Whittling Down the Rosters

It's hard to believe, but we are now only two days away from the start of the 2009 WNBA season. And with Friday the deadline for the submission of final rosters, GMs across the league have begun waiving players this week. The full list of WNBA transactions is here. A quick look suggests that this year's roster max of 11 players is beginning to take its toll. Even some well known players are falling victim to the new limits, players who would otherwise likely still have a job in this league.

Original Mystic Murriel Page (cut earlier by the Sparks and picked up by Phoenix) suffered a torn achilles tendon in practice and is among those who've been waived. Sadly, this could mark the end of Murriel's WNBA career. Laurie Koehn (picked up by Phoenix after being cut by the Mystics) was waived this week by the LifeLock Mercury. And Terps fans will no doubt be devastated to learn that among the players involved in a little flurry of cuts yesterday is former Tar Heel Ivory Latta, who was dropped by Atlanta.

The Mystics were also involved in that flurry: they waived Shay Murphy to bring their roster down to 14, one below the training camp limit, but still three too many for opening day. We have to wonder whether this move was timed to open up a training camp spot in case GM Taylor wants to bring in a waived player from another team for a quick look before the season begins.

That's exactly what happened with Kiesha Brown. Waived earlier this week by the Mystics, Kiesha was picked up yesterday by the Connecticut Sun. We'd love to see her stick.

Expect more cuts today and tomorrow, including, quite possibly, a "name" big from the Liberty.*

We'll be getting an informal look at the Mystics this evening, off the court, as the team is holding an open house in their offices for STHs, hosted by Sheila Johnson. Check back with us later for a full report on the festivities!

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*Thursday afternoon update: New York has waived 6'5" center Jessica Davenport.