The WNBA is getting ready for a loaded and compact offseason. The CBA was just agreed to by the league and the players’ union last week, which gives us a short runway for a lot of activity.
One of those scheduled events is the expansion draft, which will take place on April 3rd. That gives teams a short timeframe to consider who they’d like to protect and leave unprotected.
The Dallas Wings will have their hands full with who they decide to protect. Even if they performed poorly last season, they still have a lot of intriguing young talent. Paige Bueckers and Maddy Siegrist are obvious players to protect, but everything else from there is up in the air, as they can only protect 5 players. That could make the Wings leave a player like Arike Ogunbowale unprotected, which would make her the top player on the expansion draft board, per Sabreena Merchant of The Athletic.
“The Dallas Wings have some tough decisions to make on their protected list. Assuming they prioritize youth to build around Paige Bueckers, that could leave Ogunbowale unprotected, Merchant wrote. “She is one of the lone UFAs who would actually be worth paying a maximum contract, if not quite a supermax. Ogunbowale can get buckets, even if she isn’t the most efficient scorer, and shot creation is an important skill for an expansion team. This isn’t to say that Toronto or Portland would necessarily prioritize a high-usage guard as their first pick, but there’s no denying Ogunbowale’s talent.”