players, a total of 75 cuts will have to be made over the next several weeks. This means first-round draft picks will almost certainly be among those cuts.
Seventy-five players is enough to field six additional full WNBA rosters. Then that is not considering the possibility that some teams may begin the regular season with only 11 or even 10 players given their respective situations with injuries or overseas commitments.
It is roughly a third of all players who made these training camp rosters. Even with one additional team joining the ranks this year plus two more (Toronto Tempo, Portland) next season, WNBA training camp cuts are still set to cut extremely deep.
This, of course, gets to an even larger discussion about the size of WNBA team rosters. As much talk as there is in W circles regarding league expansion, roster expansion is also typically discussed around this time.
The ideal solution would be for every WNBA team to have a 15-person roster ala their NBA counterparts. If that were to happen with this season featuring 13 teams, there would still be roster cuts during training camp – but they would not be as widespread as they will be with every team carrying only 12.
A dirty little secret about expansion and the WNBA is that league expansion is greatly preferred among owners in juxtaposition to roster expansion. League expansion means incumbent owners receiving a piece of that expansion fee pie. Roster expansion means more money coming out of owners’ pockets in terms of salaries.
This is especially a challenge in a salary capped league such as the WNBA as opposed to one sans a cap – such as Major League Baseball.
Perhaps seeing how deep these cuts will indeed be will encourage the WNBPA to make roster expansion a new reality of the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA). If seemingly everything from the Finals to the size and scope of All-Star weekend to the league itself can expand, why does roster size have to stay put at 12?
A multitude of WNBA fans and media pushed for expansion so these cuts would not hit as hard as they previously did. And while the arrival of four new teams will play a massive role in giving more deserving talents opportunities to make rosters, Terri Jackson and Nneka Ogwumike probably ought to push for expansion of those rosters as Cathy Engelbert herself pushes for expansion of the league.
