WNBA roster cuts are the latest sign that expansion is desperately needed

Abby Meyers, DiDi Richards and Destanni Henderson are some of the latest causalities.

In the NFL or NBA, a first- or second-round draft pick not making a team’s roster is huge news.

But in the WNBA, it’s just another day.

With just 12 teams and 12 spots on each of those squads, roster slots are coveted and sacred. And extremely talented players get squeezed out all of the time. There just isn’t enough room.

Tuesday was the latest example (and no, we’re not talking about the findings from the investigation into the Las Vegas Aces).

Two of the most high-profile players waived were Brea Beal and Destanni Henderson, who helped South Carolina win a national championship last year. Henderson was entering her second season in the league after averaging 5.3 points and 2.5 assists per game as a rookie with the Indiana Fever. And Beal – who was widely considered to be one of the college game’s top defenders during her time as a Gamecock – was beginning her first season with the Minnesota Lynx after they drafted her 24th overall.

Another roster casualty on Tuesday was DiDi Richards, a New York Liberty fan favorite who made the WNBA’s All-Rookie team in 2021. And the Los Angeles Sparks waived Iowa’s Monika Czinano, the 26th overall pick in this year’s draft after a national title game appearance.

And on Monday, the Dallas Wings waived Abby Meyers – the Maryland guard who was drafted 11th overall just weeks ago. For comparison’s sake, this would be like if the New Orleans Saints cut Chris Olave in training camp last summer.

The audience and appetite is there for WNBA expansion. Just this past Sunday, the league held a preseason game in Toronto where more than 19,000 fans showed up, making it the sixth-highest attended game in WNBA history.

If Toronto got a team tomorrow, it could round-up these recently-released players and have a pretty decent squad. A starting five of Abby Meyers, DiDi Richards, Destanni Henderson, Brea Beal and Monika Czinano would have won a whole lot of games in college. Throw in other recently waived veterans, like Stephanie Jones, Alexis Peterson, Reshanda Gray, Crystal Bradford and Nia Clouden, and this make-believe team might be pretty competitive.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert recently said that the league is looking at 10 potential ownership groups for expansion teams. It’s long overdue, as the WNBA hasn’t added a team since 2008, when the Atlanta Dream entered.

By stalling expansion any further, the WNBA is not only alienating collegiate fanbases that want to root for their players in the league – South Carolina fans were especially aggrieved Tuesday when Beal and Henderson were cut – but it is also hindering the development of young talent. Once these players get released, there isn’t a practice squad for them to go to, like in the NFL, and there isn’t anything akin to the G-League, like in the NBA. These players have to simply wait for their next phone call, or play overseas.

And with rookies getting unceremoniously released like this, college players with eligibility left might think twice about leaving school early to come to the WNBA.

In the meantime, instead of adding more teams to the league, there is one easy fix: Expand the rosters.

“I don’t understand why they don’t have it already,” ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo told For The Win at the Final Four last month. “I feel like they can even expand two spots per roster, as like practice players, and so, maybe at a relatively minimal cost. … Being on a roster is huge for a player just out of school.”

Lobo is not in the minority. The WNBA needs expansion, of both its teams and roster spots. It’s hard to grow the game when the league is standing in its own way.

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