In late March, the Los Angeles Sparks and head coach Curt Miller announced their coaching and support staff for the upcoming season. Miller is building continuity and fostering a hard-working culture entering his second year leading the team. Camille Smith (formerly Camille Little) is a new assistant coach in LA after she spent the past two seasons as head coach at Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas. She played 13 seasons in the WNBA after being drafted by the San Antonio Silver Stars in 2007, then spent time with the Atlanta Dream, Seattle Storm, Connecticut Sun and Phoenix Mercury throughou ..read more

There are a lot of paths a rebuilding team can take in professional sports. None are digestible.  They often involve trading away major pieces of their club, playing games with the secret intent of losing  in order to boost draft positioning, or turning the page on one or more members of their coaching or front office staff.  The Chicago Sky look to dabble in all of these options as they work to come back from a strange 2023 season. The season was headlined by former head coach and general manager James Wade leaving the team for a job with the Toronto Raptors, just one year remo ..read more

The WNBA has entered its era of super teams, and thus far in this new chapter for the league, the Las Vegas Aces have taken the lead, and the New York Liberty have become their antagonists. In hopes of besting the formidable Aces, the Liberty franchise has the option to incorporate a player into its organization who holds star status in Europe and has the potential for short-term prominence in the W. This player is Leonie (Leo) Fiebich, the leader of Casademont Zaragoza in the EuroLeague and MVP of the Spanish league. Plus, despite being quite young at 24 years old, she is also taking the rein ..read more

Entering the WNBA offseason with some larger contracts coming off the books and cap space available to address needs on the roster, the Minnesota Lynx were determined to add to the team and build off a year where they returned to the postseason in 2023. The Lynx were aggressive early on in what turned out to be an active free agency period. They not only dipped into free agency but also via the trade market to add to the roster ahead of the 2024 campaign.  A few days before free agent signings could be announced, Minnesota made its first move of the offseason. The Lynx added 27-year-old f ..read more

“Our team plays so free. They do not flinch.” These, the words of South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley in the aftermath of her team’s historic 87-75 win over Iowa on Sunday, tying an emphatic bow on 38 wins, zero losses, and the Gamecocks third National Championship since 2017.  Who am I to craft a lede of my own phrasing when the moment calls for us to pause, hear Dawn Staley, and appreciate her joyous team of champions? To beam at what Staley has created and internalize how she approaches the hefty responsibility implicit in coaching college basketball?  A team in the biggest game ..read more

Breathe, basketball fans.  After an exciting record-breaking evening of hoops that saw a 41-piece from Caitlin Clark, the continuation of the Paige Bueckers comeback season, NC State knocking top-seeded Texas out, and South Carolina handing the Oregon State Beavers a ticket home, the Final Four for the women’s NCAA tournament is finally here.  The four college clubs remaining—the NC State Wolfpack, the University of Connecticut Huskies, the Iowa Hawkeyes, and the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks—begin play on Friday, April 5, to earn a spot in Sunday’s championship game (at 3 PM E ..read more

The adjustment period from college basketball to professional basketball differs for each player. There may be feelings of surprise or subdued excitement when a star player gets to the WNBA and their first season or two does not match the high standard they set in college. Maddy Siegrist is one of many players that have fallen into that category: a talented player that is waiting to blossom. Siegrist had gone from a record-breaking college career at Villanova to being drafted third overall by the Dallas Wings in 2023. The first pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, Aliyah Boston of the Indiana Fever, a ..read more

As part of the WNBA’s Player Marketing Agreement (PMA), Seattle Storm superstar Jewell Loyd took her talent and leadership skills to Africa to immerse herself in the Basketball Africa League (BAL).  Entering its fourth season this year, the BAL—in partnership with the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA)—is a professional league that features the top 12 teams in Africa. From March to June, teams compete in 48 games across Africa, including in Pretoria, South Africa; Cairo, Egypt; Dakar, Senegal; and Kigali, Rwanda. This is the first time the BAL will be competing in Sout ..read more

It’s been a few months since my last mock draft, and so much has changed between now and then. We’re now post-free agency and on the cusp of March Madness, so it’s time to revisit my previous thinking, and just like last year, I’m bringing aboard the Winsidr GOAT and women’s ball expert, Rachel Galligan, to make her selections. That’s right—for this year’s Mock 2.0, we are each going to make picks. Some will surely be the same and some will be different, but we’ll provide you with our thoughts for each selection of the thought experiment. This time, there are no caveats. Every draft-eligible p ..read more

Jordin Canada is no stranger to making adjustments. She’s had to do it her whole basketball career, dating back to her time playing at UCLA. “Back when I was in college,” Canada told me, “I was sort of thrust into a starting role as a freshman. [The] starting point guard as a freshman having to lead juniors and seniors.” That required an immense mental shift even from Canada, who was accustomed to high playing time and success prior to her collegiate career. Canada had won an Alpha League title each year of high school at Windward School, just six miles south of UCLA’s campus.  But it was ..read more