July 19, 2022

Daily Briefing — July 19, 2022: Indiana-Los Angeles leads uncompetitive Tuesday schedule, Vegas says

A morning treat in Uncasville

Indiana Fever combo forward Victoria Vivians releases a jump ball off her fingertips, as Connecticut Sun big wing Jonquel Jones jumps towards her with an outstretched arm to try to block the shot

Indiana combo forward Victoria Vivians will look to be on her A-game as the Fever face a winnable game in Los Angeles on the Tuesday schedule. (Photo Credit: Chris Poss)

It’s Tuesday. Welcome to The Next’s Daily Briefing, featuring the W Roundup and daily Watch List. Day 62 of the WNBA season is here, featuring a resumption of the W schedule, a number of wacky signings that basically circumvent the salary cap, and me, trying my dang hardest to get this article to 300 words. Do you want to know a fun fact? WordPress doesn’t like sending articles that have less than 300 words! Something to do with SEO (“search engine optimization”). (Editor’s note: I can confirm that this has a lot to do with Google searches, though information is sparse about why this matters so much to Google. In future TDB issues where we are struggling to reach 300 words, we’ll be sure to explore various theories about this in great detail.)

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Anyway, after a day off, the league is back with three fairly uncompetitive games on the schedule — at least according to Vegas. The books have the lines of New York-Connecticut at -8.0, Atlanta-Las Vegas at -11.0, and Indiana-Los Angeles at -8.5. Which feels right, unfortunately. But Indiana and Los Angeles have both struggled, so there’s some chance that game might get weird and therefore fun.

Hopefully that got me to 300 words. (Editor’s note: right on schedule.)

But first, read:

Mark Schindler looked at what Bria Hartley might bring to the Sun (I’m a fan of the “Natisha Hiedeman, but worse” comp)

W Roundup

Connecticut: Signed Bria Hartley to a rest-of-season contract

Minnesota: Big Nikolina Milić’s third seven-day contract expired. The Lynx cannot sign her to another seven-day.

Phoenix: Big Reshanda Gray and off-ball guard Jennie Simms had their third seven-day contracts expire; Gray was re-signed to a rest-of-season contract, while Simms was re-signed to a hardship due to Kia Nurse’s torn ACL — which she probably will not return from this year — putting the Mercury under 10 healthy players.

Washington: Re-signed off-ball guard Evina Westbrook to a rest-of-season contract after her third and final seven-day contract expired

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Watch List, Tuesday, June 19

(All times in Eastern, Game Of The Day in bold)

New York @ Connecticut, 11:30 a.m., NBA TV (Local: YES, NESN)

Atlanta @ Las Vegas, 10 p.m., NBA TV (Local: Bally Sports Southeast, My LV TV)

Indiana @ Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network (Local: Indiana Fever Livestream, Spectrum SportsNet)

Written by Em Adler

Em Adler (she/they) covers the WNBA at large and college basketball for The Next, with a focus on player development and the game behind the game.