All right, now we can get to the real questions for the Indiana Fever and the WNBA in this compressed offseason. That’s because the expansion draft has happened. Go over the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo rosters in just a second. From the Fever point of view, they did lose two players, Chloe Bibby and Kristy Wallace.
Wallace didn’t play at all for them last year. Bibby was picked up in the middle of the year, hurt at the end of the year, had the possibility to be a stretch forward, but no longer. The next question for the Fever then becomes Sophie Cunningham because we were wondering who they would actually protect in the expansion draft.
Because Michaela Timpson wasn’t selected, I’m going to guess she was protected. So they took the risk, and this is me speculating, of leaving Sophie Cunningham unprotected, but you never thought the Tempo or Fire would take her because that would require giving her a super max contract, and they can only get one unrestricted free agent.
So I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same because they have to decide what her future looks like with the Fever or not in free agency. So all of that is things to get to. Let’s start with what I mentioned, the goodbyes. Thank you, Kristy Wallace for the Caitlin Clark comment. If you recall, Wallace started for a bunch of Caitlin Clark’s rookie year, and that was one of the people like get her out of the starting lineup, get her out of the starting lineup.
So hopefully she can continue to grow in her career and play and all that, but obviously didn’t contribute at all last year and had a rough year the year prior. Then there’s Bibby who showed some flashes with the Fever again because she could shoot the rock, and they don’t have that prototypical stretch forward.
So that’s a position they could still fill. I think when you get into free agency, you’re looking at that position and backup point guard specifically, but obviously she was hurt at the end of the year. She didn’t play big minutes even when she was around. Some defensive questions there. So I don’t think you see these and go oh no, that’s a terrible blow for the Fever going forward.
Now they can focus on free agency like I mentioned, Kelsey Mitchell priority number one, likely to be courted, but I could see the argument for just extending her long-term and figuring that out now, but they have the advantage of being able to court her on the super max. Aliyah Boston under contract, but set for a raise. Caitlin Clark’s rookie scale goes up, but still under contract. Timpson the only other player under contract, and I’m guessing she was protected like I said because it would be such a high upside low risk move to take her in the expansion draft because she’s on a rookie deal and because she would be able to develop.
So I’m assuming she was protected by the Fever, but I don’t know that for sure. Then you get to the rest of the roster. Lexie Hull, she’s a restricted free agent. That’s another advantage they have. They have the advantage of Boston and Clark being under contract. They have the advantage of being able to court Kelsey Mitchell, and they have the advantage of Lexie Hull being a restricted free agent, so they can match any offer she receives.
Then you start to work around the margins, what’s left on the salary cap. I think Cunningham fits the team. Her shooting, her toughness, her personality all fit the team. Obviously her star power has gone up being next to Caitlin Clark and playing on Indiana. So all things being close to equal, I’m assuming she’s inclined to come back. She’s made it very clear that that is the case.
But sometimes these things can come down to a monetary situation and basically what it will likely come down to is how much is left for the Fever salary cap, who else they see out on the market that could really help the team, and then how much of a raise they can give Sophie relative to what she could get offered by another team who could make a splash signing her.
But all indications are, I think, that the Fever are looking to run it back for the most part with some small additions. So I would think that the changes would be more cosmetic than complete overhauls, but you never know, and until that is done, I think Sophie’s probably the biggest looming question for the Fever.
As far as the rosters for the Tempo and the Fire go, here you go. Here are the selections from the Tempo who went a little bit more vet heavy. Lexie Held is an interesting pick. I think that could really pan out for them. Marina Mabrey, she is for such a good player, she’s obviously moved around a lot in the WNBA. So that one was from a star power standpoint one that caught my eye.
Sabally obviously had been a part of the Liberty. So you see more of a vet focus for the Tempo than for the Fire who went a little younger. The chance to develop players, I think. Nika Mühl’s out again with an ACL. Carlton I like, Bridget Carleton I like as a pick for Portland. That first pick, late, a good pick too. I like that swing from the Portland Fire.
But we know the Golden State Valkyries got very creative in the signings that they made and their international scouting. You still have the WNBA draft to come. So it’s not as if these rosters are necessarily set and in stone, and generally the expectation for an expansion team isn’t to do what frankly Golden State did a year ago. That was a story because it was more of an outlier, but we shall see.
There is one thing the Fever proved last year, there are players out there available because they kept bringing in players on hardship contracts who were contributing. Meaning they weren’t in the league, and then they’re coming in and contributing. Like Erica McDonald, like Odyssey Sims. Chloe Bibby I don’t think was technically a hardship contract, but the point remains the same, particularly with those first two.
So that’s something that Toronto and Portland I’m sure will focus on. They had a very tough strategy. They had to look at you can only get one unrestricted free agent. So it was Carlton for the Fire, which I think was a wise pick, a wise decision. But if you’re the other teams, you’re probably looking at the players on your rookie deals or who aren’t unrestricted free agents unless you’re really worried about them being taken, you would err on the side of protecting them.
Now again, that’s why I’m speculating on why it might have been a Timpson protected rather than Cunningham. The biggest name overall selected, like I said, probably is Marina Mabrey going to the Tempo fresh off the big name in Philadelphia and having played for the Sky and the Sun and now headed over to that inaugural season in Toronto.
But there are two brand new WNBA teams. And now we head off into free agency where teams are going to have decisions to make. Now I don’t think there will be that much movement amongst the biggest stars. That’s why a Cunningham focus makes sense because those are the players more likely to move, that level of player.
Versus we’ve already seen Breanna Stewart say I’m going back to the Liberty. We’ve already seen Sabrina Ionescu say I’m going back to the Liberty. We’ve already seen A’ja Wilson say I’m going back to the Aces. So despite many free agents, I don’t think the biggest names are going to move.
I think the moves that get made that are going to determine the differences between these teams will be made on the margins.
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