The Indiana Fever waived 2020 No. 3 pick Lauren Cox on Sunday in an unexpected move for the league’s worst team. The 23-year-old has played just 25 games in her WNBA career after a standout tenure at Baylor University. The Fever sit last place in the WNBA’s standings with a 1-15 record.
Cox has struggled since joining the league, averaging just 2.6 points per game on 38.7 percent shooting with 2.7 rebounds and 0.9 assists a night. She played 14 of her 25 games her rookie year after contracting COVID-19 and joining the team late. This season, she’s hardly played at all. In 8.6 minutes per night, she averaged just 1.4 points on 31.6 percent shooting with a pair of rebounds per game.
The Fever’s decision to cut such a high draft pick so soon is an admission of something, whether it be a failure of talent evaluation or development. Cox was selected after Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally but ahead of Atlanta Dream star Chennedy Carter.
But giving up on a college star so soon is shocking, and it’s really tough to say why this decision was made. Still, it’s noteworthy that the Fever are still prioritizing veteran play over development despite their awful start to the season.
Kysre Gondrezick, the Fever’s surprise No. 4 pick in the most recent Draft, is playing just 10.2 minutes per game off the bench and scoring 2.3 points on 28.9 percent shooting. Teaira McCowan, the 6’7 center and No. 3 pick in 2019, comes off the bench for 25 minutes per night. She’s averaging 10.5 points per game on 51.9 percent shooting with 8.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks. Victoria Vivians, the 2018 No. 8 pick, plays just 15.1 minutes per game.
None of what Indiana is doing is working. They’re being out-scored by a ghastly 17.5 points per 100 possessions. If that stands, it’d be the second-worst scoring deficit in the league’s 25-year history. They have the league’s worst offensive and defensive rating this season by a healthy margin.
That’s why it’s all the more perplexing for the Fever to give up on a top Draft selection so abruptly. The rest of the summer is as good a time as any for Indiana to give big minutes to its younger players. Regardless of how they choose to divvy up play-time in the final months of the season, it appears they’ll be looking at the draft lottery to change the direction of the franchise — again.