2021 WNBA Training Camp Battles
2021 WNBA Training Camp Battles
Picking out the most interesting competitions for spots on WNBA regular season rosters
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Last month, when most of free agency was done and we were building up to the draft, I detailed the roster and cap situations for all 12 WNBA teams. Not an enormous amount has changed since then. A couple of cuts, some minor trades, a few suspensions - most of the situations are largely the same. The key new element is that all the draft picks now have human form. You can find details of every player currently under contract at our Her Hoop Stats salary sheets, and remember that teams must be down to either 11 or 12 players on opening day. Around half the league’s teams will be starting with 11 because they can’t fit a 12th under the team salary cap.
Training camps got underway on Sunday, and while many players involved have virtually no chance to make the team, some of the franchises have genuinely intriguing battles to see who will make their regular season roster. Let's take a look at some of the most interesting.
Dallas Wings
It looked like the Wings had just about fixed their roster crunch for another year. They dumped one of their four first-round picks on the eve of the draft in a trade with Los Angeles, and unless you're one of the die-hard Megan Gustafson fans that meant they had three open roster spots left for three first-rounders. They passed on the various point guards available, taking posts Charli Collier and Awak Kuier with the top two picks, then wing Chelsea Dungee at No. 5. However, in a messy and unpredictable draft, multiple players that were projected as likely first-rounders began to slide. When Dallas picked again at No. 13, Louisville's Dana Evans - a player it wouldn't have been a huge shock to see them take at 5 - was still available. So the Wings took her, and their roster situation became interesting again.
Now it looks like 12 from 13 for Dallas (or from 14 for the Gustafson believers). They already had veteran Moriah Jefferson and last year's No. 7 pick Tyasha Harris as options at point guard, along with Marina Mabrey - who was their most successful option last season alongside Arike Ogunbowale in the backcourt. Jefferson has struggled with injuries throughout her time as a pro, including last season, but has over $350,000 left in guaranteed salary over the next two seasons. Having already bought out Astou Ndour this offseason, cutting Jefferson is technically possible, but would be a costly move both in terms of cap space and in actual cash - and trading that contract is likely close to impossible. It seems like the battle for the 12th spot is probably between Evans and Mabrey, because the rest of the roster is stocked with a few veterans on guaranteed money and recent high draftees the team won't want to give up on yet. Evans was exciting at times in college but Mabrey is the incumbent, showed promise last year and has established chemistry with Ogunbowale. She could be tough to unseat.
Atlanta Dream
If you're a fan of small, ballhandling guards who like to score, this is the team for you! After some shopping in free agency and then Arizona's Aari McDonald impressing enough in the NCAA tournament to be taken at No. 3 in the draft, this franchise now features McDonald, Chennedy Carter, Courtney Williams, Tiffany Hayes, Odyssey Sims, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Yvonne Turner - all on the same roster, and likely all expecting to play.
Considering the overlapping skillsets, keeping all seven would seem like madness. That’s especially true as the veteran contracts in Atlanta mean that - unless Walker-Kimbrough and her $85,000 salary is the one to go - the Dream will likely be starting the season with only 11 players. However, making the choices could be tricky. All of them are either recently highly drafted (McDonald, Carter), key parts of the rotation on guaranteed money (Williams, Hayes), or were added this offseason via free agency or trade (Sims, Walker-Kimbrough, Turner). Complicating matters further, Turner is playing in France where the season tends to run particularly late, and therefore may miss virtually the whole of camp.
With Williams, Carter, McDonald and Hayes likely going nowhere (unless a particularly appealing trade offer materialises), it seems like Walker-Kimbrough and Turner might be fighting over one spot - and could even theoretically both be gone. It's a strange situation to create heading into training camp, and is precisely why very few people thought Atlanta would take McDonald in the draft. However, when you're drafting that high, the best policy is often to take the best player and figure out the rest later. This awkward collection of similar players is 'later'.
Los Angeles Sparks
The Sparks released Tierra Ruffin-Pratt last week, which at least simplifies their roster situation a little. As I explained in my previous piece, if Ruffin-Pratt and her $90,000 contract had stuck, LA would probably only have had the cap room to open the season with 11 players; now they'll almost certainly have the space to keep 12. However, there are still plenty of decisions to make.
Exactly who you consider a 'lock' to make this team depends somewhat on your own preferences, but personally I get to eight. I'd be surprised to see any of Kristi Toliver, either Ogwumike, Erica Wheeler, Amanda Zahui B, Brittney Sykes, Maria Vadeeva or Jasmine Walker cut. Walker was the player they took at No. 7 after giving up their 2022 first-round pick to acquire the pick, and even though she's expected to arrive late Vadeeva still has too much promise to give up on. That still leaves four spots up for grabs.
With the Ogwumikes, Zahui B, Vadeeva and maybe Walker filling the post (some see Walker as a 3, some as a 4), most of the remaining spots will go to perimeter players. Sydney Wiese, Te'a Cooper and Seimone Augustus return from last year's roster, with free agent signings Bria Holmes and Nia Coffey also options. They also took North Carolina's Stephanie Watts in the first round this year, and grabbed Rutgers's Arella Guirantes in the second after she fell all the way to No. 22 after being projected by some as a potential lottery pick. Even with four open spots, that's a lot of players to choose between, especially as they may feel the need to keep Kristine Anigwe as post insurance with Vadeeva arriving late.
