Expansion Draft Breakdown

Expansion Draft update from Mercury General Manager Seth Sulka

As with all sports leagues, things generally slow down in the WNBA right after the season ends. Fortunately for Mercury fans, it�s been a pretty busy off-season since the Sacramento Monarchs hoisted the Championship trophy. We have hired an exciting new coach in Paul Westhead, grabbed the No. 2 pick in the lottery for next year�s WNBA Draft and now have the expansion draft upon us.

The upcoming WNBA expansion draft will allow the newest team in the league, the Chicago Sky, to finally be able to field a roster of players. The addition of the Sky to the WNBA family brings our league to 14 teams and is a sign of how strong the league has become as we enter our 10th anniversary season. We will now have seven teams in both the Eastern and Western Conferences and one of the top women�s basketball markets will get to experience, in person, the incredible athletes that make up the WNBA.

The expansion draft allows Chicago to select players from the other 13 WNBA teams and this is how it works:

Each team in the league can protect six players from their current roster. The remaining unprotected players on the roster are eligible to be selected by the Sky, except for those players that have become unrestricted free agents since the season ended. For example, Lisa Harrison became an unrestricted free agent after last season and is not able to be picked by Chicago. When free agency begins in February, Lisa will be able to sign with any team in the WNBA.

With teams being able to �protect� six players, every team will be able to make certain their key players will stay on their roster. Once a player is selected from the Mercury, all of its remaining players become protected and can�t be selected. This ensures that each team can only lose one player in the expansion draft.

Even though it will be tough to lose a good player from our team, it means that the WNBA is growing and flourishing. It also means that the league is providing more opportunities for women to play professional basketball and for fans to watch it.

Coach Westhead, the staff and myself have met for weeks on this critical decision and we did submit our list to Chicago on November 1st. The Sky will have two weeks to make their decisions on who they will be selecting and then they will have to notify the league office. At that point, the league will announce the Sky�s first official roster of players.

Hopefully this will help explain what the upcoming expansion draft is all about and how it will impact the Mercury. As always, thank you for your support of the Phoenix Mercury.

Seth Sulka