The neWsletter
Angel City is ready to turn the page.
They have their superstar and face of the club, Christen Press, back on the pitch after missing over two years rehabbing from an ACL tear, and it’s time for maybe the league’s highest profile team on the business side to start performing on the field as well.
The club parted ways with their GM, Angela Hucles Mangano last week, in the wake of her league-imposed suspension for attempting to circumvent the salary cap, and has followed up that move by firing Head Coach Becki Tweed as well. Don’t feel too bad for AHG, as she has already gotten a new gig as the President of Women’s Soccer for the Houston Dash.
While the club is set to begin a thorough search for the next leaders of the club, they should have no shortage of suitors. As mentioned previously, despite the near complete lack of on-field success since their 2022 debut, this team is arguably as high-profile a job as there is in the NWSL. Not to mention they play in Los Angeles. Those two facts, combined with the way the new CBA gives players near-universal freedom of movement, should give Angel City a leg up on the rest of the league when it comes to roster building going forward.
Golden State Valkyries made their expansion draft selections but there will be many moving pieces across the league before the teams tip off the 2025 season in May.
General Manager Ohemaa Nyanin selected 11 players out of 12 possible selections, passing only on Seattle. The team can only carry 12 roster spots into the season, and are surely looking to upgrade the roster ahead of their debut, as the team currently lacks any real star power.
New Head Coach Natalie Nakase turned some friends into enemies by selecting the Aces beloved rookie, Kate Martin. A’ja Wilson, Syd Colson, and Alyssa Clark are just a few Aces players who took to Twitter to express their displeasure with the selection. For Martin, this is a chance to take on a larger share of the workload on a team that is still very much a work in progress. Whereas in Vegas she was a role player, averaging 11.5 minutes per game in her rookie season, Martin has a chance to show that she’s more than just Caitlin Clark’s Iowa sidekick or A’ja Wilson’s favorite player to make fun of.
Fans and analysts around the league were shocked to see the Fever leave Temi Fagbenle unprotected as she built a strong on-court connection with Clark and was a key piece in transition. The Fever had a +1.09 net rating with Fagbenle on the court last season, per pbpstats, and that number fell to -4.96 when she was on the bench.
Some other notable selections from Friday night include NY Liberty’s Kayla Thornton who played a significant role in the playoffs this year which resulted in NY’s first ever championship, and Veronica Burton from the Connecticut Sun - a fairly expected move for a player that was selected 7th overall in 2022 but has thus far failed to register much impact in W.
At the end of the day, don’t get too attached to seeing any 11 of these players in purple next year. We have a long way to go before tip-off, and with an aggressive ownership group that surely wants to pack the Chase Center, it’s likely that the team figures out a way to bring in a few higher profile players.
NWSL is shuffling the player deck.
Gotham is dismantling the super team, or at least tinkering with it. A number of key free agents have already departed the club with Maitane López signing with Chicago, Sam Hiatt heading to Portland, and starter Delanie Sheehan committing to Houston - a team without a head coach and, up until yesterday, a GM. It’s unclear how much Hucles Managano has been doing before getting hired, but Houston has already finalized a trade with San Diego to secure a much needed defender in Christen Westfall.
This does start to answer the big question of how complete player autonomy will impact this league. It seems that even teams with a history of bad culture, poor on-field performance, or just undesirable locale will still be able to attract and sign high-level talent.
It is no secret that Houston has a reputation. Everyone has a past. But they are currently leading the league in player acquisitions despite being just a day into their new GMs tenure, and still without a head coach. We are about to see what players truly value most: playing time, winning, salary, or club culture. It may not be the same for every player but we could see a strong trend in one direction or another.
When it comes to College Basketball, it is certainly not lonely at the top. Competition is fierce and teams are jockeying for position in the top 25 every single night.
In what has become par for the course, two teams seem just a bit farther out of reach from the rest of the field, even though neither currently occupy the top spot. After this weekend’s action South Carolina has two back-to-back wins over top 10 teams while UConn absolutely routed No. 22 Louisville in the first ever Women’s edition of the Championship Classic, finishing with a final score of 85-52.
South Carolina continues to play with that chip on their shoulder under fearless leader, Dawn Staley, showing out on court in ways that are rare to witness (like Ashlyn Watkins dunking in game).
UConn has mostly shaken the injury bug, save for one scary moment in Saturday’s night cap. Oft-injured superstar Azzi Fudd limped off to the locker room before returning in seemingly high spirits, and donning a pair of Nike G.T. Hustle 3 'Paige Bueckers' PEs.. Official word from Geno today is that Fudd has a minor knee sprain and will likely miss what is likely to be the game of the season thus far, when the Huskies square off against Notre Dame and their star scorer Hannah Hidalgo. Thursday’s game aside, Paige Bueckers is finally fulfilling her promise to be the best backcourt in college basketball now that she and Fudd are finally sharing the floor. Watching Fudd sink 3s off of pinpoint passes from Bueckers is a special sight, considering everything she has gone through.