The WNBA announced today that the league was unable to secure prospective ownership in the Bay Area in time for the Sacramento Monarchs to move there for the 2010 season. While the WNBA works to add an expansion team in the Bay for 2011, the former Monarchs will be reallocated through a Dispersal Draft, set for next Monday.

The Storm will pick 10th in the Dispersal Draft, meaning there is no guarantee any players will still be available. As unrestricted free agents, guards Kara Lawson and Ticha Penicheiro and forward Hamchetou Maiga-Ba are not eligible, leaving eight current players to be dispersed.

Guards
Kristin Haynie
Chelsea Newton
Scholanda Robinson

Forwards
Rebekkah Brunson
Nicole Powell
DeMya Walker

Centers
Laura Harper
Courtney Paris

The Dispersal Draft will also include players to whom the Monarchs have rights, presumably including Australian guard Renae Camino, drafted by Sacramento from Houston in last year’s Dispersal Draft. Teams will have the option of passing, as the Storm did last year, when two players – Tamecka Dixon and Shannon Johnson – went unselected. Because teams selecting in the Dispersal Draft inherit the player’s current contract, it is sometimes preferable to allow them to become a free agent, as the Storm did before signing Johnson.

With the available talent and team needs not entirely matching up at the top of the draft (New York and Minnesota will pick first and second, followed by Connecticut) I’d expect to see some trades that could shake up the WNBA landscape.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 11:18 am and is filed under WNBA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.