Phoenix Mercury waive guard Amy Atwell
After signing a training camp contract last week, guard Amy Atwell was waived by the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday.
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury waived guard Amy Atwell on Thursday.
The move comes after Atwell and the Mercury had agreed to a training camp deal just last week.
Because Atwell was on a one-year, non-guaranteed training camp contract for $66,079, the contract will not count toward the Mercury’s salary cap because Atwell did not make the Mercury’s opening night roster.
Atwell is currently playing for the Perth Lynx in the WNBL in Australia. After working her way back from a knee injury to start the WNBL season, Atwell has appeared in 13 games and has made four starts for Perth. She is averaging 12 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game while shooting 33.8% from the field and 28.7% from three.
Atwell’s partner, Ally Wilson, signed for Perth prior to the start of the 2024-25 WNBL season.
After five seasons at the University of Hawaii, Atwell was originally drafted by the Los Angeles Sparks in the third round of the 2022 WNBA Draft (27th overall). Atwell made the Sparks’ opening night roster and appeared in four games, but was waived by Los Angeles in June 2022.
She received a training camp invite from the Mercury in 2024 but did not make the team’s opening night roster.
After replacing an injured Bec Allen, Atwell won an Olympic bronze medal with Australia at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Perth native signed her first seven-day contract with the Mercury on Sept. 6 and signed a subsequent seven-day contract with the Mercury on Sept. 12. She signed a rest-of-season contract with the Mercury on Sept. 19.
Atwell played in six regular-season games for the Mercury in 2024. She averaged 2.5 points, 1.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 9.8 minutes per game.
Thursday’s roster move leaves the Mercury with 12 players in total signed to contracts (of all types).
Six players are signed to guaranteed contracts in 2025 (Satou Sabally, Alyssa Thomas, Kahleah Copper, Kalani Brown, Sami Whitcomb and “Kit” Laska).
Natasha Mack, Celeste Taylor, Sevgi Uzun, Lexi Held and Kathryn Westbeld have all signed training camp contracts, while Anna Makurat is signed to a rookie scale contract.
Teams may have as many as 18 players in training camp before having to trim the final roster down to 12 players before the first regular season game.