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Kevin Pelton
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ESPN Senior Writer- Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus series
- Formerly a consultant with the Indiana Pacers
- Developed WARP rating and SCHOENE system
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Mechelle Voepel
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ESPN.com- Mechelle Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball, and other college sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
Which teams have the most ability to make moves when WNBA free agency opens later this week?
Last week, we projected the top 20 free agents available. Now, it’s time to consider the team side of things. Which teams have the most cap space to make big additions, like the Chicago Sky signing Candace Parker last year or the Phoenix Mercury making a sign-and-trade deal for Skylar Diggins-Smith in 2020?
We go team by team through the league, taking a look at available cap space (based on the cap sheets at HerHoopStats.com), as well as key players hitting free agency. We’ll also take a look at which teams still have decisions to make on whether to use the core designation by Friday, which would take a player out of unrestricted free agency but guarantee them a one-year deal for the WNBA’s supermax salary of $228,094.
Friday is also the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers to possible restricted free agents, allowing them to match any offer sheet from another team, as well as reserved players who can negotiate only with their current team.
With that in mind, let’s break down how teams enter free agency.
Cap space: $836,241
Key free agents: Courtney Williams, Tiffany Hayes, Odyssey Sims, Elizabeth Williams, Monique Billings (restricted)
The Dream are in reboot mode, with a new team president, general manager and coach hired this past September-October after new ownership came in February. Atlanta already has said it won’t bring back Courtney Williams after her YouTube video last fall making light of an altercation in May that she and teammate Crystal Bradford had been involved in….
Source : espn
