I suspect Liberty management has an appreciation for Laney that outsiders don’t. Betnijah has been the emotional leader of this team for the last two seasons. For example, after a difficult loss in 2021, Howard was crying at a press conference and Ionescu was so angry she refused to talk. It was Laney who stepped up to speak for the players. Betnijah is also clearly someone who wants to be in NY. She’s from Delaware, but she spent her summers living with an aunt in Brooklyn who exposed her to the arts. It was for this reason that Betnijah took dance lessons as a child. Laney and Richards are the only Liberty players who live in NY during the offseason. They do a lot of community and promotional work for the team and the WNBA. I’m pretty sure this hasn’t gone unnoticed by ownership and management. On top of that, Laney has history with the Liberty’s three new stars. Breanna Stewart made a point of mentioning that she and Laney have been friends since they played on a U16 team together. This friendship continued through their rivalry in the old Big East and then last year as teammates on a gold medal winning USA World Cup team. Laney also played two years with Vandersloot in Chicago and one with Jonquel Jones in Connecticut. Yes, Laney could be replaced by Thornton to save a big salary. But the truly superfluous player is Dolson, who is now a $160k backup who only plays one position. This is especially wasteful considering you have a more talented backup center in Han, who also has plenty of experience playing power forward. If NY could unload Dolson, they’d be able to fit two players (Sabally and Kone?) into that cap slot.
As an aside, Han is already in New York. She, JJ, Laney, Dolson, Willoughby, Sabally, and Kone (I think) were all at Game 3 of the Nets-76ers series.
Well the gap is $3,005, so if that's what you're paying for a latte you need to find a new coffee place ;). I don't know why Connecticut cut it that tight and blocked themselves from keeping their second-rounder as the 11th player. Surely Hayes would've taken 159k instead of 162k. Although now the pick turned out to be a guard, it doesn't really matter. That last spot likely needs to be some kind of big anyway, so Morris probably would've had to beat out Clouden or Carrington anyway.
And no, you can't restructure existing contracts in this league, outside of adding time-off bonuses.
Look for Betnijah Laney to be in a different uniform by opening day ...
I suspect Liberty management has an appreciation for Laney that outsiders don’t. Betnijah has been the emotional leader of this team for the last two seasons. For example, after a difficult loss in 2021, Howard was crying at a press conference and Ionescu was so angry she refused to talk. It was Laney who stepped up to speak for the players. Betnijah is also clearly someone who wants to be in NY. She’s from Delaware, but she spent her summers living with an aunt in Brooklyn who exposed her to the arts. It was for this reason that Betnijah took dance lessons as a child. Laney and Richards are the only Liberty players who live in NY during the offseason. They do a lot of community and promotional work for the team and the WNBA. I’m pretty sure this hasn’t gone unnoticed by ownership and management. On top of that, Laney has history with the Liberty’s three new stars. Breanna Stewart made a point of mentioning that she and Laney have been friends since they played on a U16 team together. This friendship continued through their rivalry in the old Big East and then last year as teammates on a gold medal winning USA World Cup team. Laney also played two years with Vandersloot in Chicago and one with Jonquel Jones in Connecticut. Yes, Laney could be replaced by Thornton to save a big salary. But the truly superfluous player is Dolson, who is now a $160k backup who only plays one position. This is especially wasteful considering you have a more talented backup center in Han, who also has plenty of experience playing power forward. If NY could unload Dolson, they’d be able to fit two players (Sabally and Kone?) into that cap slot.
As an aside, Han is already in New York. She, JJ, Laney, Dolson, Willoughby, Sabally, and Kone (I think) were all at Game 3 of the Nets-76ers series.
I do hope you're right. Nothing against Dolson, but I just felt her fit was weird, and if she were traded it'd open up more time for Han to develop.
So the cost of a latte may force the Sun to make a roster decision they otherwise wouldn’t? The cap needs some softness, jeez.
Is restructuring the $5 in another contract an option? I’ll assume no because nothing here works how I think it should.
Well the gap is $3,005, so if that's what you're paying for a latte you need to find a new coffee place ;). I don't know why Connecticut cut it that tight and blocked themselves from keeping their second-rounder as the 11th player. Surely Hayes would've taken 159k instead of 162k. Although now the pick turned out to be a guard, it doesn't really matter. That last spot likely needs to be some kind of big anyway, so Morris probably would've had to beat out Clouden or Carrington anyway.
And no, you can't restructure existing contracts in this league, outside of adding time-off bonuses.
Oh lol I eyeballed the wrong number, I see. And you mentioned the big thing, makes sense. Just struck me as overly silly to have such a hard cap.
Thanks for the clarification!