Why The WNBA Union Is Pushing For More Roster Spots
The WNBA 2025 regular season kicks off tomorrow, but many of this year's draft class will be missing from the league's rosters. That is because the WNBA and its 156 roster spots available means the reality for many rookies is a short stint in the league.
According to NCAA (2022) reports, there is a 0.9% chance of collegiate women's basketball players turning into professional players and with the limited 156 WNBA roster spots (thanks to the addition of 13th team, Golden State Valkyries) this many times leaves ripe talent on the sidelines or pursuing basketball outside of the United States. Furthermore, statistics from the 2022 WNBA draft demonstrate that the odds of making a WNBA roster as a second-round pick (25.2%), third-round pick (3.9%) or by going undrafted (6.5%) are vastly low.
Thus, over the past two weeks as teams made the tough decision to narrow down their rosters several notable 2025 draft players were waived including Madison Scott (14th pick out of Ole Miss), Shyanne Sellers (17th pick out of Maryland), Bree Hall (19th pick out of South Carolina), Serena Sundell (1st in the 3rd round out of Kansas State), Harmoni Turner (3rd round draftee from Harvard), Deja Kelly (undrafted out of Oregon), and Kaitlyn Chen (late third round pick out of UConn).
Shyanne Sellers, a guard that averaged 12.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4 assists a game during her her career at Maryland was waived not once, but twice during the preseason. Particularly, fans were quite upset as Sellers was a crowd favorite getting engaged the week of the draft to now fiancé and former Terrapins teammate Faith Masonius. Sellers was cut from both rosters without even entering a preseason game.
Perhaps one of the more surprising players that did not make a final roster is Deja Kelly out of Oregon and formerly UNC Chapel Hill. The guard played in both preseason games for the Aces and when she entered off the bench was extremely efficient. Kelly averaged 12 points, and 1.5 assists. She shot 75% from the field and 35% from beyond the arc, with a 100% free throw percentage. Kelly also hit a game-winning shot against the Mercury giving the Aces the 85-84 win after scoring 15 points in 13 minutes.
Although Kaitlyn Chen was a late third round pick with an uphill battle to make the Valkyries roster, many women's basketball fans were saddened to see her not on the final squad list. The first Taiwanese American to step on a WNBA court had high hopes of making the Golden State roster after an extraordinary graduate year at UConn, helping the team win its 12th national championship.
Additionally and notably, Haley Jones of the Atlanta Dream (6th overall pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft) and Laeticia Amihere from the Valkyries (2023 8th overall first round pick) were waived earlier this week. Again, making a final roster in the WNBA is challenging but for Jones and Amihere, this was particularly gut wrenching as both players had been on rosters previously in the 2024 season. Jones, although a superb player for Tara VanDerveer at Stanford seemed to struggle to find her footing in the WNBA. She averaged just 3.9 points, 3.7 assists, and 2.2 rebounds per game in 2024 despite playing in 40 games.
Amihere played for the Atlanta Dream in the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Similar to Jones, she lacked shooting depth and received little playing time. However, Amihere was drafted to the Valykries in the expansion draft and in her two preseason games she averaged 12.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and one block and steal respectively. Fans were outraged at her dismissal as she made 60% of her preseason game shots, while shooting 50% from deep and even contributed 20 points in the close loss 83-82 to the LA Sparks on May 6.
Time will tell if these former and current rookies will end up back in the league. For many there is still a chance to see WNBA playing time as hardship and injury hardship contracts could be extended to them later in the season (i.e., Zia Cooke former 2023 10th round pick to LA Sparks and now with the Seattle Storm). However, for many of these players they will have to resort to playing overseas as roster spots are still quite limited within the WNBA until the new CBA comes into effect in 2026 and the addition of the Toronto Tempo opens up 12 more spots.
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