2022 WNBA Salary Cap and Roster Breakdowns: Part 1
We examine and explain the state of rosters around the WNBA heading into 2022 free agency
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Throughout 2021 we’ve been providing you with comprehensive details of every contract signed in the WNBA, via our Salary Cap Sheets. On those pages you can also find details of exactly how much cap space each team had remaining this year, the contracts on their books in future seasons, each player’s probable free agency status when those contracts expire and plenty more. However, we know that all this stuff can be confusing, and that drawing any conclusions from all the numbers can require that scariest of things - mathematics. So we’ve broken down where each team stands heading into the 2022 offseason, what their priorities are likely to be, and what moves they have the room to make. If you just want to see a list of all the available free agents, we gave you that a couple of months ago as well here.
Some of these entries may seem a little familiar, because a few have been included along with the team-specific 2021 Reflections/Forecast articles that we’ve already released. We’ve brought all the sections on cap and roster details together for those who want to focus on those aspects, including entries on several teams we haven’t covered yet. Below you’ll find the first six teams, with the other six arriving on Friday.
Atlanta Dream
The Atlanta Dream have a hell of a lot of work to do going into 2022. On the bright side, after hiring Tanisha Wright as their new head coach a couple of weeks ago, they finally added a new general manager - former Las Vegas Aces GM Dan Padover - so someone is now officially in charge of making all the roster and contract decisions that need to be made.
Due to an off-court altercation they’ve already stated that they will not be re-signing leading scorer Courtney Williams or forward Crystal Bradford, who was one of this year’s few Dream success stories. Bradford could’ve been retained as a reserved player and Williams would’ve been a prime candidate to be cored, but as the qualifying offers to create those statuses count as contract offers - which the players would then be within their rights to sign immediately - the offers will presumably not be given out. The players would therefore become unrestricted free agents.
That hamstrings Padover a little from the start, as Williams in particular would’ve had value even just as a trade chip. He’ll also need to deal with Chennedy Carter, the star guard who was meant to be a building block even if they lost players to free agency. She spent much of 2021 suspended for conduct detrimental to the team, and that situation still had not been resolved by the end of the regular season.
In pure salary terms, the Dream's situation could either be seen as desperately scary or a great opportunity. They have very few people under contract, and of their free agents only Monique Billings (restricted) is expected to be under team control. The likes of Tiffany Hayes, Odyssey Sims, Candice Dupree and Elizabeth Williams will be unrestricted free agents who could walk away for no return. Atlanta will probably try to re-sign at least a couple of them but unless they use the core designation, which comes with a one-year supermax qualifying offer which would be an overpay for any of them, they’ll all be free to leave if they wish.
But should the Dream be all that worried about losing the core of a squad that's gone 15-39 over the last two years? The advantage of so many people being out of contract is that they have the opportunity to re-shape the roster almost from the ground up, especially if they can work things out with Carter (or trade her for a meaningful haul to ignite the new roster). There's a vast amount of cap space here, and they could even create some more if necessary because Tianna Hawkins's $144,200 is entirely non-guaranteed. If they can convince free agents that the Dream are now a franchise worth joining, rather than one that should be avoided at all costs, then an injection of outside talent could speed up the rebuild significantly.
They also have the draft rights to promising young international bigs Raquel Carrera and Li Yueru if they can talk them into actually showing up. So there's hope here, but there are also an enormous number of question marks.
Chicago Sky
This Sky squad was largely built for a two-year window of 2020-21 that we've now come to the conclusion of, which means they now have a lot of work to do. Their starting posts from the latter part of the 2021 season, Candace Parker and Azurá Stevens, are under contract, as are deep bench reserves Ruthy Hebard and Dana Evans - and that's it. Key starters and rotation players like Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, Kahleah Copper, Stefanie Dolson, Astou Ndour-Fall (all unrestricted) and Diamond DeShields (restricted) are all out of contract. It’s very unlikely that they're going to be able to keep this entire group in town.
They could core somebody - Vandersloot and Copper both seem like viable options - but that's only an option for a maximum of one player. All those other unrestricted free agents are going to be able to walk away to other teams if they want to. After an underwhelming season where she lost her starting spot midway through, they may also not want to pay DeShields what will be on offer elsewhere. If that's the case, they might try to work a sign-and-trade deal in order to get back some value for her, rather than see her sign an offer sheet and then simply not match it and watch her leave.
