This week on The IX Sports Podcast Basketball Edition, hosts Jackie Powell and Howard Megdal break down three big pieces of Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) news that took place over the past week.
The pair started by breaking down the USA Basketball FIBA World Cup roster, which was missing one name that many people expected to see: Sabrina Ionescu.
The guards who did make the team are Paige Bueckers, Caitlin Clark, Chelsea Gray, and Kelsey Plum.
“There are a lot of questions as to why Sabrina Ionescu didn’t make this roster. Was it because she was hurt for a full month of the season and there was less evaluation period to see her, or was it the fact that she missed a lot of the camps that led up to Sue Bird making this decision?” Powell asked.
Megdal pointed out that the talent pool, in some ways, also made creating the roster difficult.
“It isn’t like some world class player — Sabrina being a world class player — that’s left off the roster, but like Joe, my neighbor down the street who’s mowing the lawn made it instead. Like everyone who made this roster … has the right to be on this roster, even some who didn’t make it. Now it’s just a question of who you’re choosing and why,” Megdal said.
Kelsey Plum trade
Then Megdal and Powell welcomed on guests Los Angeles Sparks beat reporter Cameron Ruby and Phoenix Mercury beat reporter Dylan Kane to discuss the deadline trade of Kelsey Plum from the Sparks to the Mercury.
Ruby said that, because of Plum’s injury earlier in the season, the Sparks had already started to work on playing without their star guard.
“I think, from a personal level, from a from a human perspective, it’s going to be really hard,” Ruby said of the trade. “But from a game perspective, unfortunately, this is an adjustment that they that they’ve had to make for a while.”
Kane and Megdal also weighed in with their takes, with the consensus that the trade for Plum may make more sense after the season ends than it does now. Tune in to hear more.
Cleveland Sirens
Finally, Megdal and Powell discuss the announcement of the Cleveland Sirens as the name of the WNBA expansion team scheduled to begin play in 2028.
Powell explained that Allison Howard, the president of business operations for the Cleveland Sirens, has made it clear that she wants the team to have a separate identity from the men’s National Basketball Association team the Sirens share ownership with (Cleveland Cavaliers).
“So what that tells me is that these new expansion front offices are not viewing WNBA franchises as an NBA sidekick or a team that they have to try to convert NBA fans to support. There’s an understanding that there is a built-in fan base,” Powell said.
Make sure to subscribe to The IX Sports Podcast for in-depth coverage of women’s soccer, hockey and basketball; and tune in each weekday morning for a quick overview of the biggest headlines on Women’s Sports Daily, like WNBA news and PWHL expansion updates.
What you missed on Women’s Sports Daily: Team USA announced the roster for the FIBA World Cup
I see Sue Bird is following in Geno’s footsteps. I thought she was better than that.