2025 WNBA Pre-Season Thread

[cancontent]

 

[WBBTakeover]

With Aari McDonald now available, how safe are Washington's PGs?

 

[jdote33]

Im happy for everyone who makes a team. No small feat. Especially happy for Lexi Held, I always thought she was really good at DePaul. I feel like her and Nika used to battle a bit. I do think Aari Mcdonald, Haley Jones, and Amihere would be like the 4-6 best players on the roster if they signed.

 

[GamecockFam]

These ladies got jokes y'all.

 

[Stagnant]

Lexi Held from DePaul making a wnba roster is definitely a surprise. I guess she has been working and grinding overseas the last couple of years.

 

[JellyBean]

Is anyone as surprised as I am that Lucy Olsen ended up making the Mystics' roster? Here are her preseason stats over 36 minutes in two games: 4 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 of 14 shooting for 14.3%. I like watching Lucy play, but with all the cuts we've seen among rookies and returning players who had far more impressive preseasons, I wasn't expecting her to make the team.

The way this preseason has gone, I am not surprised. The GMs see something in Lucy and in the end, that is all that matters. Wishing Lucy all the best.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I like watching Lucy play, but with all the cuts we've seen among rookies and returning players who had far more impressive preseasons, I wasn't expecting her to make the team.

I often feel like it doesn't matter at all what happens in preseason games, decisions have usually already been made before then.

 

[bballnut90]

Final Tallies from Each University By My Count:
UCONN - 15 players (really 14 since KLS is out for the year but she's still listed)
Notre Dame - 12 players
South Carolina - 9 players
Baylor - 6 players
Maryland - 5 players (9 if you include Lexie Brown, Angel Reese, Natasha Cloud and Shakira Austin who transferred out)
Stanford - 5 players (7 if you count Iriafen and Carrington)

 

[cancontent]

It only just dawned on me that the WNBA will have two Westbelds on the court as rookies this year. What an interesting piece of trivia.

 

[GamecockFam]

Final Tallies from Each University By My Count:
UCONN - 15 players (really 14 since KLS is out for the year but she's still listed)
Notre Dame - 12 players
South Carolina - 9 players
Baylor - 6 players
Maryland - 5 players (9 if you include Lexie Brown, Angel Reese, Natasha Cloud and Shakira Austin who transferred out)
Stanford - 5 players (7 if you count Iriafen and Carrington)

Hey! If you're counting transfers for the other schools, then add Sania Rivers to the South Carolina total.

It is kind of crazy how many players Dawn has sent to the league since we really just started sending them on a regular basis around the time that A'ja graduated (2018-ish). It still feels like our numbers are growing whereas Notre Dame and UConn have a lot of older talent in the league that is closer to retiring. Our oldest players are just hitting 30 (Tiffany Mitchell and Alisha Gray).

 

[TheFarmFan]

Hey! If you're counting transfers for the other schools, then add Sania Rivers to the South Carolina total.

It is kind of crazy how many players Dawn has sent to the league since we really just started sending them on a regular basis around the time that A'ja graduated (2018-ish). It still feels like our numbers are growing whereas Notre Dame and UConn have a lot of older talent in the league that is closer to retiring. Our oldest players are just hitting 30 (Tiffany Mitchell and Alisha Gray).

I think grad transfers are different, especially since in Carrington's case we didn't have a scholarship for her. I don't know why Stanford doesn't like to promote her among our W alums, but I sure as heck do. Same with Iriafen - she spent three times as long in a Cardinal red jersey as a Toejam one, and her only final four appearance was with us.

 

[Dillon77]

Lexi Held from DePaul making a wnba roster is definitely a surprise. I guess she has been working and grinding overseas the last couple of years.

Pretty much an example of what you posted just "above": some prominent names need to get better.
Held...and her forward teammate, Kat Westbeld, are examples of that. It took the elder Westbeld seven - that's right, 7 -- years after her graduation in 2018 to get to the level of being on a W franchise on opening day. That included trips to Puerto Rico, Australia, Spain, France and gosh knows how many other places and leagues.

 

[Bigboote]

Pretty much an example of what you posted just "above": some prominent names need to get better.
Held...and her forward teammate, Kat Westbeld, are examples of that. It took the elder Westbeld seven - that's right, 7 -- years after her graduation in 2018 to get to the level of being on a W franchise on opening day. That included trips to Puerto Rico, Australia, Spain, France and gosh knows how many other places and leagues.

Alexis Prince, too. I hadn’t heard of her in years.

 

[Jonathan14]

Final Tallies from Each University By My Count:
UCONN - 15 players (really 14 since KLS is out for the year but she's still listed)
Notre Dame - 12 players
South Carolina - 9 players
Baylor - 6 players
Maryland - 5 players (9 if you include Lexie Brown, Angel Reese, Natasha Cloud and Shakira Austin who transferred out)
Stanford - 5 players (7 if you count Iriafen and Carrington)

My vote—not that I get one —is that a grad transfer like DiJonai Carrington should count for both Stanford and Baylor since she graduated from Stanford before moving on, whereas someone like Lexie Brown would only count for Duke. Otherwise, with the days of the portal, we'll start having four (or more?) schools taking credit for a single player in the W.

 

[GamecockFam]

I think grad transfers are different, especially since in Carrington's case we didn't have a scholarship for her. I don't know why Stanford doesn't like to promote her among our W alums, but I sure as heck do. Same with Iriafen - she spent three times as long in a Cardinal red jersey as a Toejam one, and her only final four appearance was with us.

I was being very sarcastic with my comment. I don't really care. Sania didn't have a very big impact on the program, so I doubt I'll follow her like other players who transferred out and I have an emotional attachment to (MiLaysia, etc.)

 

[bballnut90]

My vote—not that I get one —is that a grad transfer like DiJonai Carrington should count for both Stanford and Baylor since she graduated from Stanford before moving on, whereas someone like Lexie Brown would only count for Duke. Otherwise, with the days of the portal, we'll start having four (or more?) schools taking credit for a single player in the W.

That’s fair and why I didn’t include them in the first number. Most of the transferred players mentioned developed (and improved) at their initial school so I thought it was worth giving some credit to Brenda/Tara for players they helped get to the pros even if they didn’t finish their college career there.

 

[JDuro]

Hey! If you're counting transfers for the other schools, then add Sania Rivers to the South Carolina total.

It is kind of crazy how many players Dawn has sent to the league since we really just started sending them on a regular basis around the time that A'ja graduated (2018-ish). It still feels like our numbers are growing whereas Notre Dame and UConn have a lot of older talent in the league that is closer to retiring. Our oldest players are just hitting 30 (Tiffany Mitchell and Alisha Gray).

Speaking of Saniyah, what a tough time for her losing her mom about a week before Mother’s Day and yesterday was her mom’s birthday. All this in short time during what should be the best time of her life getting drafted and participating in her first camp and WNBA season.