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Sparks waive former NCAA champion ahead of roster signing
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- Sparks waive former NCAA champion ahead of roster signing
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LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Sparks attempted their first in-season poach of a development contract player as per the new WNBA CBA, and it appears as if they were successful. Following Sparks practice on Friday morning, head coach Lynne Roberts confirmed that the team cut second-year center Sania Feagin in anticipation of the expected signing of Kiana Williams to the roster.
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Feagin was in her second season after being selected by the Sparks with the No. 21 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. She had recently returned from a leg injury that caused her to miss six games earlier this year. She was a part of South Carolina's national championship teams in 2022 and 2024.
With the league's new development contracts, teams are allowed to essentially sign those players away from opposing teams via an offer sheet similar to restricted free agency. If the player's original team does not match, they would then join their new team but on a standard deal.
Roberts acknowledged that Williams was in route to Los Angeles this weekend. Presumably she would be available for the Sparks' game against the New York Liberty on Sunday, but no formal designation has been determined yet. For the Sparks, the decision came down to simply needing what Williams brings to the court.
"We have a real need for another ball-handling point guard," Roberts said after practice. "There's the business element and there's the human element So it's tough. I love Sania and still believe that she can make it in this league. It's just more about our need, that's the business side of it. But certainly the human side is tough."
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Williams is currently in her fifth season in the WNBA, averaging career highs with 4.8 points and 36 percent shooting from the 3-point line in a little over 13 minutes across eight games. She was initially signed to a standard contract by the Mercury, but was waived and re-signed to a development deal following the team's acquisition of Lexi Held .
With Kelsey Plum and Erica Wheeler in the starting lineup, the Sparks felt they needed more of a true point guard with the second unit, rather than trying to play the team's rookies out of their comfort zone.
"Somebody that can take some of the pressure off of Erica and Kelsey," Roberts said. "We tried to figure it out with Chance Gray and JP [Jihyun Park] or Ta'Niya [Latson] and that's asking them to play out of their positions. It was taking away from what they're good at."
Judging by Roberts' comments, it sounds like it's a good bet that Williams will step in as the primary backup at point guard. And she already has some experience playing with a few of the players on the roster.
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"She's a good player. She can shoot but she can help run the team. She's out there getting us into the right spots, execute the way we need to, she's just a smart player and has a lot of experience," Roberts said. "She was at Unrivaled this year with a lot of our guys who were there, she played with E-Dub [Erica Wheeler] and Nneka in Seattle , so that comfort level with our roster, we felt good about it."
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Related: Sparks attempt 1st in-season poach via new WNBA development contracts
