WNBA free agency is hot right now! Here we go!
Candace Parker is reportedly going to play for the Chicago Sky next season.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP
So, really, the WNBA free agency period doesn’t start until February 1. But there are agreements being made already. And, also, don’t the tampering rules also apply here? Nevertheless, we start with a stunner.
CANDACE PARKER reportedly agrees to sign with the CHICAGO SKY.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne came out with this.
Ya know, Parker has been an institution in Los Angeles hoops for more than a decade. Parker was drafted overall by the L.A. Sparks in 2008 and achieved a feat no one else has done yet: win Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards in the same season. She would win MVP once again in 2013. Parker would win that elusive WNBA championship in 2016 after edging out the mighty Minnesota Lynx in a five-game Finals classic. The Sparks would stay in contention but wouldn’t reach the Finals again after 2017. Parker won Defensive Player of the Year honors last summer in the Wubble.
And now she gets to join a team that has passing wizard Courtney Vandersloot, sharpshooter Allie Quigley, rising star Diamond DeShields, the excellent Kahleah Copper, and the ever-improving Azurá Stevens. Suddenly, the Sky look like favorites to win it all.
This is not the only surprising report.
KAYLA McBRIDE reportedly goes to the MINNESOTA LYNX.
I haven’t told my niece yet; Kayla McBride is her favorite player. And she seemed all about the Las Vegas Aces. I’m not so sure now. (H/T to Camille Buxeda of WSLAM.)
Anyway, McBride gives the Lynx a consistent knockdown shooter and one that can score at any spot on the floor. They’re already a potent offensive team but to add McBride to that roster? It could look terrifying. Crystal Dangerfield has become their undisputed point guard. Napheesa Collier and a healthy Sylvia Fowles can take control of the paint. Damiris Dantas is a versatile scorer herself. McBride can only help their spacing.
CHEYENNE PARKER reportedly had an agreement with the ATLANTA DREAM.
Cheyenne Parker would be the odd woman out in that Chicago Sky roster so Atlanta was reportedly able to secure her services (h/t to Khristina Williams). Cheyenne scored a career-high 13.4 points per game and has spent the first 6 years of her WNBA career in Chicago. Her role expanded as the years went on, eventually becoming a starter for more than half the games in the Wubble last year.
Cheyenne joins a team that has exciting sophomore Chennedy Carter, the charismatic Courtney Williams, assassin Shekinna Stricklen, shotblocking artist Elizabeth Williams, and rebounder Monique Billings.
No, I did not miss anyone on that core because…
BETNIJAH LANEY reportedly goes to the NEW YORK LIBERTY.
Per the report by Rachel Galligan of WInsidr.
Laney won the Most Improved Player award in the Wubble as she more than tripled her scoring average from the season before (5.6 PPG in 2019 to 17.2 PPG in 2020). She was also named to the All-Defensive First Team.
She will have a chance to get the Liberty out of the ashes, who finished a miserable 2-20 in the Wubble last summer. Of course, they didn’t have Sabrina Ionescu and Asia Durr (Ionescu only played three games). Ionescu should be back in full strength this season while Durr sadly continues to battle the after-effects of COVID she caught last summer. We’re hoping the best for Asia.
In the meantime, Laney will try to improve this team with Ionescu, Kia Nurse, Amanda Zahui B., Layshia Clarendon, and Jocelyn Willoughby, among others.
NNEKA OGWUMIKE and BRITTNEY SYKES reportedly agree to return to the LOS ANGELES SPARKS.
Also from Galligan: Nneka Ogwumike and Brittney Sykes have reportedly agreed to deals to return to the Sparks.
Ogwumike has also been a fixture with the Sparks. She won Rookie of the Year in 2012 and won the MVP award in 2016. Ogwumike and Parker led the Sparks to that championship in ’16. She was also the one that made the game-winner against the Lynx that clinched the title.
Sykes came over last season from Atlanta and started most of the games for L.A. She also was named to the All-Defensive Second Team and was a nice supplemental scorer for L.A.
It’s just really too bad that the Sparks couldn’t keep Parker. But now the balance of power has shifted in the W.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the NBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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