{"id":610293,"date":"2026-04-17T13:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/610293\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T13:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:41:09","slug":"wnba-gms-deal-with-most-exhausting-compressed-offseason-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/610293\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA GMs deal with most exhausting, compressed offseason ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Credit: Chris Poss<\/p>\n

This is the first WNBA offseason where front offices had to balance free agency and the draft at the same time. Throw in the expansion draft, and the condensed offseason has been a lot for general managers.<\/p>\n

Some of that manifested in the Golden State Valkyries\u2019 post-draft press conference, where GM Ohemaa Nyanin said she was tired following the controversial trade that sent Flau\u2019jae Johnson to Seattle in exchange for Marta Suarez and a 2028 second-round pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a lot of details to share,\u201d she said after the trade. \u201cOne, because I\u2019m exhausted. Two, because I want to be very thoughtful when I\u2019m talking about other humans and their basketball abilities and how they would or would not show up for our squad.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was far from the only one to talk about the challenges of the past week. Los Angeles Sparks general manager Raegan Pebley also hit on the struggle of the compressed schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201dIt\u2019s been just a wild last few weeks, definitely with the new CBA and the expansion drafts, and I know you guys are all definitely tracking with it all as well,\u201d Pebley said. \u201c… Just the unknown of this offseason, of like when a CBA was going to get done, and obviously everyone wanted it done right and not rushed, so that there weren\u2019t mistakes made along the way. But you know, you would just kind of sit around and wonder, like \u2018is today the day we\u2019re going to hear that a handshake deal was done?\u2019, and you know what our job and task was just to continue to be prepared at any given point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been chaos, we hope it never happens again,\u201d added Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts.<\/p>\n

Nyanin went on to explain to ESPN that the trade was agreed to before the picks were made, and I reported earlier in the week<\/a> that teams could not trade picks after 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, meaning they had to make the pick before trading the rights to it to Seattle, and vice versa.<\/p>\n

But in the exhaustion of the past few weeks, getting an explanation was far more difficult than usual.<\/p>\n

This has been a bizarre offseason. The collective bargaining agreement wasn\u2019t in place until March 24, and no one could begin making transactions until April 6. Since then, it\u2019s been fast and furious.<\/p>\n

\u201cGM groups around the league are very close,\u201d said Dallas Wings general manager Curt Miller. \u201cAs much as we are competitive, we\u2019re very close. And what we just went through, all of us, is insane. I think I\u2019m up to nine or 10 pounds that I\u2019ve lost. We haven\u2019t slept much here, probably averaging 80 to 100 phone calls a day\u2026This process has been something that none of us around the league have ever been through, and what was asked of us, for all of us around the league, to get through it, is truly remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Add in training camp beginning this upcoming weekend, and no one is exactly getting a break anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the rest of my colleagues in the WNBA feel exactly the way that I feel as well,\u201d Nyanin said. \u201cSo I\u2019m not going to complain. I think all of us had our different strategies and kind of coping to be able to get through today more specifically, and then there\u2019s, you know, training camp that starts on Sunday, so there\u2019s going to be a lot of movement, I would suspect, between now and opening night, which is on May 8.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my energy levels, you know, generally, I\u2019m smiling and, like, super excited about everything. And for those who\u2019ve seen me in person or have been around, just to know that, like, it\u2019s taken a toll. So I\u2019m very careful to say kind of like anything about, one, personally, how I\u2019m doing, and two, about any of the athletes that have joined our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, the Sparks did address their picks and trades, including sending Rickea Jackson to Chicago with a level of candidness, but they also didn\u2019t have the overwhelming pushback Golden State had after trading Johnson.<\/p>\n

But this is an offseason like no other in league history and might never happen again. And those making all the moves we\u2019re seeing now are quite glad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was home when the CBA dropped, and was really happy to get rolling, especially as the date was going on and on,\u201d Pebley said. \u201cAnd we knew training camp was getting ready to start, and that calendar was getting more and more compressed, but really happy for the league and for the players on how everything landed. But yeah, I mean, it was just an off-season of constant work and continuing to crunch numbers and play with different rosters and just come up with all different types of scenario planning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just, you wish there were more hours in the day to be able to get it all done and make conversations sometimes a little bit longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks for reading the Her Hoop Stats Newsletter. If you like our work, be sure to check out our stats site<\/a>, our podcast<\/a>, and our social media accounts on Twitter<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n