WNBA: McDonald, Evans among players in line for breakout 2023 season

The 2023 WNBA season is right around the corner, and with teams beginning training camp on Sunday, there are a handful of players who project to have more on their plates when the games officially begin.

• By
  
  Eric Nemchock
  
• on April 29, 2023 3:06 pm

WNBA training camp for the 2023 season begins on Sunday, and, as usual, teams don’t have much time to make important roster decisions before the games officially begin on Friday, May 19. While WNBA teams can typically have up to 15 players in camp at any one time, some players will be arriving to camp late due to overseas commitments, which complicates matters.

That being said, there are plenty of players whose roster spots for the 2023 season are more or less secured, and a flurry of activity during the past offseason’s free agency period leaves some of these players in positions to have career years. Here are 10 players who could make the 2023 WNBA season their most productive.

Aari McDonald (Atlanta Dream)

By a point guard’s third season in the WNBA, they’re generally expected to have adjusted to the speed of the professional game and to have picked up the nuances that are required for success at the position. McDonald will have a golden opportunity in 2023 to prove she’s the Dream’s long-term answer at point guard; save for the soon-to-be 34-year-old Danielle Robinson, Atlanta has few other ball handlers on its roster, and the Dream’s emphasis on wing players in the 2023 WNBA Draft suggests that they’re comfortable rolling with McDonald in the starting lineup. Last season, McDonald played well when multiple Dream injuries forced her into a starting role, averaging 16 points (60 percent true shooting percentage) and 4.7 assists (2.00 assist/turnover ratio) per game, so hopefully that’s a sign of things to come for the dynamic young guard.

Alanna Smith (Chicago Sky)

No team lost more in free agency than the Sky, who opted to reload by acquiring several veteran players rather than rebuild. It’s easy to see that most of these players — Marina Mabrey, Isabelle Harrison and Elizabeth Williams, in particular — will factor heavily into the Sky’s rotation this season, but don’t sleep on Smith’s potential impact, either. According to The Next, Chicago outbid other teams by offering Smith a guaranteed salary, and after the team suspended Astou Ndour-Fall’s contract for the season, there aren’t any other frontcourt players on its roster who can reliably shoot the ball from 3-point range. Smith has struggled to hold onto a consistent offensive role thus far in her WNBA career, but most signs point towards that changing in Chicago.

Ezi Magbegor (Seattle Storm)

Magbegor was well on her way to Defensive Player of the…