Team faces pivotal player selection dilemma regarding a past top draft pick
2025 WNBA Season Kicks Off: Surprises Galore!
🏀 The long-anticipated 2025 WNBA season is here, and teams are trimming down their rosters to meet the league's required player count. The Atlanta Dream, no stranger to intrigue, has been shaking things up with a few surprises.
🌟 One such move involves Shyanne Sellers, a 2025 draftee, whom the Dream snatched off waivers, only to cut her loose recently. This unexpected decision was followed by another bolt: letting go of former first-round pick, Haley Jones.
🔥 Haley Jones, a first-rounder from the 2023 draft, had spent her entire WNBA career with the Dream. With the season set to launch on May 16, teams were racing against time to whittle down their rosterSize to 11 or 12 players. The axe fell on Jones, leaving the Dream roster at 11. The decision allows both of the Dream's 2025 draft picks, Te-Hina Paopao and Taylor Thierry, to make the regular season team.
💥 Second and third-round selections usually don't make it onto final rosters straight out of the draft, making Paopao's and Thierry's spots especially noteworthy – Paopao was a second-round pick at No. 18, while Thierry came in at No. 36.
👋 As for Haley Jones, she may find a new home on another team looking for reinforcements. Selected sixth overall by the Dream in the 2023 draft, Jones' tenure with the Dream spanned two seasons.
Haley Jones' Dream Tenure Comes to an End
In her last season with the Dream, Jones competed in all 40 games, starting 24 and logging just over 17 minutes per game. Her stats read 3.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists, shooting 39.7% from the field, 21.4% from three, and 70.2% from the free-throw line[3]. Jones joined forces with Cameron Brink to guide Stanford to the 2021 NCAA championship before being drafted by the Dream.
🏆 The Dream experienced some offseason turbulence with the departure of head coach Tanisha Wright and the hiring of Karl Smesko to replace her[4]. This new coaching regime may have played a role in the decisions made regarding the team's roster. It was Smith's focus on outside shooting that kept Jones on the outside looking in, as her playing style didn't align with the new coach's vision[5][6].
Stay tuned as the Dream takes on the basketball universe with their revamped squad! 🚀
The unexpected decision by the Atlanta Dream, amidst the 2025 WNBA season's anticipation, to cut loose Haley Jones, a former first-round pick, may have been a consequence of the new coaching regime's emphasis on outside shooting, misaligning with Jones' playing style. Meanwhile, the WNBA draft's second and third-round selections, such as Te-Hina Paopao and Taylor Thierry, often face challenges in making final rosters, but their spots with the Atlanta Dream for the upcoming season are especially noteworthy, given their draft positions.
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