WNBA rosters finalized with a flurry of roster cuts the day before the season opener

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Today was a busy day for the WNBA player movement as rosters needed to be finalized by 5 pm E.T. This meant many difficult last-minute roster cuts in advance of the first game of the league’s 25th season tomorrow.

The Atlanta Dream waived Shatori Walker-Kimbrough and Mikayla Cowling. Walker-Kimbrough was drafted by the Washington Mystics in 2017 and played there for three seasons before a trade-in to Phoenix before the 2020 season. She was signed by the Dream in Feb. 2021. Drafted 33th overall by the Connecticut Sun in 2018, Cowling has never made a WNBA roster. She was signed to a training camp contract with Atlanta in April.

The Chicago Sky waived 2021 second-round draft pick Natasha Mack and the 9th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Lexie Brown. Brown played her rookie season with the Connecticut Sun and played the 2019 and 2020 seasons with the Minnesota Lynx. The Chicago Sky signed her to a training camp contract on April 19th. Brown tweeted this afternoon about league expansion.

Reigning WNBA champions Seattle waived Kitija Laksa, Haley Gorecki, and N’dea Jones. Laksa was drafted 11th overall by the Storm in 2020 and did not play last season for personal reasons. Gorecki, a Duke graduate, was also drafted in 2020 and was waived from both the 2020 and 2021 rosters. Jones was drafted 23rd overall by the Storm in this year’s draft.

The Los Angeles Sparks waived Kristine Anigwe and traded Sydney Wiese to the Washington Mystics in exchange for a 2022 second-round draft pick. Anigwe was drafted 9th overall by the Connecticut Sun in 2019 and has played 44 games in her WNBA career. Wiese spent her first four years with Sparks and has career averages of 3.9 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game in 90 career games.

The Sparks also announced today that Seimone Augustus will be retiring and joining the team as an assistant coach. Augustus was drafted No. 1 overall out of LSU in 2006 to the Minnesota Lynx where she spent 14 seasons, winning championships in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. The eight-time WNBA all-star spent her final season playing with the Sparks during the 2020 season.