Layshia Clarendon, Crystal Dangerfield waived by Lynx as Odyssey Sims returns to team

The Lynx waived veteran point guard Layshia Clarendon on Tuesday ahead of Friday's opener at Seattle.

Eight-year veteran guard Odyssey Sims also signed a training camp contract to cap a whirlwind day of roster moves.

Also cut were guards Crystal Dangerfield and Yvonne Turner, forwards Rennia Davis and Kayla Jones and center Hannah Sjerven.

The Lynx roster now has 11 players, and with Damiris Dantas injured, Kayla McBride overseas and Napheesa Collier expecting a child, the team applied to the WNBA for two hardship spots. Waived players must clear a 48-hour window before they can sign a new contract.

By making those cuts Tuesday, it's possible that one or both of those replacement contracts could go to players cut by the Lynx and still have them ready to play in the season opener.

A right fibula stress fracture hampered Clarendon at the end of last season and flared up again during the preseason.

"It wasn't that Lay became a bad basketball player," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. "It had nothing to do with Lay's abilities to lead or play. Just, we didn't feel like, to start the season, we were in a good place physically."

Clarendon arrived in Minnesota after the Lynx got out to an 0-4 start last season, powering them to a 22-10 record and the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. Clarendon was also in the spotlight as the first openly nonbinary player in the league. They signed a one-year, non-guaranteed $90,000 contract with Minnesota in February, but the injury never fully healed, causing soreness that held them out of the first preseason game against Washington and to limited minutes on Sunday against Las Vegas. Had they made the final 11-player roster, their contract would have become fully guaranteed.

"Our thinking was I have a point guard who can't be in every rep and has to be modified and, you know, at the drop of a hat, might have some soreness or things like that," Reeve said. "It doesn't feel like the right thing to do to start the season. Would I love to have Lay back at some point? Absolutely."

Sims rejoins the Lynx after playing with the Atlanta Dream last season. The 5-8 guard played in Minnesota in 2019 and 2020 and made the All-Star team in her first season with the Lynx, averaging 14.5 points, 5.4 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals.

"Obviously, you know, getting us a healthy player that we know that was available, and that we think will be hungry because they were sitting at home," Reeve said of Sims. "And we think there'll be a level of hunger for Odyssey, and she knows how we roll, and she'll be ready to help."

Sims didn't practice with the team Tuesday but is expected to be in the lineup Friday. She spent the offseason as part of the Athletes Unlimited basketball league, a unique player-run league featuring WNBA names such as Natasha Cloud and Courtney Williams.

After missing Sunday's preseason game because of a knee injury, Angel McCoughtry received a platelet-rich plasma injection that might keep her out of Friday's season opener. PRP injections accelerate the healing of joints and tendons and take several days before the recipient can return to physical activity.

"That's a possibility," Reeve said when asked if the injection would cause McCoughtry to miss the game. "It does not keep her out long term. We've got to make a decision, does it make sense to one, fly? You know, do we just wait, maybe see her on Sunday [at home against Washington]? We're working through all that."

McCoughtry signed with the Lynx this February after missing two of the past three seasons because of torn ligaments in her left knee in 2019 and a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee last year.