This Week in Ladies’s Basketball: WNBA introduces guidelines modifications for 2024 season

The 2024 WNBA season is (unofficially) underway, and issues already are electrical. Arike Ogunbowale spoiled Caitlin Clark’s 21-point professional debut with a game-winning 3, an estimated 800,000 viewers tuned right into a fan’s livestream of the Lynx-Sky preseason match and the Sparks prevailed over the Storm within the second version of the WNBA Canada Sport.

As preseason motion rolls on (a lot of it, sadly, not televised), right here’s what else is occurring across the W:

WNBA guidelines modifications

The WNBA has carried out two rule modifications forward of the 2024 season.

First, if a coach’s problem is profitable, they now may have entry to a second problem. To make use of a problem, the staff nonetheless will need to have a timeout accessible.

Talking of timeouts, the league has modified the distribution of timeouts. Somewhat than 4 full timeouts and two 20-second timeouts, groups now have 5 “staff” timeouts, basically a full timeout, and one “reset” timeout, which can be utilized within the last two minutes of a recreation or in extra time to advance the ball and/or make substitutions, however not for huddles with the teaching employees and gamers.

Aces ink Grey, Younger to extensions

The Las Vegas Aces are doing their greatest to make sure they grow to be a dynasty, signing Chelsea Grey and Jackie Younger to contract extensions this week. Each gamers now are below contract by way of the 2025 season; A’ja Wilson already was below contract by way of subsequent season. Kelsey Plum is signed by way of the top of this season.

Dream commerce for Dangerfield

On Saturday, the Atlanta Dream strengthened their rotation by way of the addition of 2020 Rookie of the Yr Crystal Dangerfield. Atlanta despatched a 2025 third-round draft decide to the Dallas Wings in trade for Dangerfield.

The acquisition, nevertheless, raises some concern concerning the standing of Jordin Canada, who missed the Dream’s first preseason recreation, a victory over the Washington Mystics, resulting from a lingering hand damage. It additionally suggests Atlanta just isn’t but able to empower Haley Jones with extra major ball dealing with obligations.

BG shares her story

Brittney Griner has chosen to share how she skilled her months-long detention in a Russian jail in 2022. In anticipation of her memoir, Coming Residence, which shall be launched on Monday, Might 7, Griner spoke to Robin Roberts in an unique interview for ABC’s “20/20” that aired on Might 1.

Fever taking journey precautions

Final season, Griner and members of the Phoenix Mercury have been harassed on the Dallas airport by a right-wing provocateur. Whereas the league had indicated that Griner had permission to fly personal, the choice was not initially accessible, ensuing within the unsafe incident that shook Griner and her teammates. From that time ahead, Griner took constitution flights to highway video games.

The league’s continued reliance on business journey (regardless of the willingness of some possession teams to pay for personal conveyance) mixed with the rising prominence of WNBA gamers creates the situations for extra unhealthy actors, in addition to over-eager followers, to place gamers in precarious, uncomfortable positions. The Indiana Fever insist the group is getting out forward of potential issues, planning to supply additional safety precautions.

Hopefully, no issues will emerge, solely extra momentum towards ensuring that constitution flights are normal for all WNBA groups below the brand new CBA, which is anticipated to be negotiated after the 2024 season and carried out in 2025.