the article doesn’t seem to say that she’s actually down to those two teams, but let’s just assume she is.
for the Sky, they have multiple vet salaries already – i wonder if anyone’s tradable? (namely Harrison) – so signing Diggins-Smith would pretty much be the only splash they could make in free agency. also, it’s unknown what that would spell for Dana Evans, who i think should be given a chance to start at this point. regardless, Diggins-Smith probably would prefer staying close to home.
still, it would be easier for Atlanta to sign her and then build their roster off of that signing due to how much cap flexibility they have. i can see that being appealing to Diggins-Smith. too, the Dream’s need for a PG is much more obvious than Chicago’s.
i don’t think there’s a wrong decision for any of the aforementioned entities, even if Diggins-Smith is only willing to sign a supermax deal.
the only other situation i could maybe see a core designation is in LA with Jordin Canada. however, that would only be as a result of the Ogwumike's aka non-core-able Nneka telling LA they/she ain't coming back, seeing as most of LA's players from 2023 are unrestricted free agents now. the front office may just hope they can retain someone with value in that scenario.
the part in bold has officially come true. the Sparks have cored Canada. let’s see if the rest of this take ends up being correct…
Curious where Canada wants to go? Back to Seattle w/Loyd?
not if we had to trade for her. imagine if we gave up our lottery pick just to re-acquire a player we drafted and tried to develop but ultimately gave up on.
if we trade for her, no matter what we’d end up giving up, we’d be more idiotic than i ever could’ve imagined. it’d arguably be worse than not coring Stewie.
so my question then becomes, what exactly does it cost teams to give an eligible free agent a Restricted QO in order to make them Restricted in the first place? what incentive is there not to do so?
so my question then becomes, what exactly does it cost teams to give an eligible free agent a Restricted QO in order to make them Restricted in the first place? what incentive is there not to do so?
essentially it gives them a training camp contract. George may not want to play this year due to the Olympics. Turner is old and Hebard & Willoughby haven't done much in their four years.
the only one that surprises me out of that group is Chicago giving up on Hebard. she was a minimal contributor but did so efficiently, and by all accounts was well-liked. Hebard certainly will have offers to go to other teams, which hopefully include the Storm. (i’m sure Ionescu is on the phone with Kolb as we speak, convincing him to go after her college bestie.)
the other three make sense to let go of. but that would mean, by my count, that we only have three RFAs in the whole league this year – AD Durr, Satou Sabally, and Joyner Holmes. more cored players than RFAs, which definitely seems unusual.
Last Edit: Jan 21, 2024 14:34:03 GMT -5 by Deleted
the other three make sense to let go of. but that would mean, by my count, that we only have three RFAs in the whole league this year – AD Durr, Satou Sabally, and Joyner Holmes. more cored players than RFAs, which definitely seems unusual.
There would have been more RFAs if the 2019 & 2020 drafts were stronger. Shows how bad those two drafts were. But wait until next year. Anyone keeping any 2021 picks in 2025? Kuier, McDonald, Onyenwere and Evans may be it.
while the 2020 Draft overall hasn’t panned out, the 2019 Draft has been a fabulous draft. but yes, there’ll probably as many if not fewer RFAs next winter when the remains of 2021’s pathetic draft class get to shed their rookie contracts.
Last Edit: Jan 21, 2024 14:40:25 GMT -5 by Deleted
most 2019 draftees would've been due to be RFAs last year. AD only is this year because they had to take seasons off due to long covid. McCowan, Cunningham, Gustafson, Hiedeman, Mabrey, and Carleton were RFAs last season. Young, Ogunbowale, Collier, Turner, and Shepard all chose to sign extensions before they could become RFAs – otherwise it's likely they too would've been RFAs.
as for 2020's class, Ionescu and Harris are the only ones who i believe signed extensions. Sabally's the only RFA from that class. everyone else from that class in the league either got cut and picked back up later (such as Dangerfield), didn't receive the Restricted QO (such as Hebard and Willoughby), didn't have enough service time to be Restricted (such as Sutton who is Reserved), or has been out of the league aka a UFA since before the end of last season (such as... a lot of them).
Their might be only 5 players from the 2020 draft on a roster in 2024. Ionescu, Sabally, Dangerfield, Sug Sutton and Ty Harris. Though someone probably gets Hebard to ride their bench. Might be seven if someone wants to put up with Chennedy Carter.
Last Edit: Jan 21, 2024 16:47:44 GMT -5 by toad455
i forgot about Joyner Holmes 😅 whoops. i hope Hebard considers us, being the lone PNW franchise closest to both Eugene, OR and Fairbanks, AK. especially if we don’t draft a PF or a C in the lottery.
Hebard would be cheaper than keeping Dolson. As long as JJ comes back, that'll be a solid post rotation w/Sabally and then Thornton as the emergency fifth post.