When WNBA Free Agency Went Wild
Part One
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Free agency in the WNBA started slightly late this year due to extended negotiations over the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, but it’s already the most dramatic period of player movement the league has ever seen. The new CBA led to a spike in the team salary cap of over 30%, which meant teams had money burning holes in their pockets. #WNBATwitter has been buzzing as players have been signed, traded, and generally criss-crossed the WNBA landscape all week. What does it all mean for the W in 2020? We take a look at all the biggest moves below (and don’t worry, we’ll cover the dealings of every other team in Part 2, later this week).
Photo Credit: Chris Poss
Phoenix Mercury
Perhaps the biggest splashes were seen in Phoenix, where the Mercury have both lost and gained key pieces. Forward DeWanna Bonner was a true unrestricted free agent (UFA), having reached the limit of the number of times she could be placed under the core designation - the WNBA’s version of the NFL’s franchise tag that allows teams to block UFAs from leaving. Fortunately for the Mercury, the WNBA’s rules state that UFAs re-signing with their own teams can sign for up to four years at a maximum salary of $215,000, whereas free agents signing elsewhere can only receive a maximum of three years at $185,000. Bonner had enough suitors that not only could she pick her own destination, she could also demand the four-year 215k ‘supermax’, which required her new team to make a deal with Phoenix. Bonner ultimately picked Connecticut, and while the Mercury must have been sad to lose such a valuable player, they received three first-round picks just for facilitating her new contract.
Meanwhile, in Dallas, star guard Skylar Diggins-Smith would’ve been an unrestricted free agent, but was cored by the Wings to retain her rights. However, it had been widely known for some time that she was on her way out of town. Diggins-Smith missed last season due to pregnancy and the recovery that followed, and her relationship with the franchise broke down during that period. At the same time, Arike Ogunbowale was establishing herself as the new face of the Wings franchise, making Dallas more comfortable with moving on from Diggins-Smith. Thanks to the Bonner deal, Phoenix had extra pieces available to make an offer for Diggins-Smith that Dallas found acceptable. The Mercury were able to reach a sign-and-trade agreement with the Wings for three first-round picks (although technically only one of those first-round picks had been acquired in the Bonner deal).
While having Diana Taurasi, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Brittney Griner on the same roster creates a star-studded squad that can “win the press conference” - Griner herself was re-signed to a multi-year supermax deal this week - lots of questions remain about the 2020 Mercury. Despite Griner’s presence in the paint, they ranked 9th in the WNBA in Defensive Rating last season, and their best perimeter defender was just traded to Connecticut. There are also holes at both small and power forward. Rumors swirled that Phoenix would acquire New York’s Tina Charles to play the 4, and there were definitely discussions between the franchises, but that potential deal appears to be on hold indefinitely. In an attempt to bolster their perimeter options, the Mercury signed Bria Hartley to a surprising three-year max contract, which could be one of the most dramatic overpays of this year’s free agency period. Hartley had her moments in New York and Washington but was far from consistent. A part-time starter who’s shot 38% over her WNBA career for 7.9 points and 2.7 assists per night isn’t really the kind of player you want to hand that contract under the new salary structure. She’s also a combo-guard who’ll have to find time either alongside Diggins-Smith and Taurasi in undersized lineups, or as their backup. Point guard Briann January is also still under contract in Phoenix on a squad that’s now overstocked for veteran guards but has only a few unproven youngsters at either forward spot.
Connecticut Sun
The other side of the Bonner deal saw the Sun making an unexpected splash. Over the years, WNBA fans have been far more accustomed to seeing players work their way out of Uncasville, rather than pushing to move in. Bonner gives them an upgrade over Shekinna Stricklen on the wing, another ballhandler and scoring option as they try to take the final step towards winning a title. Adding her could make salary cap maneuvering complicated in future years, but it’s worth it to add a player of Bonner’s caliber. Star center Jonquel Jones was also re-signed, along with backup point guard Natisha Hiedeman and backup wing Bria Holmes. Casualties of their new cap situation were Stricklen (who left for Atlanta), Layshia Clarendon (went to New York) and Morgan Tuck (who was signed-and-traded to Seattle for a slight improvement in draft position that helped facilitate the Bonner deal).
Connecticut are going to have to rebuild much of their bench - although given the minimal production they offered last year that’s not a huge hardship - but the key piece yet to fall is Courtney Williams. A restricted free agent, Williams is a hyper-athletic shooting guard who’s been central to their recent success, but rumors have circulated that she might want out. The Sun have left themselves just enough room to re-sign her at her current max (the 185k variant) but it’s not done yet. If they end up losing her they’ll need to receive some perimeter scoring punch in return, or go searching for some elsewhere. This is a team primed to make a run immediately, but without Williams their guard corps would look decidedly thin.
