The WNBA’s trade deadline is officially a week-and-a-half away with teams having until August 7 at 3:00 p.m. ET to get all trades done before the WNBA’s regular season reaches 70% complete. As Cole Huff explained last week, it is reasonable to believe that the Dallas Wings and the Washington Mystics will be sellers in the next ten days. The Dallas Wings remain the second worst team in the league while the Washington Mystics have reportedly been entertaining calls to trade sophomore forward Aaliyah Edwards.
But who might be the buyers? The New York Liberty got their work done early earning a commitment from free agent Belgian superstar and 2019 WNBA Finals MVP Emma Meesseman. She is set to arrive in August. But how will the Lynx match especially since they lost Karlie Samuelson for the season on July 4?
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What about the Seattle Storm, a team who continues to lose to teams without as much talent? As of now the Storm are fifth in the WNBA standings, but have the ninth ranked offense in the league. That has to improve if Seattle wants to go on a deep playoff run.
Before moving to the week ahead, the injury endemic in the WNBA must be discussed. In the past week Golden State’s Kayla Thornton got season-ending knee surgery following an injury she sustained in practice, Angel Reese missed two games this past week nursing a bad back, and Breanna Stewart left the Liberty’s game on Saturday against the Sparks with presumably a right calf strain.
Add that to the fact that Caitlin Clark has remained out after injuring her right groin right before the All-Star break. And MVP Napheesa Collier has been playing through something in her shoulder. She began wearing a wrap on her shoulder on July 25 to mitigate some discomfort.
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What’s the cause of this and why does it feel like so many notable players are injured and banged up all at once?
There has been a ton of heat this season for questionable and inconsistent officiating from WNBA referees, and while some of this is warranted especially when the league has more eyes on it than it ever has, there’s another part of this story. Poor officiating…
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