With Candance Parker declaring her retirement, does that mean she will not play the upcoming season? If so, how will that affect your predictions of the Las Vegas Aces Roster? Thanks!
Yes, assuming she doesn't change her mind and the retirement paperwork is filed (or they release her instead) she disappears from their roster (as does her contract). It doesn't change much of what I said above, except for making it even easier to keep 12 players for opening day (and now any 12 players they want).
However, it opens up even more cap space. As I mentioned here - https://x.com/RichardCohen1/status/1784644282793467921 - they could now offer a free agent over $190,000. The problem is finding anyone left on the market they'd want to give the money to. But especially given how little interest Hammon has had in playing youngsters, I imagine they'll be open to adding vets who aren't currently on the roster (whether via free agency, trade, or off the waiver wire).
On a basic procedural level, you draft them, they don't sign their contract, don't come to town, that's it. The more detailed answer is that with the international players they often have other priorities, especially when they're young, so put off going to the US for the WNBA. Lacan, for example, will be hoping to make France's squad for the Olympics this year.
Hsu appears to be another example of a very recent WNBA phenomenon, which started with Paige Robinson and Dallas last year, where players are drafted probably in part *because* they agreed beforehand not to come to camp this year. It allows a team to take someone, keep their rights, and hopefully watch them develop before coming to camp in a future year. Rather than drafting someone they'd cut in the first week of camp this year anyway, while taking up a camp spot they'd rather use on someone else.
In either case, the team gets to keep their rights. There's a limit of four players' rights per team that are allowed to be retained (only players who didn't participate in the previous WNBA season count in that four). So you can't just keep building up a stock year after year after year and hold onto all of them in perpetuity.
Several teams took a look at her last year so it's certainly possible. Not being on a camp roster yet might mean it's more likely as a midseason replacement or 7-day contract, though.
Great piece! One question - how does an international player who is still overseas like Marine Johannes get addressed? This was so confusing to me last year especially now that prioritization is in effect. Obviously she joined the team and it was fine but I also hadn’t seen anything about her not being signed by NYL in the offseason.
The Liberty hold Johannes's reserved rights, which means she can't negotiate or sign with anyone else. Because of the League reassessing some Years of Service totals in the offseason - I discussed it a bit here: https://x.com/RichardCohen1/status/1753219462990311716 - she has less than 3 YoS, which means the Prioritization rules don't apply to her. So she's not currently under contract and won't affect calculations for opening day, but could theoretically still sign later on in the year and join the Liberty midseason (likely after the Olympic break, if it happens at all).
Thanks for the comprehensive response - really informative. So upshot seems to be that post opening day, teams with key international players will have to make choices about reserving some cap room to bring back, which will of course be affected by playoff positioning, trade deadline moves, etc. Will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
I’ve been waiting for this article to drop! Always a great and informative read. I didn’t see Kitley in the Aces section and I’m guessing that is just oversight? But is there any sort of injury/hardship provision that might allow her to secure a spot? Or no hope?
Because of her injury, what's most likely to happen with Kitley is she won't sign her rookie-scale contract this year, Vegas will retain her draft rights, then she'll sign and be in their camp next year. We've seen the same sort of thing in recent years with Soares and N.Sabally. That's why she's not listed, because while she remains unsigned she doesn't come into cap or roster calculations for 2024. Thanks for reading!
With Candance Parker declaring her retirement, does that mean she will not play the upcoming season? If so, how will that affect your predictions of the Las Vegas Aces Roster? Thanks!
Yes, assuming she doesn't change her mind and the retirement paperwork is filed (or they release her instead) she disappears from their roster (as does her contract). It doesn't change much of what I said above, except for making it even easier to keep 12 players for opening day (and now any 12 players they want).
However, it opens up even more cap space. As I mentioned here - https://x.com/RichardCohen1/status/1784644282793467921 - they could now offer a free agent over $190,000. The problem is finding anyone left on the market they'd want to give the money to. But especially given how little interest Hammon has had in playing youngsters, I imagine they'll be open to adding vets who aren't currently on the roster (whether via free agency, trade, or off the waiver wire).
How can a team draft a player but have them not report/be incl in training camp? I.e Abby Hsu and Leila Lacan for CT
On a basic procedural level, you draft them, they don't sign their contract, don't come to town, that's it. The more detailed answer is that with the international players they often have other priorities, especially when they're young, so put off going to the US for the WNBA. Lacan, for example, will be hoping to make France's squad for the Olympics this year.
Hsu appears to be another example of a very recent WNBA phenomenon, which started with Paige Robinson and Dallas last year, where players are drafted probably in part *because* they agreed beforehand not to come to camp this year. It allows a team to take someone, keep their rights, and hopefully watch them develop before coming to camp in a future year. Rather than drafting someone they'd cut in the first week of camp this year anyway, while taking up a camp spot they'd rather use on someone else.
In either case, the team gets to keep their rights. There's a limit of four players' rights per team that are allowed to be retained (only players who didn't participate in the previous WNBA season count in that four). So you can't just keep building up a stock year after year after year and hold onto all of them in perpetuity.
Is there any chance that a team will pick up Ashley Joens who is now playing in Italy?
Several teams took a look at her last year so it's certainly possible. Not being on a camp roster yet might mean it's more likely as a midseason replacement or 7-day contract, though.
Great piece! One question - how does an international player who is still overseas like Marine Johannes get addressed? This was so confusing to me last year especially now that prioritization is in effect. Obviously she joined the team and it was fine but I also hadn’t seen anything about her not being signed by NYL in the offseason.
The Liberty hold Johannes's reserved rights, which means she can't negotiate or sign with anyone else. Because of the League reassessing some Years of Service totals in the offseason - I discussed it a bit here: https://x.com/RichardCohen1/status/1753219462990311716 - she has less than 3 YoS, which means the Prioritization rules don't apply to her. So she's not currently under contract and won't affect calculations for opening day, but could theoretically still sign later on in the year and join the Liberty midseason (likely after the Olympic break, if it happens at all).
Thanks for the comprehensive response - really informative. So upshot seems to be that post opening day, teams with key international players will have to make choices about reserving some cap room to bring back, which will of course be affected by playoff positioning, trade deadline moves, etc. Will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
I’ve been waiting for this article to drop! Always a great and informative read. I didn’t see Kitley in the Aces section and I’m guessing that is just oversight? But is there any sort of injury/hardship provision that might allow her to secure a spot? Or no hope?
Because of her injury, what's most likely to happen with Kitley is she won't sign her rookie-scale contract this year, Vegas will retain her draft rights, then she'll sign and be in their camp next year. We've seen the same sort of thing in recent years with Soares and N.Sabally. That's why she's not listed, because while she remains unsigned she doesn't come into cap or roster calculations for 2024. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for the reply! Makes sense