It’s been an active week for roster moves in the WNBA. Teams had to make decisions on players by Wednesday, the midpoint of the WNBA season, before their contracts became guaranteed for the rest of the year.

As a result, many teams made cuts (and subsequent signings) in order to remain within the salary cap. Here are some of the most notable roster moves from the past week.

Lauren Cox was waived by the Indiana Fever on Sunday and, three days later, was picked up by the Los Angeles Sparks. The No. 3 overall selection in the 2020 WNBA Draft, Cox averaged 8.6 minutes per game this year and played in just 25 games over two seasons, not giving her much of a chance to prove her worth. She was a standout in college, helping lead Baylor to a national championship in 2019 and winning Big 12 Player of the Year in 2020.

Kiah Stokes is another former first-round pick who struggled to assert herself this year. Despite playing a major role on the Liberty last year, Stokes found herself in a different situation this season, appearing in just nine of the Liberty’s 17 games. In those nine games, she averaged 4.2 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.7 blocks and 1.7 points in 15 minutes. She has reportedly signed with the Las Vegas Aces, which would reunite her with Bill Laimbeer, her coach with the Liberty for from 2015-17.

Multiple league sources confirm to @TheNextHoops that former New York Liberty Center Kiah Stokes has signed with the Las Vegas Aces. Stokes joins her former coach Bill Laimbeer who she played for from 2015-2017.#ALLIN | #WNBA| #counit

— Jackie Powell (@ClassicJpow) June 30, 2021

Rachel Banham was waived Monday by the Lynx. The Lynx have been hit hard by injuries this season, forcing them to get creative with roster maneuvering and hardship contracts, and Banham appears to have been a casualty of that. In her second season with the Lynx, Banham was averaging 4.4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 11.5 minutes per game. The team is reportedly planning to re-sign Banham, a former Minnesota Gopher and hometown favorite, to a restructured contract if and when she clears waivers. The Lynx also terminated Layshia Clarendon’s hardship contract Thursday but are expected to re-sign her to a season-long deal.

Kiana Williams is one of the notable 2021 draftees to have been waived by her team. Selected 18th overall in April after winning a national championship at Stanford, Williams appeared in eight games for the Storm. She was an impact player with the Cardinal, averaging 13.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game during her career while setting a school record for 3-pointers made. But with the likes of Jewell Loyd and Sue Bird ahead of her on the depth chart, she wasn’t getting enough playing time in Seattle.

Kristine Anigwe joined the Sparks on June 4 under a hardship contract after Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike were sidelined with injuries. That contract was terminated on Wednesday. Adding in three games for Dallas before she moved to the Sparks, Anigwe has appeared in 10 total games this season, averaging 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in 13.6 minutes per game.

Karlie Samuelson and Bria Holmes were also cut by the Sparks, but both were re-signed under hardship contracts. Samuelson scored a career-high 13 points on 5-for-5 shooting in a win against Washington last week. Through six games, she has averaged 3.2 points, 1.5 rebounds and one assist in 13 minutes per game. Meanwhile, Holmes has played in 12 games, averaging five points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 18.8 minutes per game. She also holds the franchise record for single-game plus/minus with a +39, which was set on June 3 against the Indiana Fever.

Joyner Holmes joined the Aces in May after the team waived forward Emma Cannon. Holmes, originally drafted by Seattle in 2020 and later picked up by the Liberty, was waived by New York once Kiah Stokes returned from overseas play. Holmes played in just four games for the Aces, averaging 3.3 points and shooting 50 percent from the field.

Kiara Leslie, Megan Gustafson and Stella Johnson were all waived by the Mystics. Gustafson was signed on a hardship contract and, as a result, saw limited playing time. Johnson also received limited minutes. Leslie, on the other hand, was drafted in the first round by the team in 2019 and carried for a full year despite being injured and unable to play. In the three seasons since she was drafted, Leslie has played in only 28 WNBA games. In nine games this season, Leslie has averaged just 2.8 points in under 10 minutes per game. Mystics head coach and general manager Mike Thibault had the following to say about the move:

" She missed all of her first year, last year in the bubble she played 19 of the 22 games. Saw some progress, this year it's been up and down. My feeling is with a player that with a player that is up and down is that I don't want to guarantee em" - Mike Thibault #TheFocusTV

— Focus TV (@TheFocus_TV) June 28, 2021

On Thursday, the Mystics signed Gustafson and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough to seven-day contracts. Walker-Kimbrough, drafted sixth overall by the Mystics in 2017, played her first three WNBA seasons in Washington.

Chelsey Perry was picked up by the Fever after being released by them back in May. She played in the Fever’s two preseason games, scoring a team-high 16 points against Chicago on May 19, and their first two regular season games. But she faced an uphill battle on Indiana’s depth chart and was waived in order for the team to sign Betti Hatar. After the WNBA season, Perry is set to continue playing in Spain for AE Sedis Bàsquet.

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

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Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.