{"id":243905,"date":"2026-05-18T02:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/wnba-2026-australian-anneli-maley-waived-by-phoenix-mercury-after-playing-just-six-minutes-snubbed-from-opals-squad-wnbl-grand-final-loss\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T02:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T02:10:00","slug":"wnba-2026-australian-anneli-maley-waived-by-phoenix-mercury-after-playing-just-six-minutes-snubbed-from-opals-squad-wnbl-grand-final-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/18\/wnba-2026-australian-anneli-maley-waived-by-phoenix-mercury-after-playing-just-six-minutes-snubbed-from-opals-squad-wnbl-grand-final-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA 2026: Australian Anneli Maley waived by Phoenix Mercury after playing just six minutes, snubbed from Opals squad, WNBL grand final loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

Australian forward Anneli Maley\u2019s Phoenix Mercury stint is over almost as quickly as it began after the Perth Lynx rebound machine was waived by the club on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The move came less than a week after the Melbourne-born forward earned a second WNBA opportunity by joining the Mercury following her pre-season campaign with the New York Liberty.<\/p>\n

\ufeffWatch NBA with ESPN on Kayo Sports | Stream an average 9 LIVE Regular Season games per week plus the best of the NBA Playoffs.| New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/amp-img><\/amp-iframe><\/div>\n

Maley appeared in Phoenix\u2019s season-opening win against the defending champion Las Vegas Aces, finishing with one point and two rebounds in six minutes as the Mercury spoiled Las Vegas\u2019 ring ceremony with a 99-66 victory.<\/p>\n

But while her official WNBA box score in 2026 reads modestly, the 27-year-old\u2019s body of work across the past 12 months remains impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to try really hard,\u201d Maley said after recording the only triple-double of WNBL26 with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against the Sydney Flames.<\/p>\n

Those words have become a fitting summary of a turbulent year that included an Opals omission, a heartbreaking WNBL championship loss with the Perth Lynx, a standout Liberty pre-season, and now another abrupt WNBA roster change.<\/p>\n

<\/amp-img>
Phoenix Mercury forward Anneli Maley shares a moment post-game with Golden State Valkyries pair Laeticia Amihere and Miela Sowah. Photo: Noah Graham\/NBAE via Getty Images.<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maley impressed during New York\u2019s pre-season campaign, producing 13 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes in the Liberty\u2019s 79-67 win against the Connecticut Sun on May 4. She shot 3-from-5 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free throw line before being waived at final cuts.<\/p>\n

Days later, Phoenix handed her another opportunity as the Mercury reshaped their frontcourt depth around a roster that includes Opals veteran Sami Whitcomb.<\/p>\n

The Perth Lynx star entered the WNBA season in career-best form after shattering the all-time NBL1 single-game scoring record in April. Playing for the Perth Redbacks, Maley erupted for 65 points and 17 rebounds against the Willetton Tigers while posting an extraordinary 85% true shooting percentage.<\/p>\n

Despite leading WNBL26 in rebounding at 14.4 boards per game, Maley was controversially omitted from the Australian Opals squad for the 2026 FIBA World Cup qualifiers.<\/p>\n

Perth Lynx head coach Ryan Petrik admitted he was \u201cshell-shocked\u201d by the decision after the Lynx defeated the Adelaide Lightning 109-82 in December.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want the diplomatic answer or the brutally honest one? I\u2019ll get fired if I give the brutal one,\u201d Petrik said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll say again \u2013 shell-shocked. I\u2019m not sure what else she\u2019s meant to do. We\u2019ll leave it there.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/amp-img>
Olivia Nelson-Ododa #10 of the Connecticut Sun battles the defence from Pauline Astier #18, Anneli Maley #24, and Alex Fowler #12 of the New York Liberty.<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maley thrived alongside Chinese international Han Xu during Perth\u2019s WNBL season, regularly impacting games as a rebounder, connector and transition playmaker. In one dominant performance she finished with 19 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s playing really, really well. I think all of us are a little bit shell-shocked that she wasn\u2019t in that Opals squad, because her form has been elite,\u201d Petrik added.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone who made that roster is really talented, so I\u2019m not taking anything away from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you\u2019re picking on form, with how she\u2019s playing and with us sitting where we are on the ladder despite being at half to three-quarter strength most of the season, I\u2019m not sure what else she\u2019s meant to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maley now returns to the uncertainty familiar to many fringe WNBA players \u2013 waiting for the next roster opening while continuing one of the strongest stretches of basketball of her career.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian forward Anneli Maley\u2019s Phoenix Mercury stint is over almost as quickly as it began after the Perth Lynx rebound machine was waived by the club on Sunday. The move came less than a week after the Melbourne-born forward earned a second WNBA opportunity by joining the Mercury following her pre-season campaign with the New […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":243906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[72940,1800,2051,83,1736,72934,35100,72937,1788,1425,8688,2225,11800,47547,862,11824,1803,33986,40914,1533,1809,1728,2354,72941,2161,5491,72939,72936,72944,72943,72942,72935,72938,1792,1465],"class_list":{"0":"post-243905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-alex-fowler","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-arizona","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-australian-anneli-maley","14":"tag-career-best-form","15":"tag-championship-loss","16":"tag-espn-inc","17":"tag-getty-images-inc","18":"tag-grand-final-loss","19":"tag-head-coach","20":"tag-las-vegas","21":"tag-las-vegas-aces","22":"tag-melbourne","23":"tag-nevada","24":"tag-new-york","25":"tag-new-york-liberty","26":"tag-noah-graham","27":"tag-north-america","28":"tag-northern-america","29":"tag-oceania","30":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","31":"tag-pauline-astier","32":"tag-phoenix","33":"tag-phoenix-mercury","34":"tag-pre-season-campaign","35":"tag-rebound-machine","36":"tag-ring-ceremony","37":"tag-ryan-petrik","38":"tag-single-game-scoring-record","39":"tag-transition-playmaker","40":"tag-uncertainty-familiar","41":"tag-united-states-of-america","42":"tag-victoria"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}