WNBA rosters are limited to twelve players—eleven for some teams struggling to stay under the salary cap, like the Indiana Fever at the start of the season. In comparison, NBA teams can have 15 players on their rosters and three players on two-way contracts. Having more players on the roster than can play in a game allows teams to be better prepared to overcome injuries. It also gives players at the end of the depth chart a chance to still work out with the top talent in the league and know the system they will be playing in if the team needs them to fill a bigger role.
Meanwhile, WNBA teams have to overcome injuries with short-term hardship contracts and are forced to make heartbreaking cuts every year, leaving countless promising young players without roster spots and even forcing veterans to battle for their jobs. While hardship contracts allow players without standard contracts to still play during the season, it is difficult to come into an often completely new system and deliver right away. Roster sizes have been a point of contention before and will hopefully be addressed in the new CBA.
No player embodied everything that is wrong with WNBA roster sizes more than Odyssey Sims this season. Sims is a 12-year veteran and former All-Star. Nevertheless, she spent the last three seasons navigating not having a roster spot and playing on hardship contracts for the Wings, Sparks, and Fever. If anyone needed proof that Sims should never have been in that position in the first place, she delivered it during the playoffs.
Odyssey Sims thrived in the playoffs
The Fever signed Odyssey Sims on a hardship contract after Aari McDonald and Sydney Colson suffered season-ending injuries. Sims quickly became an integral part of the Fever’s system and helped lead the team on a stunning run to the semifinals.
Sims averaged 14.1 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.4 steals over eight playoff games. She trailed only Kelsey Mitchell in points per game and led the Fever in assists and steals. She scored over 15 points in five playoff games and dished out more than five assists three times. Across the league, Sims ranked seventh in total points scored in the playoffs, fifth in total assists and steals, and tenth in minutes.
Sims was also the driving force behind the Fever’s impressive Game 5. Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston couldn’t finish the game, so Sims put the team on her back and forced overtime. While the Fever ended up losing the game 107-98, Sims’s 27-point performance was incredibly impressive.
That kind of player shouldn’t have to fight for a roster spot.