While releasing a former star like Augustus or a social media darling like Cooper might raise an eyebrow or two, it wouldn't be a huge shock to see anyone in that group above cut or kept. Whichever ones are released may well be picked up elsewhere over the course of the 2021 season, or even re-signed by the Sparks if they decide later they've made a mistake. But regardless, it's a training camp where recognisable names are going to be fighting for spots, rather than the cast of unknowns that are often found in these situations.
Chicago Sky
On the face of it, the Sky's training camp doesn't look interesting at all. If you assume the re-signed Astou Ndour is joining their nine non-training camp contracts on the regular season roster, they'd left themselves just enough cap room for the No. 8 pick to make their roster. So once young Australian point guard Shyla Heal was selected it seemed like their business was done. However, it might not be that straightforward.
Head coach and GM James Wade is talking about training camp being a "knock-down, drag-out fight", which could of course be a variant of the usual clichés we hear heading into camp. Coaches are often full of bluster and obfuscation this time of year. The only way there's some truth to it is if a trade or a suspension is coming, and Gabby Williams looks the most likely candidate. She's in the initial training squad for the French national team leading up to Women's EuroBasket 2021, and with France also heading to the Olympics this year the Sky may not be top of Williams's priorities. Wade admits in that same article that she won't be with them to start the WNBA season.
Chicago's problem is that even with just 11 players, they'd be tight against the salary cap. They don’t have the room to temporarily suspend Williams while she's away to keep someone else instead, because the salary amount stays on the cap when you use that option. That leaves keeping her, cutting her, suspending her for the entire 2021 season, or trading her away as the remaining alternatives. If they keep her as one of their 11, expecting her to join up at some stage during the season, No. 16 pick Natasha Mack looks unlikely to make the roster - however much of a fight she puts up. The only routes left for her to make the team would be to perform so well in camp that they keep her ahead of someone like Ndour or Ruthy Hebard.
Some quick notes on the potential training camp battles elsewhere:
Connecticut Sun
This roster is so top heavy that they're forced to keep several cheap contracts on the end of the bench, which makes it one of the best places to be if you're a relative unknown trying to catch on in the WNBA. Three late draft picks and a host of training camp invites are fighting for anything from two to four spots (depending on how secure you believe Natisha Hiedeman and Beatrice Mompremier to be).
Indiana Fever
They added a slightly ridiculous seven players in this year’s draft, leaving the obvious question of how many can actually make the team. It could theoretically be as many as five but is far more likely to be two or three. There are certainly spots to fight for on the end of this roster, as is often the case with lottery teams.
Las Vegas Aces
There's not a huge amount of intrigue here, but there are one or two spots available. Their cap situation is tight enough that they'll be going with 11 players, and it was a nice spot for Destiny Slocum to fall into at No. 14 in the draft as she looks like she might well make it. Then there'd be one spot left which could go almost anywhere, with perhaps Emma Cannon as the favorite as she was on their roster last year. All assuming that Iliana Rupert, this year's first-round pick, isn't intending to play in the WNBA in 2021. If she signed and showed up, that last spot would be hers.
Minnesota Lynx
Looks like a pretty clear case of 11 from 11 to me, with Bridget Carleton and this year's first-rounder Rennia Davis joining the nine non-training camp contracts. The only complication could come from Cecilia Zandalasini actually showing up to play at some point. If that happens after EuroBasket, they could potentially add her as a 12th player, rather than needing to cut someone to make room.
New York Liberty
Lots of options, with the choices mostly guided by current unknowns. How is Asia Durr recovering after suffering serious ongoing issues from Covid-19, and how might the league handle suspending her in cap terms? Is Marine Johannes expected to show up at any point in 2021? Rebecca Allen signed a guaranteed contract yesterday so she’s in, clearing up one of the mysteriesight now there's still a lot of guesswork on this one.
Phoenix Mercury
Looks like 10 locks, unless you think Sophie Cunningham might lose her spot in camp. If she sticks, that only leaves one spot to fight over, and they don't have the cap room for it to be a veteran contract (making Cierra Burdick and Avery Warley-Talbert signing there somewhat pointless). Take your pick from the likes of Marta Xargay, Shey Peddy, Tiana Mangakahia, Sara Blicavs and others.
Seattle Storm
There are probably at least 10 locks here as well, maybe 11 if you consider both Kennedy Burke and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan secure after each being acquired for the cost of a first-round pick this offseason. They comfortably have room for 12, so that would leave the likes of Kiana Williams, Stephanie Talbot, Tamera Young and Kitija Laksa battling over that final spot.
Washington Mystics
After coming into the offseason looking crowded and complicated, Washington have somehow ended up with a shocking amount of space on the end of their roster. Suspending the injured Alysha Clark last week took her off their cap sheet and opened up a lot of space, making it fairly straightforward to keep 12 players (even while retaining cap room to hopefully re-sign Emma Meesseman later in the year). If we consider all their non-training camp contracts as near-locks to make the roster, and Shavonte Zellous as the most likely replacement for Clark, that still leaves three open spots. They didn't have any draft picks this year, so there's a large cast of training camp invites battling for those places, and Mike Thibault could also be scouring the waiver wire when other teams start making cuts.
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It is always so interesting to see who makes it. There are always surprises even when we think we know what teams will decide.
Are players paid to be in camp before they get cut?