A harsh reality of WNBA training camp is that most draftees and undrafted signees will not make their teams’ opening-day rosters. Although WNBA rosters have a limit of 12 players, most teams keep their rosters to 11 players to have more cap space flexibility. With 18 players usually signed at the beginning of training camp, teams usually cut about 7 players over the two-week training camp period.
Often, that means anywhere from 8-10 players are competing for 1-2 roster spots at the end of the day. When cuts start being made to training camp teams, they happen fast. Coaches are eager to get their rosters set to start planning for the season, and unfortunately, that means cuts have already started despite it only being day three of camps.
It started as early as Thursday, when the Las Vegas Aces waived Elena Tsineke. The Greek player was drafted by the Washington Mystics in 2023 and has yet to find a permanent spot on a WNBA roster.
On Saturday, the day before training camps officially started, the Connecticut Sun waived Morgan Maly after signing her to a rookie-scale contract the week before. By Monday, the Sun had made two more cuts, waiving Mya Hollingshed and Abbey Hsu from their roster.
Players cut from WNBA rosters so far (Updated Tuesday, April 29)
- Mya Hollingshed (Connecticut Sun)
- Abbey Hsu (Connecticut Sun)
- Elena Tsineke (Las Vegas Aces)
These cuts usually come in a few waves, with the earliest being this first week of camp. Players that the team knows for sure won’t make the roster are cut before they start traveling for preseason games.
Opening day rosters are usually due the day before the season begins, so often the last wave of cuts happens during the final days of the preseason. It gets more emotional as training camp goes on, and players can feel how close they are to making the team.
Expansion has eased this burden a little bit, with 12 new roster spots technically opened up with the addition of the Golden State Valkyries. Next season, 24 additional roster spots will be available as Toronto and Portland enter the league officially.
With this wave of expansion coming, it feels like we are entering a new era of the WNBA, where teams will actually have time and space to develop young talent. It’s a little risky right now, knowing the player you spend developing this season may get picked up in the expansion draft. Yet, overall, it just means more women will get a shot to play in the league.
Preseason games in the WNBA kick off on Friday, and for the first time, all of them will be available to watch at home. This also means that more roster cuts are surely on the way as week one of training camp continues. We will update the list above as cuts continue.