Free Agency Now Officially Opens in WNBA

We have now moved up to the next benchmark on the WNBA calendar - we were formerly in the period where a team could talk to free agents; we are now in the period where free agents can be signed.

Do I expect anyone to be signed right away? No. Ever since the WNBA began listing their complete team transactions (2001), no free agent has ever been signed in January.

You'll just have to wait till February for the excitement. Then again, this is the Atlanta Dream, baby! Anything can happen in the ATL!

Slow Train from Turkey

It looks like the TBBL site is down, so I'm still waiting on news about the games in Turkey.

In other news, tomorrow begins the time when teams in the WNBA can (officially) communicate with free agents. However, teams can't be signed until January 5th. I wouldn't expect any contracts being signed until February.

Calendar

Some calendar events:

Monday, December 8th, 1 pm Eastern: Dispersal draft of Houston Comets players. Atlanta (4-30) gets the first pick. The draft is held by conference call.

Tuesday, December 9th, 3 pm Eastern: WNBA Draft Lottery. The lottery determines the order of picks during the WNBA Player Draft in April 2009. These are the odds of getting the first pick for the 2009 WNBA Player Draft:

Atlanta: 42 percent
Washington: 26.1 percent
Chicago: 16.7 percent
Minnesota: 7.6 percent
Phoenix: 7.6 percent

Heads up to Matt's Connecticut Sun Blog.

2008-2009 WNBA Calendar

Here are some important dates to keep in mind during the off-season and for 2009:

First two weeks of December 2008: teams are required to send out qualifying offers to their own players who are not signed, but to whom who they still own the rights.
Mid-December 2008 or later: 2009 WNBA Draft Lottery
December 15, 2008: Clubs may talk to any free agent in the league, but may not sign agents
January 5, 2009: Clubs may sign free agents
April 2009: WNBA Draft in St. Louis (current date unknown, April estimate)
June 6, 2009: WNBA regular season begins
September 13, 2009: WNBA regular season ends



P. S.: Corrected location of the WNBA Draft. I was looking at the NBA Draft. I blame the underpants gnomes.