Valkyries drop rookies | NWSLPA raises concerns | Ohanian buys into Chelsea

Going hard in the paint.

WNBA teams cut more big names

Big-name roster cuts dominated the WNBA headlines on Wednesday, with teams scrambling to meet the league’s size and salary cap requirements before Friday’s season tip-off.

• Golden State, Minnesota, Atlanta, Washington, and Dallas announced finalized rosters, with a handful of teams still weighing their options as the clock ticks down.

Stealing the spotlight: Expansion side Golden State caused the most commotion, dropping Cinderella story rookie Kaitlyn Chen (UConn) and 2023 No. 8 overall draft pick Laeticia Amihere (South Carolina) after initially cutting this year’s No. 17 overall pick Shyanne Sellers (Maryland) last week.

• The Valkyries will now make their WNBA debut without a single 2025 draft pick, with No. 5 overall pick Justė Jocytė choosing to remain overseas for this summer’s Eurobasket.

2023 takes a hit: Amihere wasn’t the only member of her draft class shown the door, as Atlanta cut No. 6 overall pick Haley Jones (Stanford) while Minnesota released No. 7 pick Grace Berger (Indiana) — leaving the league with only five 2023 first-rounders.

• On the flip side, Connecticut dropped 30-year-old guard Diamond DeShields this morning after signing the 2021 WNBA champion just three months prior.

Bottom line: Both rookies, mid-career players, and vets are on the chopping block this week, with teams showing little mercy for fan favorites as they fine-tune their plans for what promises to be a highly competitive WNBA season.

NWSLPA voices safety concerns

The NWSL Players Association (NWSLPA) is urging for change in protocol, with the union issuing concerns about the handling of Angel City defender Savy King’s late-match medical event.

• The game between Los Angeles and Utah resumed play on Friday, picking up where they left off after King’s on-pitch collapse required nearly 10 minutes of life-saving intervention from medical staff.

• King was transported to an area hospital amid a crowd of visibly distressed players and coaches, with the 20-year-old later undergoing successful surgery to fix a previously undetected heart abnormality.

The call: “These moments demand humanity, sound judgment, and restraint,” the NWSLPA posted on Wednesday. “Any medical emergency that requires the administration of life-saving care should bring play to an end. The match should not have continued.”

• “Incidents of this severity must prioritize our collective humanity and should automatically trigger suspension of the match,” it continued. “The Players Association is committed to making this the standard in NWSL.”

Takeaway: As the NWSL braces for rapid expansion, the NWSLPA remains laser-focused on ensuring player safety never takes a backseat, both on and off the field.

• “The seriousness of this incident requires a deliberate process that is careful and methodical,” the league said in response. “That process is underway, and will include necessary revisions that prioritize the consideration of player, staff, and fan well-being.”

Ohanian expands women’s sports portfolio

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian is Chelsea FC’s newest owner, with the husband to tennis icon Serena Williams reportedly dropping £20 million ($26.6 million USD) on a 10% stake in the WSL champions earlier this week.

• Ohanian is no stranger to investing in women’s sports, from launching Angel City as the NWSL club’s majority owner to founding Athlos NYC, the 2024 women’s track and field event with a $663,000 total purse.

• “I’ve bet big on women’s sports before — and I’m doing it again,” Ohanian tweeted. “I’m proud to announce that I’m joining @ChelseaFCW as an investor and board member. I’m honored for the chance to help this iconic club become America’s favorite @BarclaysWSL team and much, much more.”

Big picture: Ohanian’s investment comes amid soaring valuations for women’s pro teams — with Chelsea’s $257 million price tag ranking as the highest in all of women’s soccer.

• The buy-in also indicates Chelsea’s commitment to further distancing the women’s operation from the men’s, with ownership moving the women’s team under an independent subsidiary last June.

• While most European women’s teams remain closely affiliated with their men’s counterpart, severing ties is on the rise, with US billionaire Michele Kang assuming majority ownership over Olympique Lyonnais and the newly promoted London City Lionesses in recent years.

Bottom line: With skyrocketing revenue and Kang’s fleet proving that independence benefits women’s teams, expect to see even more US investors eyeing women’s sports opportunities abroad.

The Soccer Tournament (TST) — the annual 7×7 competition with a $1 million winner-take-all prize — is taking the pitch once again this summer, with RBC Wealth Management joining as the presenting sponsor of the women's event.

TST kicks off on June 5th, 2025 in Cary, North Carolina.

WNBA stars get the Funko treatment

There’s a new women’s basketball collectible in town, with toy-maker Funko now transforming some of the WNBA’s biggest stars into Funko Pop! figurines.

• A’ja Wilson, Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, and Breanna Stewart feature in this week’s opening pre-sale, with the brand expected to introduce more players in future drops.

• “Bringing these trailblazing athletes to our Pop! lineup is not just about collectibles — it’s about celebrating the energy, talent, and influence of women’s basketball,” said Funko CEO Cynthia Williams in a release.

Get yours: The WNBA figurines run $12 each and are available to purchase online.

FIFA targets $1 billion in WWC revenue

FIFA is shooting to make $1 billion in revenue off the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, said federation president Gianni Infantino at this week’s Saudi Arabia-US Investment Forum in Ryadh.

• 2023 World Cup hosts Australia and New Zealand broke even with over $570 million in total revenue, while Infantino is aiming to generate nearly double that figure at the first-ever South America-hosted tournament.

• “Women in football are crucially important,” Infantino stated. “It’s growing as well, and exponentially, and we are targeting that as well to have $1 billion revenue just with the Women's World Cup to reinvest in the women's game.”

Next up: US Soccer and Concacaf are on deck to welcome the WWC back to North America in 2031, with that year’s field set to expand from 32 to 48 teams.

Quote of the day

Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson
commenting on a photo of former Aces rookie Kate Martin decked out in her new Valkyries uniform this week.