Why WNBA Teams Are Using Hardship Contracts Despite Expanded Rosters

One reason hardship exceptions are already being used—and will likely continue to be used frequently—is because developmental players are not counted when determining hardship eligibility, according to a league source.

Teams can be granted two types of hardship exceptions: A regular hardship may be granted to teams with at least two players out with injury, illness, or other conditions for at least three weeks—and the second injured player must have already missed at least two games. Or an emergency hardship, like those granted to the Liberty and Valkyries. A league source tells Front Office Sports that the hardship exception rules remain mostly the same under the new CBA.

The only difference for hardship contracts under the new CBA is salary. Previous seven-day hardship contracts are worth 75% of the minimum base salary, pro-rated by each day a player is with the team. Hardship contracts are now pro-rated to 100% of the minimum, which is worth $270,000 for a rookie and goes up to $300,000 for a player with 10+ years of service.

Based on the deal, a hardship player will make around $2,200–$2,440 per day.

Theoretically, an injury-riddled team could use their developmental players to get to at least 10 available players and still apply for a hardship contract. That should be a significant advantage for teams compared to last season as they could still backfill a 12-person roster with both hardship and developmental players.

But there are complications with filling out the developmental players spots. The Liberty and Valkyries have each only signed one developmental player, and the Liberty’s Marine Fauthoux is out recovering from an ACL tear.

Teams that signed players to training camp deals had to first waive those players and hope they clear waivers before they are allowed to re-sign as a developmental player. But those players may also be picked up by other teams.

Australian forward Anneli Maley, who the Liberty were reportedly interested in after training camp, was picked up by the Phoenix Mercury on waivers. The Mercury also picked up Marta Suárez, the No. 16 pick in this year’s draft. The Valkyries waived Suárez after acquiring her in a controversial draft-night trade.

The early-season roster issues show that there’s still room to improve roster expansion beyond the two developmental slots, through tweaking developmental spot rules or simply adding more roster spots.

In the NBA, teams have 15 roster spots plus an additional three for two-way players, the NBA’s version of the developmental contract. Two-way players can play up to 50 games, which is more than half the season.

The NBA also has a G League, a developmental league where teams can easily plug roster holes by picking up and signing players who are already in-market. The WNBA does not have its own developmental league.

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