The day has finally arrived. WNBA free agents can officially sign with teams starting today. Winsidr will be bringing you all the breaking news over on twitter, on the free agency tracker, and all over the website. Here is where I will be breaking down my instant (or as close to instant as possible) reactions of each and every move. We expect a wild day of news today, so come with me and freak out about this stuff together!
The Biggest deals
Angel McCoughtry signs with the Las Vegas Aces
Angel McCoughtry is going to Las Vegas! McCoughtry will be signing for two years at the max ($185,000 in 2020, $190,500 in 2021) and her salary is fully protected, according to sources.
The decision came down to Los Angeles or Las Vegas as Winsidr’s Rachel Galligan reported earlier today. Sources told Winsidr that the Sparks did not feel strongly enough about bringing McCoughtry on to fully protect her salary. The Aces apparently did. Angel is coming off an ACL injury and missed all of last year, so the teams had to make a tough decision on the protection.
Angel keeps getting better and better on Team USA and Dynamo Kursk. She still needs time to get back to her old form, but she is showing signs of progress. We haven’t seen a ton of Angel in the past three years so I’d caution everyone to reserve judgement until we see her on the court.
But I am a bit concerned about the fit on the court. Bill Laimbeer loves his bigs and his points in the paint. Angel can certainly bring more points in the paint as one of the best slashers in WNBA history. However, spacing was already tight with Liz Cambage, A’ja Wilson, and Dearica Hamby banging heads in the post. Angel will find it hard to work down there.
It also worries me that Angel could take time away from Hamby or that Laimbeer will run them together with diminishing returns for both. But Bill figured it out last season when many brought up similar concerns. The Aces may not be done wheeling and dealing either. Also, this move likely cements Kelsey Plum as the starting point guard over Jackie Young because of Plum’s shooting which is a positive to me. But really these are all minor concerns when the headline is “we got one of the league’s best players ever.”
Gabe Ibrahim 