The Los Angeles Sparks entered training camp this week with 18 players on the team's roster — but only 12 spots available. As WNBA fans know, this means painful cuts will have to be made before the season officially begins May 16 — and on Thursday, May 1, the team announced rookie Alyssa Ustby and Australian Anneli Maley were waived from the team.
Ustby went undrafted during this year's WNBA Draft but was almost immediately picked up by the Sparks at the draft's conclusion. Ustby, who averaged 10.9 points, 9.5 rebounds for North Carolina during the 2024-25 season, was signed to a one-year free agent contract the next day.
Coach Lynne Roberts told reporters she had been familiar with Ustby's game years before she ever came to the Sparks — or even to North Carolina. Roberts coached at Utah for 9 seasons and attempted to draft Ustby out of high school, so drafting her to the Sparks was a full-circle moment for both player and coach.
The decision to waive Maley is perhaps even more surprising. She spent the 2024 and 2025 seasons with the Perth Redbacks of the NBL1 West league and has consistently racked up league honors since 2022, when she was named WNBL MVP and All-NBL1 West First Team. This season also wasn't her first to be signed to the Sparks — 2022 was also when she made her WNBA debut for the team.
Being waived doesn't necessarily end a player's WNBA career
WNBA contracts are unique, and being waived from a team doesn't immediately halt a player's potential in the WNBA. A waived player is released from their contract by the team in question, and in turn, other teams have 48 hours to pick up that player if they're so inclined.
Of course, this is complicated by the fact that there are not enough teams for all the available talent, and players will continue to be waived before the season begins on May 16. In fact, some players were waived before training camp even started: the Connecticut Sun waived Morgan Maly on April 26, and the team also waived Abbey Hsu and Mya Hollingshed on Monday, April 28.
If no team attempts to sign a player who has been waived, they become a free agent and can sign a professional contract with any team they want, and players can typically use the fact that they were signed to a WNBA team during the negotiation process with overseas teams — something that could result in higher pay or being signed to a team with better support and facilities.