Greg Bibb: "Monique [Billings] and Odyssey [Sims] have been really good for us."

we sit here today we are a capped out team financially now why does that matter here's why it matters when the injured players come back uh when the first injured player returns we will be forced to release one of the two hardship contracts that's either Mo'Nique or Odyssey we don't have a choice it has to be a hardship contract there's no ability to say you know what both players have playing great and by the way they've been tremendous for us we've decided that we'll keep them and we'll release another player can't do that one of the those two must be released when the second injured player Returns the second hardship contract must be released again no choice in terms of changing out that player that hardship contract must be released so as two come back Monique and ay must come off when we release them they become unrestricted free agents immediately and can sign with any team the next day with the exception of the team who released them from the hardship contract us for us in order for us to resign either one of those players coming off a hardship contract we have a 10day wait so effectively the clock on all of these things would start the first day that the season returns which is the 15th of August so if we in fact have two players come back prior to the 15th and if in fact that we release both hardship players the clock on that 10day wait for us would begin on the 15th of August and then effectively our first date uh as an opportunity to resign either one of them or both of them would be the 25th of August now the additional complication comes into effect here that again we are capped out in terms of space therefore in order to resign both Odyssey or Monique or even one of the two players we would have to create cap space because we are in the second half of the Season all contracts have been guaranteed by this point the only way that we create cap space is to trade a player to another team and not bring back a salary from that team that is a complicated situation because much like us almost every team in the WNBA is either at the cap or very close to the cap so finding teams who have an interest in a player we were willing to move and the cap space to absorb that salary and not return any money to US is challenging at this point in the season with that said I'm working the phones every day we're trying to find uh ways to get better as we move into the final 15 games and again Mo'Nique and Odyssey have been really good for us if we can find a way just to bring back one if not both of those players that is a priority um I just don't know if it's going to be a reality so that is kind of the situation as we move into the final 15 games you know the good news for us nine of the 15 are at home the challenging news for us we have by record the hardest schedule of all 12 WNBA teams remaining we are four and a half games out of a playoff spot with 15 games to go so a lot of work to do do but not an impossibility we're going to look to ride the momentum of our last game on July 17th in the big win against Indiana the momentum of R playing the All-Star contest the momentum of sat playing the Olympics and get ready to play Connecticut on August 16th as we head down the stretch