The latest episode of Noa Dalzell's podcast is worthwhile listen (I generally find her show is), even if you don't ultimately agree with all of it.
I believe Chicago don't have the cap space to match, so I guess that means both Westbeld sisters are going to be on the same team (sorta, since Kathryn's contract is suspended).
This was not a pretty game of basketball and I imagine many (rightly) didn't bother watching - but it was a classic Marine Johannes game of one-legged buzzer-beater 3s and crazy dimes (and throwing away the ball sometimes with a wild and unnecessary move, but let's just forget about those), so here are the only highlights you need to watch from this one.
Look, I know no one wants to relive that 4th quarter, but this was a highlight-worthy heads-up play from JJ and then executed by Marine.
Interesting choice given she is probably going to be headed to the World Cup soon, but I think teams are probably just going to start filling their empty DP spots at the end of the season as a way to secure various players' rights for next season.
Via UnderTheSportlightPod on Youtube
Probably the most background that's been offered publicly on the situation:
>Head coach Chris DeMarco said former Liberty guard Betnijah Laney-Hamilton sought “other opportunities” before the two parties split on Thursday.
>DeMarco, publicly speaking for the first time since the team waived Laney-Hamilton, praised her for how she handled the situation even after expressing her desire near the beginning of the WNBA season.
>“She’s been great. She’s been great,” DeMarco said after Saturday’s practice at Barclays Center. “Even when she wasn’t in the rotation, just her leadership in the huddles, her leadership off the floor and everything, really good. I think for her, even at the start of the season, she had expressed [if] there’s other opportunities that she wanted to look at those.
>“And then it came to the point where, just as a team, like we all understood what this is and what we were trying to accomplish. And for her, it was just trying to find her the right place where she can succeed and feel good, and then hopefully that happens. We have confidence that that will happen.”
>...
>DeMarco said he was in communication with Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb “the whole time” regarding Laney-Hamilton’s situation. Stewart was also aware of her teammate’s wish to pursue a larger role elsewhere, too.
>“She’s just ready to kind of turn the page, and that’s OK,” said Stewart, who credited Laney-Hamilton for being “present” and “supportive” throughout the season.
>DeMarco declined to share what didn’t work out between Laney-Hamilton and the team before pursuing a deal on the trade market. The team reportedly shopped the guard’s $400,000 contract, but failed to get a deal done before last Sunday’s trade deadline.
>“I know it was really difficult trying to find the right trade partners for her, and so in the end, we still wanted to give her that opportunity where she’s able to contribute and have a larger role, and that’s why we got to this point,” the head coach said.
Saw this article on the Liberty sub, but I thought those here who are generally interested in the economics of the W would find it interesting too.
The main detail that surprised me, even as a STH who sees the merch lines at every game:
Ellie-specific merchandise accounts for 21% of in-venue sales, including apparently selling up to 500 bag charm "blind boxes" a game. That is just a lot of toy elephants. (Meanwhile, the Nets still have not had a mascot since the terrifying BrooklyKnight was retired to a farm upstate in 2014).
Seems like some W teams are cashing in on this front and others are really missing out. Or is there a danger some teams go too commercial for fans' tastes?
Nothing unusual, but for those wondering if the multi-year meant there was some sort of sweetener thrown in for next year for whatever reason: no.
This is the schedule put out today, I just made a slightly more compact table and bolded the US games (although almost every team will feature at least one WNBA player, and the French and Australian rosters will be especially WNBA-heavy).
The Mercury have 13 more regular games left this season...
>Former Baylor player Bella Fontleroy plans to transfer in light of the Colorado ruling, she told On3.
>Fontleroy’s decision to return for one more season of collegiate basketball comes after Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court of Colorado granted a class-wide preliminary injunction that requires the NCAA to declare eligible all high school class of 2022 athletes who exhausted four seasons of eligibility this spring.
