Two years ago, the Dallas Wings selected Charli Collier in first position for the 2021 Draft. A huge prospect when she left the University of Texas, she unfortunately did not make her hole in the pros with an average of 2.9 points and 2.5 rebounds in just nine minutes per game in his 45 appearances. On Wednesday, the franchise decided, and chose to cut the playerjust hours away from the start of the WNBA season.
“Being the 1st pick in the Draft is a privilege and it comes with pressure. But I’m grateful for every lesson and will use any negativity that shows up today as fuel to become a great player.” said Charli Collier. “The work is never done and I am ready to seize my next opportunity”.
Charli Collier’s situation is causing a lot of talk, but it’s only the tree that hides the forest.
A recurrent issue
Entering its 27th season, the WNBA still has only 12 teams and only 12 spots available in each roster. With a maximum of 144 players in the championship, the franchises therefore regularly cut players in order to enter the quota of the 12 places available in the roster, and even the most talented go through, like Charli Collier, choice number 1 of the Draft 2021.
Some teams are even opting for 11 players in order to pay their stars a bit more while still not exceeding the salary cap.
“I hate to see so many great players leave WNBA teams” Breanna Stewart said last season. “We need to develop young talent and take advantage of the momentum that new players bring to the university”.
If an expansion of the league which could solve this problem is topical, the players demand above all an expansion of the rosters, which have only 12 places against 15 in the NBA. As it stands, cut players have nowhere to go, since there is no G-League equivalent for women.
In the WNBA, we regularly see teams parting ways with very high drafted players, sometimes the very year of their arrival in the pros. As proof, of the 36 players drafted in 2021, only 7 are still in the league today! If we look at the 2022 Draft, only half of it remains. As for the 2023 Draft, which took place about 1 month ago, only 15 of the 36 players selected were retained after the training camp.
“The sad thing is that there are talents that need to be developed” added Sue Bird. “They will never have this chance if they never manage to be part of the team”.
It is therefore to be hoped that the league will develop in the years to come, in order to offer more opportunities to young players.
