February 2, 2024
Locked On Women’s Basketball: Why has WNBA free agency felt different in 2024?
By The Next
Rachel Galligan of Winsidr breaks down the moves that have happened and what's still coming
To say it’s been a whirlwind start to WNBA free agency would be quite the understatement.
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On Friday’s episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, our host Jackie Powell is joined by Rachel Galligan, the esteemed college basketball analyst and newsbreaker for Winsidr and Altitude Sports. Powell and Galligan take fans through the wild start to WNBA free agency and the volume of news that has dropped just since the start of February — and why that’s different that usual.
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Galligan also broke down some teams, saying she felt the Minnesota Lynx and Atlanta Dream both made smart and standout moves — the Lynx traded for Natisha Hiedeman and added Alanna Smith and Courtney Williams in free agency, while the Dream pulled off a “shocker” in bringing in Tina Charles — while the Chicago Sky were “striking out left and right” and that the Los Angeles Sparks are embracing a new era. The biggest takeaway, it seems, was how much the point guard market seemed to dictate the entire league.
“Point guards were at a premium — not everybody could get a point guard [like] Natasha Cloud, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Jordin Canada,” Galligan said. “If you’ve put all your sole focus on Option A, and you don’t have that Option B, C, D to fall back on, you’re really striking out and you’re left with nothing. I think Minnesota, I’m sure, went for a lot of those names, as they should, but they did a really good job of not striking out with those secondary or third options, I’m assuming.”
Both Powell and Galligan thought that the Indiana Fever did well in free agency, adding Katie Lou Samuelson to a core that already has Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston and is expected to add Caitlin Clark in the WNBA Draft.
But there are still big moves left to be made, including where DeWanna Bonner, Nneka Ogwumike and Elena Delle Donne end up going. Powell and Galligan discussed those moves, too.
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