WNBA expansion draft just happened. Portland and Toronto now have their teams. For a lot of reasons, I don’t like how the expansion draft is handled. It seemed very rushed in the middle of the day on a Friday. On top of that, we don’t get to know who was protected, which I get. Maybe they want to keep it private, but we’re going to try to guess for every team who was protected.
So, this is just who I think, not who actually was protected because we don’t get those lists. Starting with Atlanta, going alphabetically, I think their five is pretty clear. Losing Maya Caldwell hurts, but you’re not going to pick her over one of those five. So, pretty easy start.
Connecticut is where it gets juicy. Marina Mabry ended up getting selected. The expansion teams could only pick one unrestricted free agent, so maybe Connecticut was hoping Marina Mabry would slide by. I would have left her protected. I think most people would have. Yes, I get you have young players you want to prioritize, but Mabry is a good player and you could have traded her and gotten value, but Connecticut decided to take that risk.
It doesn’t look like it paid off because they didn’t leave her protected. I think it’s pretty clear who the five are at that point. Dallas is an interesting one. Wasn’t selected. I would have left her unprotected, and so I’m going to argue that she wasn’t protected. Yes, there’s probably a good likelihood she was, but I think Dallas decided to go young, get players on Paige’s timeline.
I would have protected Geisel Sudter for sure. I would have probably protected Haley Jones as well, but if not, I think those are the five they protected. Golden State, some hard decisions, but I think the five I have listed are the pretty clear five for me. Yes, that leaves some players with potential. Cara late, Maria Kundai. But as a team that has a lot of solid players coming from last year’s expansion draft, I think that was just going to be the reality for them.
Indiana, it was pretty easy. You were going to protect your big three. Lexi Hull, their young big, Michaela Simpson. After that, it was pretty clear who was going to be selected. Sophie Cunningham was an unrestricted free agent. She wasn’t going to get picked, but she would have been really the only other option.
The Aces barely had a decision to make, and I think they made the wrong one again. They lost Kate Martin last year, and this year they lose a for whatever reason. I think they keep protecting Kirstston Bell. I would have protected Ali over her. I would have protected her over Nelissa Smith. For whatever reason, they want to keep their core together and not keep young players. And Ali, one of the better shooters. Who knows if she’ll turn into an actual good player, but the Aces at some point need young players, and they keep letting them get away.
Sparks had one of the better rosters just for this expansion draft. To me, the five are pretty clear. The only question for the expansion teams was, do you take Azra Stevens, really good player, but she’s also an unrestricted free agent. They decided not to. Julie Alaman, Sarah Ashley Barker, two good players in their own right.
Minnesota Lynx, another team that had really tough decisions, and I think they were hoping to get Bridget Carlton through. She was the other unrestricted free agent taken. They aren’t able to get her back. Clon Nova, nice big for them. So, they lose a good amount of depth and they’re probably one of the losers of this draft just based on the two players they lost.
New York, I’m a little surprised Narosabi wasn’t protected. There was a lot of talk right before the draft that both Brianna Stewart and Sabrina said they were coming back to New York. So, you could argue they weren’t protected, but if they’re not, then you would pretty clearly protect Nar Sabi. So, that makes me think they were protected.
And if they were, it’s a hard decision, but it’s probably the right five. Phoenix, pretty straightforward. I think they had a pretty clear five to protect. They did that. Couple role players get selected, but nothing crazy.
Seattle Storm, also a team like Las Vegas that didn’t have a lot to decide on. To me, really, the only decision is what unrestricted free agent do you leave off. I think that was probably Britney Sykes, just due to her age and just joining the team. They were able to get her through. She wasn’t one of the unrestricted free agents taken. Nika Mule, she just tore her ACL again, but she was really the only one worth taking from Seattle.
And then finally, the Washington Mystics. I think their five are pretty clear. I think this is another easy decision. Emily Angler is a nice player. You could have maybe made the argument over JC Sheldon should have been protected, but a pretty clear four after that. And two good players that they lose. Washington is another team that has a deep roster. They lose a couple good players. So, lots of interesting decisions. I do want to dive more into it, but that was just my take on the expansion.
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