Less than a month after she was selected by the Connecticut Sun at No. 19 overall, and less than two weeks after she began training camp with the team, former Kansas center Taiyanna Jackson has been waived.
The Sun announced the news Friday morning, a day after Jackson made her first unofficial appearance in a Connecticut jersey, scoring two points and grabbing three rebounds in an 82-79 preseason loss to New York on Thursday.
Connecticut also waived former Arizona guard Helena Pueyo, who was selected three picks after Jackson.
When Jackson went in the second round of the draft on April 15, she became the first Jayhawk selected since Chelsea Gardner in 2015. Jackson, a native of East Chicago, Indiana, played just three seasons at KU after transferring from Trinity Valley Community College but became the Jayhawks’ all-time blocks leader and averaged a double-double during her collegiate career.
In advance of waiving Jackson, the Sun had added a veteran player at her position when they traded for the Washington Mystics’ Queen Egbo on Tuesday.
Thirty-six rookies were picked in the WNBA draft, but the league has just 12 teams and so offers an absolute maximum of 144 roster spots. The Associated Press reported that since 2018, just 65.7% of players picked in the draft have ended up getting the chance to play in a WNBA game.
KU coach Brandon Schneider had expressed optimism about the Sun’s selection of Jackson as a good fit for his former player in an April 30 episode of his “Hawk Talk” radio show.
However, he added, “So many veterans dominate the sport because it’s hard to supplant them and get them off the roster. As they should, they’re going to fight to keep those jobs and keep those spots as long as they can.”
The WNBA season begins on Tuesday.
Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World
