Alaina Coates among 2 former Gamecocks waived from WNBA training camp roster
Former Gamecocks Kaela Davis and Alaina Coates were waived by the Seattle Storm, the team announced Wednesday.
Davis and Coates were part of South Carolina’s first NCAA women’s basketball championship team in 2017, with Davis winning the NCAA Stockton Region’s Most Outstanding Player award.
In her short time with Seattle in 2024, Davis averaged 14 minutes in two preseason games, snagging seven rebounds and scoring three points to go with one steal and one assist. Davis was drafted with the 10th pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings. She spent three seasons in Texas (2017-19) before signing two seven-day contracts with the Atlanta Dream in 2020 and playing for Phoenix, Chicago and Seattle on hardship contracts in 2022.
Coates signed a training camp contract with Seattle last month after stepping in to help the Las Vegas Aces win a 2023 WNBA championship when Candace Parker sustained a season-ending injury. The 6-foot-4 center has played in 95 WNBA games since the Chicago Sky selected her with the No. 2 pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft. She scored six points, blocked two shots and nabbed two rebounds and a steal in 16 minutes this preseason with the Storm.
Davis and Coates join Brea Beal in the tally of Gamecocks waived by WNBA teams in recent weeks. When training camp began last month, USC had 14 former players on rosters — the second most of any school behind UConn (17). Now, 11 remain.
Final roster cuts must be made before the league’s regular season tips off Tuesday.
Former Gamecocks still on WNBA rosters
Laeticia Amihere (Atlanta Dream)
Kamilla Cardoso (Chicago Sky)
Allisha Gray (Atlanta Dream)
Destanni Henderson (Atlanta Dream)
Tiffany Mitchell (Connecticut Sun)
Victaria Saxton (Indiana Fever)
A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces)
