Small Contracts with a Big Impact » Winsidr

Welcome to the fourth annual edition of Within the Margins, part free agency recap and part season preview, where I look at league rosters and examine the work team executives did to build rosters with the rigid rules the WNBA allows. I then pick out three players who signed deals that appear to be a great value to the team, and someone who can have a big impact on the team despite what their salary might suggest. Past editions of this series have highlighted players like Aari McDonald, Jordin Canada, and Tierra McCowen. 

Each year of writing this article, I find the practice of finding these types of player impacts to be more difficult, and 2025 is no exception. More and more of the veteran protected contracts appear to be going in six-figure amounts and it can be hard in the preseason to know what teams plan on doing with their training camp contracts, who is going to be cut, or who’s sticking around.

Additionally, injuries play a big role in who can have an impact on the court for teams. Two years ago, I had big hopes for Rebekah Gardner but she unfortunately suffered a major injury early on in the season and is just now finding her way back to the league with the New York Liberty. Already this preseason, we have seen injuries rearing their ugly head, with players like Georgia Amoore and Megan Gustafson already lost for the season .

As with the previous versions of this series, I’m looking for contracts that are less than $100,000 and someone who signed with their team during the offseason free agency period. 

Shaneice Swain

We’re already pushing the rules a little bit with this one. While Swain technically signed during the free agency period, her deal is a rookie scale contract with the Los Angeles Sparks, who drafted her in 2023. Even though this is not really a free agent signing, it’s one that could play a key role for the Sparks in 2025. 

Swain is a 21-year-old Australian who has made a name for herself in her home country’s WNBL, where she played for the Sydney Flames. She lit up the league last season, leading her team in scoring and three-pointers made. 

@thewnbl Remember the name – Shaneice Swain. The 21 year old casually dropped a 40 piece on Wednesday night 😤 #WeAreWNBL @Sydney Flames @The Los Angeles Sparks ♬ original sound – BOSS X SLOWED 💸🎶

Her confidence and ability to score anywhere on the court is going to be a welcome sight in Los Angeles. The 2024 Sparks finished the regular season at the bottom of the standings, in part thanks to a woeful offense that ranked 10th or lower in major offensive categories like team scoring, effective field goal percentage and true shooting percentage. 

Swain’s wide open offensive game will also pair nicely with her new coach, Lynne Roberts, who became known for her team’s high octane offense and freedom to shoot beyond the arc at the collegiate level. The Australian’s ability to handle the ball and manage an offense will also fit in alongside scorers like Kelsey Plum and Rickea Jackson, offering spacing and scoring variety to an offense that desperately needed a shooter’s touch last season. 

Tiffany Mitchell

When Mitchell signed with the Las Vegas Aces this offseason, much of the attention about the deal focused on reuniting Mitchell with her fellow South Carolina Gamecock A’ja Wilson. the former South Carolina Gamecocks who played together for two seasons in Columbia.  Mitchell and Wilson being on the same team again does make for a feel-good story, but it also omits the fact that Mitchell is a really good fit in Las Vegas. The new-look Aces have plenty of offensive firepower as they have through their recent dominance of the league, and adding players like Jewell Loyd from Seattle will continue to provide that scoring punch. However, the team has lacked contributions from the bench and struggled mightily when one of their big three have gone down with an injury.

Enter Mitchell, a savvy veteran who has been around the WNBA since 2016, playing for several different teams and adapting to a number of situations with each destination she’s played at. With her size and skillset, she can fit into either guard position as well as defend multiple positions on the perimeter. Even though her last stop with Connecticut saw her average only 4.9 PPG, she holds a career average of 8.8 PPG and can find a bucket for her team in a number of different ways.

@hoops.digest Tiffany Mitchell contested finish 😍😍 #WNBA #womensbasketball #basketball #connecticutsun #tiffanymitchell #fyp #fypage #fy #foryoupage #fyp ♬ original sound – Hoops Digest

While she likely won’t be challenging the Aces’ starters for minutes, she is positioning herself to be a reliable option off the bench for a team that has lacked bench scoring the last few seasons. 

Sydney Colson

It’s unfortunate that we can’t quantify a stat for “vibes” created or maintained on a team, but if we could, Syd Colson would likely be a league leader. During her three seasons with the Aces, Colson became famous for her viral shenanigans with teammates that regularly made their way around the social media discussion on the WNBA. Her personality and good nature have been credited for supporting team chemistry with those Aces teams that won back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023. 

However, Colson can play and that often gets lost in the conversation about what she brings to the league. While not getting many minutes as a member of the Aces, in the time she was on the court she had her share of shining moments. In Las Vegas 2023 championship run, she stepped in and played big minutes in the WNBA Finals against the New York Liberty after Gray went down with an injury. In the series-deciding Game Four, she played 15 minutes (more than she had in the last five postseason games combined), without a turnover and scored a game-tying basket with under two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

@yeahshehoop Syd Colson From Deep 👀🏹 #wnba #wnbahighlights #lasvegasaces #wnbaisback #wnbaallstar #everyonewatcheswomenssports #wnba2024 #wnbaplayoffs #wnbabasketball #recordbreaking #fromdeep ♬ original sound – yeahshehoop

Colson is now stepping onto a team that has made their championship aspirations clear. After drafting Caitlin Clark with the first overall draft pick in 2024 and watching her play in such dominant fashion en route to Rookie of the Year and All-WNBA honors, the Indiana Fever got busy this past offseason to support her success going forward. The team re-signed their other star player, Kesley Mitchell, to a core contract. They hired Stephanie White, a highly respected head coach, and brought in high profile players like DeWanna Bonner, Natasha Howard and Sophie Cunningham.

By adding Colson the team made clear their championship dreams applied to the whole roster, and bringing in someone who will make their team better in tangible and intangible ways, is a part of their priorities. It worked out pretty well in Las Vegas. 

Each of the three players listed fit a unique need for their new team. Whether it’s with on-court production or in culture-building in practice, these players demonstrate that each roster spot plays a vital role in what a team wants to accomplish each season. Though they may not get the shine and the money of bigger names, their value is recognized across the league. 

That’s it for this year’s exercise of finding small contracts with big upside. If there’s anyone I missed, you can find me on Bluesky and let me know what your thoughts are. 

One thing to note is that with the league’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) set to change, contracts for WNBA players could look very different in 2026. Whatever change happens, I look forward to sharing with you what players can still be of value to their team in the coming years.