>Fontleroy went undrafted in the 2026 WNBA Draft and signed a Training Camp contract with the Atlanta Dream, but did not appear in any games. She recently inked a deal to join the Roseto Panthers overseas.
>Representative Byron Bundy noted that he’s optimistic about her return to college basketball, but is awaiting final decision.
Could be interesting if this holds and some of the players who dipped their toes in the W this season end up back in college rather than going for pro experience overseas - potentially more money now, but probably less development opportunity to sell scouts on a second chance in the W.
Skim Milkey on Twitter noted a few others of the hundreds who'd in theory be eligible, including Kyla Oldacre (waived at Wings and Sun camps) and Charlise Dunn (Tempo draft and stash).
The bizarre back-story: In 1998 and 1999, ESPN had a fictional funk band called the WNB-Ays for their promos, which played songs about the W. They released an album (a flexi-disc!) with ESPN The Magazine and played live at the 1998 finals.
There were songs for many of the teams: Charlotte Sting, Orlando Miracle, Sacramento Monarchs, Utah Starzz ("Spelling bee! Spelling bee! S-T-A-R-double Z! Shooting 3! Shooting 3! Best team in the galaxy!"), LA Sparks and Mystics.
Also a song about Rebecca Lobo, Cynthia Cooper and T-Spoon that really should've been replayed at this year's All Star. And there was a song about All Star too.
But the best ear-worm (IMO) is "Overtime," which should be sung every time New York and Phoenix play.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Honestly, about time, she's too good a player to keep getting overlooked.
>With Sunday’s WNBA trade deadline drawing near, talks on a potential Liberty trade involving Sun forward Aneesah Morrow have cooled off, multiple sources told The Post.
>The Liberty checked in on Morrow among other players several times in previous weeks. But New York is backing away from the table on Morrow.
>The Toronto Tempo are among the favorites to potentially land Morrow before the deadline, sources said.
Partly an opinion column on why the Sparks should trade KP, but it includes comments from a team official that don't exactly mince words:
>“We pushed in a lot of chips this year, and we had good reason to do that, but the reality is it hasn’t gone as we’d hoped or expected,” said Farhan Zaidi, special advisor to Sparks’ owner Mark Walter. “Now we have to be open for anything. Everything has to be on the table for us. We have to take a long-term perspective rather than focusing on the rest of the season.”
>In other words, the trade light is lit!
>Zaidi wouldn’t comment on specific players or club personnel, only to note that the Sparks cannot grow as constituted.
>“We have to be realistic where we are,” he said. “We don’t want to be that team stuck in the middle.”
>In other words, keeping Plum might give them a few more wins, but to what end? They contend for the final playoff berth only to fall short? And if they make it, how long would they last against a powerhouse like Minnesota? For a big-market, win-now team like the Sparks, mediocrity is a death knell.
>Zaidi trusts that Sparks fans will understand, and I agree.
>...
>“We have very smart fans, I don’t want to patronize them as to where we are,” he said. ”Our dedicated fans will understand if we have to take a step back to get to that championship level. I can step back if I feel like we’re building something.”
>Zaidi noted, “I think it can happen quickly.”
>“I don’t know if we’re one piece away,” Stewart said. “I also feel like we have what we need to get it done. I just think that we need to just really focus on the now with it instead of thinking about, ‘Oh, when this person comes back or this person comes back.’ It’s like, no, actually you just do it. We all just step up and we make it happen and I feel like the first half of the season there was a little bit of hesitancy from everybody to … fully commit and keep going even though we know we’re down some people. Like, I don’t want to have excuses for that … I don’t know if we’re one piece away because I’m confident in what we have as well.”
>Coach Chris DeMarco shared Stewart’s confidence in the Liberty’s current roster.
>“We’re excited to get going out of All-Star break, great energy right now,” he said. “And it’s an important West Coast trip for us.”
>Kolb declined The Post’s interview request through a spokesperson.