***WNBA Offseason Thread***

[TJ8869]

I thought about posting this in the CC Show thread but decided it might be best to have a separate thread since a lot of this will be non-CC related.

- As I mentioned in that thread, the 2025 schedule was released recently. Opening night is Friday, May 16. Indiana opens their season on May 17 at home against Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky.

- A bit of drama today in Seattle as Storm guard Jewell Loyd has requested a trade. Last month she filed a complaint against the team, alleging bullying and mistreatment of the players by members of the coaching staff. The Storm hired an outside legal firm to investigate and today they announced that they found no wrongdoing. So that obviously creates an untenable situation for Loyd going forward and she now wants out.

- The expansion draft is this Friday night on ESPN. Each team can protect 6 players. The league has stated that they will not formally release the list of available players. They will only announce the players who are drafted by the new Golden State Valkyries franchise.

- Earlier this week NaLyssa Smith posted a cryptic message on her Instagram that read “life is all about knowin yo worth, don't stay nowhere u not wanted n appreciated". This has naturally led to speculation that her days in Indianapolis are numbered. It could mean that the Fever have left her unprotected in the expansion draft. If that’s the case then frankly it’s probably best for everyone involved. Her relationship with Fever fans got pretty toxic toward the end of the season due to her relationship with Connecticut guard DiJonai Carrington. A fresh start in San Francisco would probably be good for her as well as Indiana’s team chemistry.

 

[Moral]

life is all about knowin yo worth, don't stay nowhere u not wanted n appreciated

That doesn't sound good.

 

[Pinehawk]

Smith just isn’t fast enough to play at the pace the Fever need to be successful. She’s got to go. The draft is her best opportunity.

 

[TJ8869]

Smith just isn’t fast enough to play at the pace the Fever need to be successful. She’s got to go. The draft is her best opportunity.

Agreed. If they did leave her unprotected then she’s gone whether Golden State chooses her or not. At that point you pretty much have to trade her. You can’t expose one of your starters like that and then just pretend like nothing happened if she doesn’t get picked.

Her skill set doesn’t match the way Indiana needs/wants to play. But I think even more significant is that there’s just too much poison in the well with Fever fans supposedly making death threats against her girlfriend after she poked Clark in the eye in the playoffs.

 

[TJ8869]

The Valkyries have selected Temi Fagbenle. Imo it was a mistake for Indiana to let her get away. ESPN had been projecting that Indiana would trade their first round pick in 2026 for Golden State’s second round pick in 2026 and a guarantee they would choose Katie Lou Samuelson. But obviously that didn’t materialize.

The Valkyries also selected Kate Martin.

 

[Pinehawk]

Yeah, that was weird. Nobody seemed to see it coming. Fagbenle could actually run the floor, and the team was better when she returned from injury.
What do you do with Smith now? Can you trade her? Cut her for free agent money and space? I have no idea, but she can’t stay now after she’d already packed her bags.
I guess the Fever are confident they will get an instant contributor from the draft. And, maybe a big free agent, and a couple small role players after that are enough this offseason. We will see.

 

[TJ8869]

Yeah, that was weird. Nobody seemed to see it coming. Fagbenle could actually run the floor, and the team was better when she returned from injury.
What do you do with Smith now? Can you trade her? Cut her for free agent money and space? I have no idea, but she can’t stay now after she’d already packed her bags.
I guess the Fever are confident they will get an instant contributor from the draft. And, maybe a big free agent, and a couple small role players after that are enough this offseason. We will see.

I think they have to trade Smith at this point. Get whatever you can for her. She reminds me of the old Buddy Ryan quote - “Trade him for a six-pack. It doesn’t have to be cold.”