Las Vegas Aces
One of the intriguing decisions made prior to free agency was in Atlanta, where the Dream chose not to place the core designation on Angel McCoughtry. They could have cored her to retain her rights, even if they intended to let her leave via a trade, but that move results in a one-year supermax deal being on offer immediately. After all their ups and downs with Angel over the years, and various social media posts from McCoughtry that made it pretty clear she felt her time with the Dream was over, apparently the franchise wanted to move on and were willing to let her walk for nothing. Never afraid to take a risk on talent over potential character clashes, Bill Laimbeer tempted her to Las Vegas.
In some ways, McCoughtry looks like a great fit for the Aces. They needed a big wing who would be an upgrade over the likes of Tamera Young and allow them to keep Kayla McBride at her more natural shooting guard spot. She also offers another player who can create her own shot on a roster focused around posts A’ja Wilson and Liz Cambage. But the move isn’t without its risks. The 33-year-old McCoughtry missed all of last season (bar a ceremonial minute) due to a serious knee injury, and we’re yet to see whether she’s fully recovered. She’s also always been a mercurial character and with Cambage’s unpredictable moods already involved you wonder how much one roster can take. On a more basic, basketball level, Laimbeer will also have to find enough shots for all the players on his roster who are used to being the star. Skills-wise, while fantastically talented at finding ways to produce, McCoughtry’s also never been particularly consistent from the perimeter - a .286 shooter from three-point range for her WNBA career - which could cause issues on a team that desperately needs to spread the floor around their posts. But it was a risk worth taking.
The Aces also added point guard Danielle Robinson as a direct replacement for Sydney Colson, who left for Chicago. Robinson only made the first few three-pointers of her career aged 29 in Minnesota, and repeatedly cramped the Lynx’s spacing last year by stepping in to 15ft, so may not be the greatest fit. The biggest question remaining for the Aces is the usual one over Cambage. She’s a restricted free agent who seemed happy enough in Vegas last season, but we’ve seen over the years that relying on Liz to be in town can be a fool’s errand. If she’s in the WNBA in 2020 it’ll almost certainly be with the Aces, but showing up at all is always the question with Cambage. Especially in an Olympic year, when she may have other priorities, the Aces would be smart to have parallel plans for playing with or without her.
Los Angeles Sparks
Amongst all this movement, perhaps the biggest shock so far came on the opening day of free agency, when Kristi Toliver walked away from the 2019 champion Washington Mystics to rejoin the Los Angeles Sparks. Washington had three star UFAs in Toliver, Elena Delle Donne and Emma Meesseman and chose to core none of them, so technically all three were free to choose their own destination. However, head coach and general manager Mike Thibault stated before free agency even opened that he had verbal agreements with Delle Donne and Meesseman to return. Noticeably, negotiations with Toliver were still ongoing. There isn’t usually much to negotiate with stars in the WNBA - you offer them the max and the only debate is over the years. Toliver, while now 33 years old, was the best guard in the league last season before getting hurt, and played a key part in earning the Mystics their first ever championship. She expected that star-level treatment. But under the new CBA, where you can’t just give every veteran the max and then work around the rest as under previous deals, Thibault was less sure. He had to pay Delle Donne and Meesseman, and plan for paying players like Ariel Atkins, Aerial Powers and Natasha Cloud in the future. So when Washington tried to pinch pennies, Toliver looked around to see what else was on offer. LA jumped in with a guaranteed three-year max deal and she grabbed it.
Toliver’s a great pick-up for the Sparks, giving them another perimeter threat who can also take some of the ballhandling load off Chelsea Gray. She’s one of those players who’s grown smarter and more thoughtful as she’s gotten older, comfortably making up for any loss in speed. The key move left for LA now is to re-sign Gray, who’s a restricted free agent herself. That’s not expected to be a big issue, but as we’ve seen in the last week, nothing’s set in stone until the deal is signed.
In smaller moves, LA also added some extra wing scoring and athleticism by trading Kalani Brown to Atlanta for Brittney Sykes, with Marie Gulich also coming to LA as part of the deal. The Sparks had more posts than they could find time for last season, so the move makes sense in terms of balancing out their roster. There’s some risk in giving up on a player with the size and potential of Brown - plus Sykes only has one year left on her rookie-scale deal - but with two Ogwumikes, Candace Parker and Maria Vadeeva all needing minutes in the paint, Brown was always going to struggle for minutes in LA. With Alana Beard retired, the Sparks also made an important - and surprisingly cheap - move in re-signing Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, who offered them solid minutes on the wing last season.
Part Two, covering the moves of every other WNBA team, will arrive on Thursday.
Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site, our podcast, and our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.