All that cap space could be used to try to upgrade in free agency, but assuming they want to keep at least Vandersloot, Copper and maybe one of the posts, there won't be a huge amount left to spend (especially if keeping Vandersloot also means paying and keeping her wife Quigley). When they set their two-year window it was before Candace Parker arrived and before they won a championship, both of which may have altered their timeline. Rather than looking to start a semi-rebuild, they may well try to bring back as many pieces as they can afford, and go again with their veteran core.
Connecticut Sun
In cap terms, this is one of the simpler teams in the league. Most of their key players remain under contract for next year. The primary issue is league MVP Jonquel Jones, who is an impending unrestricted free agent but may well be cored by the Sun, preventing her from signing with anyone else. They'll then presumably hope to sign Jones for as many years as possible.
If Jones signs for the supermax, the Sun would have seven players under contract for $1,101,810. Given the team salary cap next year is $1,379,200, that means they'd have $277,390 left for four remaining roster spots (they'd have no chance to fit five for a total of 12). The minimum salary for players with at least three Years of Service next year is $72,141, so assume they bring Natisha Hiedeman (reserved) back on that and keep their first-round pick ($66,306). That would leave $138,943 for the final two spots. That's just about enough for one player on the 3+ Years of Service minimum, and one on the lower base minimum. Would veteran point guard Briann January be willing to stick around and play for that little when there might be more on offer elsewhere? Assuming Jones re-signs for everything she's worth and they don’t trade away any of their other guaranteed deals, the Sun aren't going to be in a position to offer January anything more.
Dallas Wings
The Wings have no impending free agents of any type. Literally none. As we've become accustomed to with this franchise, the issue is roster spots and who they might trade or cut, rather than having to pay or re-sign anyone. They have two 2022 first-round draft picks, both in the top-six, and they're reaching the point of no return in having to make decisions on some of these young players. Cuts of recent high picks or minimal-return trades are coming unless they can finally manage to find the kind of deal they've been searching for for years - where multiple pieces can be consolidated into a single star.
They don't technically have a lot of cap space, although there's a lot of unguaranteed salary here if they had a good reason to create some. It would be difficult to find a vast amount - Moriah Jefferson's near-immovable deal still has a year left, and they still owe Astou Ndour-Fall over 100k next year - but one high-priced free agent could fit if they were worth the effort. But again, it's going to require making some choices and inevitably moving on from some of these young players. You can only keep rolling picks on to future years for so long before you have to decide whether the players you took in previous years are worth persevering with.
Indiana Fever
In cap terms, Indiana is in a relatively positive situation. They have the cap space to try to chase a high-end free agent or two, and even the Fever players that are out of contract are largely under team control and might not be too expensive to re-sign (Julie Allemand, Victoria Vivians, Lindsay Allen etc.). They frankly ought to have even more cap space to work with, but those deals they gave Danielle Robinson and Jantel Lavender last offseason aren't going anywhere.
The central problem for Indiana is how difficult it might be to attract anyone worth spending that remaining cap space on. Even if the new CBA has forced players to spread out a little if they want to get paid, they usually like to go to teams with a chance of being good pretty soon, and Indiana didn't show many signs of that in 2021. That opens up the risk of overspending on the second or third-tier of free agents once the top group go elsewhere and locking themselves into the wrong players (like they did last year). If the Fever go spending again, it needs to be on real quality. Otherwise they're probably better off letting their young players actually play and seeing what they're worth, rather than continuing to lose with mid-level veterans.
Las Vegas Aces
The Aces only have five players under contract, and yet may still not have a lot of room to maneuver. A'ja Wilson is a restricted free agent, and they'll hope to sign her for as many years as possible (although she may want a one-year deal as she'd then be eligible for the supermax next year). They may well core Liz Cambage again to prevent her from becoming a true unrestricted free agent, which would likely lead to another one-year supermax contract (assuming she plays at all, which is never a guarantee with Cambage). Add those two deals in and the Aces would have seven players signed and around $300,000 in cap space remaining, which isn't a lot when the minimum salaries are $72,141/$60,471 and you're required to carry at least eleven players on the roster.
Add three players at the absolute base minimum and they'd only have around $120,000 for the final roster spot. This is without having re-signed starting guard Riquna Williams, backup post Kiah Stokes, or former star Angel McCoughtry, who missed the 2021 season due to another major injury. So essentially, with Wilson no longer on a cheap rookie-scale contract, the Aces are probably going to be forced to become younger/cheaper elsewhere, assuming Wilson and Cambage return. If, for example, Cambage doesn't, then they have a lot more space and many more options available to them.
Part 2, covering the remaining six teams, will be published on Friday.
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.
Thank you so much. This is getting me excited for the next season