Welcome back to another WNBA notebook. It’s been a while. The WNBA has had quite a week between the trade deadline and the introduction of the Cleveland Sirens, the WNBA’s next expansion team.
On Thursday morning, USA Basketball announced its 12-person roster for its World Cup team that will be competing in Berlin, Germany from September 4-13. The list included a bunch of the usual suspects in addition to snubs, which I will get into below.
And then there’s Kelsey Plum. The biggest name dealt at the trade deadline hasn’t needed much time to get comfortable with the Mercury. Plum has averaged 19.5 points on 60 percent shooting including shooting 50 percent from three in addition to three rebounds and four assists in her first two games. Not too shabby for joining a team without any practices under her belt. But will it be enough for Phoenix to make the playoffs?
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Team USA FIBA World Cup Roster Announced
WNBA legend Sue Bird joined the “TODAY” show on Thursday morning to announce her first official Team USA roster as the team’s managing director.
Remember, the WNBA will be taking a few weeks off beginning on August 31 so that a large percentage of its players can participate in the 2025 FIBA World Cup. The World Cup serves as a tournament that helps Team USA build chemistry ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
As I wrote last month, precedent for the women’s senior national team over the years is that usually over half of a Team USA World Cup roster carries over to the final Olympic team two years later. Here’s who will be playing for team USA in September:
- Aliyah Boston
- Rhyne Howard
- Paige Bueckers
- Kelsey Plum
- Caitlin Clark
- Angel Reese
- Napheesa Collier
- Breanna Stewart
- Kahleah Copper
- A’ja Wilson
- Chelsea Gray
- Jackie Young
Some might be shocked to learn that rookie phenom Olivia Miles wasn’t selected for the team. But to be clear, she wasn’t a participant in any of Team USA’s mini camps that began last year under new head coach Kara Lawson. This is the same reason Caitlin Clark was not on the 2024 Paris Olympic team.
It’s worth noting that 2024 Olympic gold medalist Sabrina Ionescu wasn’t selected to represent Team USA in Berlin.
“I’m not thinking about L.A. in, like, any concrete way,” Bird said on a zoom call with reporters on Thursday morning. “This is not an indicator of what’s going to happen two years from now. So much can happen.”
The WNBA’s next expansion team has a name and a brand
Cleveland WNBA is no longer the moniker that will represent the league’s new expansion team that’s going to start play in 2028. (Yes, WNBA front offices will have one year off from doing an expansion draft and then that will resume most likely in December of 2027.)
The Cleveland Sirens, which refers to the mythological sea creatures that have distinct voices, were officially introduced to the media on Tuesday. Team president of business operations Allison Howard spoke about the choice and why she wants Cleveland’s new WNBA team to have its own distinct identity from the NBA team the Cavaliers although both teams have the same ownership behind them.
Cleveland’s original WNBA team name from 1997, The Rockers, wasn’t revived. While there isn’t a for sure reason yet for this decision, it wouldn’t be a surprise that the WNBA facing opposition for the rights to that trademark played a role in the decision.
The franchise’s decision to be the Sirens with their distinct colors that differ greatly from that of their NBA counterpart reflects a greater team trend that the majority of recent WNBA teams are taking into account. The two paths are: either revive league history if it’s possible, the Portland Fire for instance, or create a brand that reflects who the players of the WNBA are.
Valkyries and Sirens aren’t the direct women’s version of the Warriors or the Cavaliers. There’s a reason the Valkyries are who they are and aren’t the Amazons instead.
Howard understands that the demographics for WNBA teams are different than NBA teams and that the goal is not to just try to convert men’s basketball fans, which was the previous approach of the WNBA when it burst out onto the scene 30 years ago.
“We don’t want to be the Lady Cavaliers.”
— Jeremy O’Brien (@thejeremyobrien) August 4, 2026
Cleveland Sirens exec Allison Howard explains why the city’s new #WNBA franchise chose to go a different direction from the Cavs brand and colors. pic.twitter.com/tDwzvKfcQa
“This team can exist very much on the independent side of the Cavaliers,” she said. “And that’s also what we are seeing right now. The demographic is totally different. They eat different food, they drink different drinks, they get here earlier, they purchase merchandise differently, and they come from all over the state and even outside of the state.”
Kelsey Plum Joins the Mercury
Plum’s Mercury debut went about as well as head coach Nate Tibbetts, general manager Nick U’Ren and the team’s fans could have hoped for on Monday night. Plum’s first WNBA game since June 21 due to a lower left leg injury resulted in a 20 point and four-assist performance that included three three-pointers all in 20 minutes coming off the bench.
“It’s a huge lift,” Alyssa Thomas said about Plum’s addition to the Mercury roster after the team’s 106-101 win over the Sky. “I think it takes a load off of me, off of [Kahleah Copper], off of [DeWanna Bonner], it just gives us a different look, a different style of play.”
But then two days later, reality set in for both the Mercury and Plum. Phoenix’s defense had trouble keeping the Atlanta Dream in check, giving up 96 points in the Mercury’s 96-82 loss on Wednesday night.
When Plum was introduced as a member of the Mercury before Phoenix’s game in Chicago on Monday night, she spoke about how she felt like Spiderman in “the multiverse” as a reference to how quickly and chaotic her life has been as of late.
To be clear, Plum was still efficient and productive in her first start, scoring 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting with four assists and five rebounds. After the game, Plum took accountability and expressed that she, the newest player on the team, could have done more to help her team win. She felt like she could have played with pace a little bit more.
“I thought to be honest, I dropped the ball on that a little bit after,” she said. “I kind of hit a wall. I think everything kind of hit me.”
Kelsey Plum jumping in Smesko arms 😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/NoQg2qObjM
— Shabazz 💫 (@ShowCaseShabazz) August 6, 2026
This became super apparent in the fourth quarter when Plum couldn’t get to a pass from Thomas quickly enough in transition, and her momentum had her inadvertently run and jump into the arms of Dream head coach Karl Smesko. It was yet another wacky moment in this league.
The Mercury’s pitch to Plum for the long term will continue on. We’ll see if the trade that I still believe the Mercury lost will end up bearing the fruit of U’Ren and Tibbetts’ labor in these next many weeks. As of this writing, the Mercury sit 5.5 games out of the playoff race with just 12 games left in the regular season.
