Crystal Dangerfield, the 2020 WNBA Rookie of the Year, was among the players waived by the Minnesota Lynx on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Odyssey Sims is back and likely to start at point guard for the Lynx after resigning with the team.
Sims played for the Atlanta Dream last season, having spent the prior two seasons with the Lynx, including the 2019 campaign when she led the Lynx in scoring and was named to the All-WNBA second team.
Dangerfield started 19 of 21 games as a rookie in 2020 and averaged 16.2 points per game en route to being named the league’s best rookie, but she started only 10 of 31 games in 2021 and her scoring average dipped to 7.7 points. Her shooting percentage year-to-year dropped from 47.1% to 38.8%.
Other roster cuts Tuesday include guards Layshia Clarendon and Yvonne Turner, and forwards Rennia Davis, Kayla Jones and Hannah Sjerven.
Clarendon getting cut grabs headlines considering she started 20 games for the Lynx last season and averaged 10.4 points and 5.7 assists while shooting 51.1% from the field.
Sjerven was the 28th overall pick in this year’s WNBA Draft. She was a star center at South Dakota State University after graduating from Rogers High School in the Twin Cities metro area.
It’s unclear what the starting lineup will look like when the Lynx open the season Friday night at Seattle, but it could look like this:
- PG: Odyssey Sims
- SG: Aerial Powers
- SF: Natalie Achonwa
- PF: Angel McCoughtry
- C: Sylvia Fowles
Minnesota is without star forward Napheesa Collier, who is expecting the birth of her child this month. Collier signed a contract extension with the Lynx on Monday, though terms of the deal have not been announced per WNBA policy.
The Lynx open the regular season at Seattle Friday at 9 p.m. The home opener is Sunday at 7 p.m. against the Washington Mystics.
