Phoenix Mercury waive guard Kiana Williams to open up cap space, roster spot
The Phoenix Mercury waived guard Kiana Williams on Thursday, ahead of Sunday's mid-season cutdown deadline.
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury waived guard Kiana Williams on Thursday, ahead of Sunday’s midseason cutdown deadline.
Teams have until Sunday to waive players on unprotected contracts without those contracts becoming fully guaranteed.
Waiving Williams also opens up a roster spot for Phoenix. The Mercury now have 11 players rostered, one below the league-maximum of 12 players.
Williams signed a prorated, unprotected contract for $43,312 on June 26. The Mercury will now only owe her for those 14 days she was on the team, which is roughly $9,440.
Before waiving Williams, the Mercury had $41,041 in cap space, now after waiving Williams they have $74,913 in cap space, enough to sign a player like Emma Meesseman to a proration of the veteran minimum of $78,831 (for players with at least three years of WNBA experience).
For example, if Meesseman signed on Thursday, she could sign for roughly $42,855, the proration of the veteran minimum. She could also receive a bonus similar to DeWanna Bonner.
On Tuesday, Bonner signed with the Mercury for $63,721 for the rest of the season. The proration of the veteran minimum was $43,721, and she received an extra $20,000.
In four games with Phoenix, Williams averaged 5.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.3 steals in 10.5 minutes per game.
Williams had a career-high 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting (88%), four assists and three rebounds in 21 minutes in Monday’s victory over the Dallas Wings.
In Wednesday’s win over the Minnesota Lynx, Williams had two points (on 1-for-4 shooting) and two rebounds in 16 minutes.