Reigning NWSL champions Gotham FC are adding to their remarkable free agency haul, announcing the signing of World Cup champions Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett on Thursday.

Sonnett and Lavelle are the third and fourth USWNT mainstays to sign with the New Jersey club this year after midfielder Crystal Dunn and defender Tierna Davidson also reached multi-year deals with the team. All four World Cup champions will remain with the club through 2026.

Both Lavelle and Sonnett join Gotham most recently from OL Reign, where Lavelle won an NWSL shield and both players reached the 2023 title game (losing in the championship match to Gotham.) 

“Rose is an amazing talent, and we are very excited to have her as a part of the club,” said Amorós in a team release. “She is a very exciting player to watch because of her creative and technical abilities.”

Sonnett is a two-time NWSL champion, first with the Portland Thorns in 2017 and the Washington Spirit in 2021. The 30-year-old flourished in 2023 after making a position change from center-back to defensive midfielder, becoming a USWNT starter at the position during and after the 2023 World Cup.

Both Lavelle and Sonnett are also well-known at the international level, winning the 2019 World Cup with the USWNT as well as a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. They join a stacked Gotham roster, which includes Spanish World Cup champion Esther, Lynn Williams, Midge Purce, Kelley O’Hara, Allie Long and more. The club finished a storybook “worst to first” run in 2023 behind a roster refresh and the clear leadership of manager Juan Carlos Amorós.

“We are incredibly excited to have two exceptional talents like Rose and Emily join the club,” Gotham general manager Yael Averbuch West said. “Rose is a crafty and entertaining player, and our fans and club will be very excited to watch her at Red Bull Arena, and Sonnett is a true professional and competitor, who understands what success in the league looks like. The club and our fans are extremely excited to have players of their stature as we build upon the success of last season.”  

The signings coincide with a Thursday morning announcement by the NWSL that the 2024 salary cap will be $2.75 million, almost doubling teams’ operating budgets from last year. The league is also slowly doing away with allocation money, which limited the flow and usage of funds despite not counting towards a team’s salary cap.

For fans trying to understand how Gotham could possibly afford to bring in four of the biggest stars in the league, the salary cap increase alongside a few big player departures might prove to be a big part of the puzzle. World Cup champion center-back Ali Krieger has retired, and star midfielder Kristie Mewis recently finalized a transfer to West Ham United in the WSL, with an immediate severing of her contract at Gotham. 

It’s possible that Dunn could slot into Mewis’s role, or the team will rethink the midfield with Lavelle as the primary playmaker and Sonnett as a defensive midfielder. 

Long, who most recently came off the bench in a No. 6 role, is currently an unrestricted free agent out of contract with the team, as well as veteran midfielder McCall Zerboni.

Davidson will likely replace Krieger at center-back, who retired at the end of 2023. She’ll slot into a backline that includes 2023 NWSL Rookie of the Year Jenna Nighswonger, rising Brazilian talent Bruninha, and Spanish international Maitane López.

No matter how Gotham lines up on the field in 2024, all four signings should be considered a historic high in the league’s young history with free agency, only in its second year. The era of the NWSL superteam might be upon us, and all roads are leading to New York.

Teams around the WNBA are under pressure to finalize their 12-player rosters before Monday's league-enforced deadline.

Teams must cut their 2024 rosters down to just 12 spots from as many as 18 training camp players. And while this year’s WNBA draft class is undoubtedly rife with talent, only 18 draftees remain rostered ahead of Monday's final cuts. Last year, just 15 of the league’s 36 draftees made it onto their team’s opening-day squad. 

And it's not just rookies. Veteran players are also on the chopping block, even former title-winners: On Thursday, the Minnesota Lynx waived 2021 WNBA champ Ruthy Hebard.

But with every wave of cuts, players that survive dismissal inch closer to claiming a coveted roster spot. The Las Vegas Aces have already reached that magic number 12, opening the door for draft picks Dyaisha Fair and Kate Martin to stay on with the reigning champs.

Additionally, Dallas has whittled their training camp group down to 12. Fifth overall pick Jacy Sheldon and undrafted rookie Jaelyn Brown continue to remain in the mix. 

Other teams, meanwhile, still have decisions to make. Seattle currently lists 13 players, while others like New York still have a full 18 players in training camp. It’s likely that the final preseason game will tip roster decisions one way or another as coaching staffs continue to evaluate performance and playing time. 

