What is the WNBA's season midpoint, why does it matter, and what might happen before we hit it?
The 2025 WNBA regular season is very nearly half-done, and that changes some things. We explain why it might mean we see some moves this weekend, and look at who could be vulnerable.
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We're about to reach one of the landmark points of the WNBA season (and not just because 50 different journos are going to make some easy content with their midseason awards). The midpoint of the regular season is almost upon us, and in this league that has some meaningful ramifications.
First off, the basics. The midpoint is the literal middle of the regular season. This year we're playing a 119-day regular season so the midpoint is day 60, which is this upcoming Monday, July 14. It doesn't matter how many games a team or player has played, the official midpoint is the same for everybody. The important thing that triggers at the midpoint is that all unprotected (i.e. non-guaranteed) contracts become protected (i.e. guaranteed) for the remainder of the season. So any of the players you see on our cap sheets in grey with a 'U' next to them can be waived right now and the team would owe them nothing going forward (bar an occasional niche situation if the player is injured). As of Monday, if those players are still on the roster and the team waives them, they're owed that contract in full (and the entire thing hits the salary cap). On a separate note, the midpoint of the season is also where 7-day contracts become legal.
In order to avoid guaranteeing those currently unprotected contracts, the team would have to waive the player by 5 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 13. The league reduces the waiver period to 24 hours around the midpoint to minimise some of the issues teams ran into with these moves in previous years, when the full 48-hour period forced players to unnecessarily miss a game. That's where this gets interesting. Obviously, most of the players on rosters by this stage of the season are players teams want to hold on to. But most teams have a fringe player or two where they might not be so sure. If they make cuts before the midpoint it potentially frees up both roster spots and cap space to do something useful, whether it's making a specific new signing, opening up additional trade options ahead of the trade deadline on August 7, or just sifting through free agent options via 7-day contracts. Often, teams make a cut before the midpoint purely for flexibility, in case a roster issue might crop up that forces a particular move later on. In those cases it's frequently the same player that's just been waived who is immediately re-signed via a 7-day contract. You do have to take the risk that the player might be claimed off waivers by another team, but that’s generally unlikely.
So let's take a quick look through the teams and see who might make a move before Sunday afternoon.
In Atlanta, the option would probably be Taylor Thierry, who hasn't played much in her rookie season. She'd likely clear waivers, and they could bring her back on 7-day deals for now if they wanted to. However, the Dream already have an open 12th roster spot and nearly $24,000 in cap space. They may feel that's enough already without messing around with Thierry.
Chicago have been clinging to Maddy Westbeld all season despite barely playing her and desperately needing a point guard, so it would seem unlikely that they'd bother to pull the trigger now. But Westbeld still seems like the one if they were to cut an unprotected deal, unless they want to finally admit that $145k for Kia Nurse was a bad idea. They could finally cut bait on a protected deal, most glaringly Moriah Jefferson, but there's no particular reason to do that before or after the midpoint (unless she agrees to a buyout, she gets all the money either way). They've had enough room to waive Jefferson and sign someone new in the open roster spot for about a month, and haven't done it. (they could also cut Courtney Vandersloot just for the roster spot — they'd have to pay her out in full anyway — but probably wouldn't want the optics of that)
When you're as bad as Connecticut have been this season, you really should be using the end of the roster to sift through free agents hoping to discover a diamond in the rough. Rookie post Rayah Marshall's been their least-used player on the roster this year, but someone like Haley Peters might be more likely to go purely because she's nearly 33 and likely won't be part of the next decent Sun roster. They don't really need to rush, because even cutting someone after the midpoint they'd still have nearly $230,000 in cap space, but you might as well do it beforehand if you're already considering it. Having recently benched Tina Charles for a game they could also cut her, but she's on a protected deal so the midpoint is irrelevant in her case.
Dallas already waived Liatu King this week, then filled the open spot with Haley Jones. Having made that move, there aren't any other obvious cuts unless they waive Jones. They could waive Tyasha Harris purely for the roster spot (they'd have to pay her out until the end of the season anyway due to her injury, so it wouldn't save them any money or cap space). But they could do that at any stage for the same cost.
Golden State don't look likely to waive anybody. They already had the opportunity to reshape their roster when several players left for EuroBasket Women, so most of the decisions have already been made. The question now is whether they cash in on anyone with trades. They also have so much cap space that waiving someone after the midpoint rather than before wouldn't be a big deal.
I'd also be surprised if Indiana cut anyone. The option to give up on veteran Brianna Turner or rookie Makayla Timpson has been there all season and they've resisted it. Now, after the DeWanna Bonner departure, they already have an open roster spot and nearly $112,000 in cap space without waiving anyone. So they probably won't feel the need.
Doesn't seem like Las Vegas are particularly likely to do anything, either. Despite certain sections of the fanbase baying for it, Kiah Stokes remains a valued option for both Becky Hammon and A'ja Wilson, and after that you're running out of unprotected deals. Aaliyah Nye obviously isn't getting waived, and Megan Gustafson has only just returned from injury. The option to sign someone as the designated pregnancy/childbirth replacement for Cheyenne Parker-Tyus has been there since Joyner Holmes was waived last week, so that's where an additional player would likely come from — unless Parker-Tyus herself is anywhere near a return.
Los Angeles could definitely make a move, and there are three or four different players where it wouldn't be a big surprise. Rookie post Sania Feagin has been their least-used player all year so would seem the most obvious cut for that reason, but veteran backup bigs Mercedes Russell and Emma Cannon could also be considered unnecessary on a team that's 6-14 (and they might even appreciate the chance to catch on with a team closer to contending). The Sparks presumably want Julie Vanloo after recently picking her up off waivers, but on a rebuilding team they might decide there are better options for that roster spot than a 32-year-old backup guard.
If Minnesota were to make a move, Alissa Pili looks like she might be the clearest candidate to be waived. Rookie Anastasiia Olairi Kosu has barely played outside garbage time all season, but she's only just turned 20 and the Lynx clearly seem to think there's value in holding on to her for the future. They've had longer to look at Pili, she's fallen behind Maria Kluindikova in the post rotation, and Cheryl Reeve simply doesn't seem to trust her on the floor. They might feel the extra flexibility for the remainder of the season is worth more than keeping her around.
Marquesha Davis is the least-used player in New York, but the Liberty still seem to have hope that she'll turn into something in future. They also have nearly $120,000 to spend even if they have to waive someone after the deadline. So unless they've heard good news from the Emma Meesseman camp and already know that they're going to need a roster spot, I doubt the Liberty make a move before the midpoint.
Phoenix already made moves this week, waiving Murjanatu Musa in order to sign DeWanna Bonner, then waiving Kiana Williams despite her having produced some useful minutes for the Mercury since being signed. This may well have just been a slightly early example of the cuts we've been talking about throughout this article. Phoenix don't play again until Monday, so for cap-saving reasons it made sense to make the move on Thursday. Williams could well be back on the Mercury roster by Monday night on a 7-day deal. But as another potential Meesseman destination you can't help wondering what else that roster spot could be waiting for.
Seattle added Tiffany Mitchell this week on the very first day that they had enough cap space to add a pro-rated veteran minimum salary in their 12th roster spot (and Mitchell's deal will guarantee for the remainder of the season on Monday just like everybody else's). That implies that there may well not be anything else coming from the Storm ahead of the midpoint, because if they were going to waive someone like Mackenzie Holmes they could've done it a while ago in order to sign Mitchell sooner. So I guess Holmes is staying.
And finally, Washington could waive someone like Sika Koné ahead of the midpoint, but it doesn't seem particularly necessary. They have nearly $400,000 in cap space anyway, so if a trade presents itself in future weeks that needs roster spots, or there's someone available they desperately want to sign, they can make cuts after the midpoint anyway.
So there we have it. Lots of teams are in a position where they could do something by Sunday afternoon, but not many look like they definitively will. We'll have to wait and see. As a side-note, all new hardship signings after the midpoint will now be 7-day contracts, except when a player reaches the limit of three 7-day deals with one team, at which point they're allowed to sign them to a Rest-of-Season hardship instead. Teams also don’t have to worry about the 10-day waiting period for re-signing players around the midpoint (there’s a special exception). The rules don't get any simpler in the second half of the year. But at least now it's downhill all the way until the playoffs.
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Totally missed the pending July 15 arrival of Iliana Rupert to the Valkyries. They are going to
waive someone but they have so much cap space and a resource rich ownership group, that the midpoint is meaningless for them.