But being cut doesn't mean the end of the road for everyone. Should players be waived, they can still be signed to short-term hardship contracts with teams carrying injured players on their permanent rosters. 

The 2024 WNBA season kicks off on Tuesday, May 14th.

Two NWSL teams avoided some major setbacks on Thursday, as both Portland’s Morgan Weaver and Orlando’s Angelina were cleared of season-ending injuries after undergoing scope procedures earlier this week. 

Angelina has been described by her club as "week-to-week," while Weaver has been placed on Portland’s 45-day injury list. 

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The Thorns won their May 4th game without Weaver 2-1, continuing their season turnaround, while the Pride remain one of two unbeaten teams in the NWSL.

In other injury list news, Christen Press posted a video on Thursday of her running with a trainer and doing drills, providing further updates on her road back from a June 2022 ACL tear.

🚨CHRISTEN PRESS IS SHOOTING AND RUNNING 🤩

(yes, we're freaking out)

🎥: @ChristenPress pic.twitter.com/BUjIyzj4xh

— The Women's Game (@WomensGameMIB) May 9, 2024

Angel City coach Becki Tweed has told reporters that Press is back with the team, but has not issued a timetable for her return to the field.

A group led by Toronto billionaire Larry Tanenbaum will bring a new WNBA franchise to Canada, CBC Sports reported early this morning. 

Set to begin play in 2026, the team will be owned and operated by Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports Inc. Tanenbaum is a minority owner and chairman of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors, Toronto FC, Argos, and Marlies. He originally explored an expansion team via MLSE, but was turned down by other members of the board. 

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The Toronto addition will be the WNBA's 14th team. It follows the Bay Area's WNBA Golden State, which will debut in 2025. 

An official announcement is expected May 23rd in Toronto, according to reports. 

"We continue to engage in productive conversations with interested ownership groups in a number of markets but have no news to report at this time," a WNBA spokesperson said in a statement. Tanenbaum's Kilmer Sports group, meanwhile, told CBC Sports that his organization has “no update at this time.”

In April, commissioner Cathy Engelbert said that Toronto was among the cities being considered for WNBA expansion.

The WNBA has a growing footprint in Canada, as the league's held wildly successful exhibition games north of the US border for the last two seasons. 

In 2023, a preseason matchup between Chicago and Minnesota sold out Toronto’s 19,800-capacity Scotiabank Arena. This past Saturday, the league drew more than 16,000 fans to Edmonton for a preseason showdown between LA and Seattle.

The Toronto team will reportedly play at Coca-Cola Coliseum, an 8,000-seat arena which is currently home to the Marlies as well as Toronto’s PWHL franchise.

The Las Vegas Aces took to the White House yet again on Thursday to celebrate their 2023 WNBA championship victory. 

The decorated team was hosted by President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and First Lady Jill Biden, marking the first time the Bidens have welcomed the team personally.

Last year, Harris hosted the Aces after the Bidens were unable to attend due to a last minute conflict. Harris applauded the team for their 2022 win, pointing to the "grit and determination" they showcased en route to their WNBA Finals win over Connecticut. 

President Biden is ready to PLAY! 🤣

The @LVAces presented personalized jerseys for the @POTUS and @VP 🔥 pic.twitter.com/vm8iWbMpxj

— WNBA (@WNBA) May 9, 2024

The Aces won back-to-back championships in 2023, becoming the first WNBA franchise to repeat the feat since 2002. More impressively, they did so without 2022 Finals MVP Chelsea Gray and center Kiah Stokes, both of whom were sidelined with injuries for the title-clinching Game 4. Star forward A’ja Wilson ended up claiming the 2023 Finals MVP honors.

Following the team’s White House visit, the Aces will visit Wilson’s alma mater South Carolina for an exhibition game against the Puerto Rico women's national basketball team. According to head coach Becky Hammon, the unconventional matchup came about when other WNBA teams lacked interest in facing the reigning champs in preseason play.

"We just started kind of building from there," Hammon told the Las Vegas Review Journal. "It’s really cool for players to go home, and that’s where she’s from. She’s the centerpiece of our whole organization."

Kelsey Plum jokingly called Wilson the "mayor of South Carolina" before citing the trip as an opportunity to build team chemistry ahead of their season opener against Phoenix on Tuesday.

"We have some new pieces, and we’re just trying to figure out where our rhythm is," Plum said, referring to recent roster prospects like Iowa grad Kate Martin, among others. "Because when the season starts, it happens fast."