{"id":33810,"date":"2026-08-09T03:30:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T22:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33810"},"modified":"2026-08-09T03:30:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T22:30:55","slug":"mystics-waive-former-texas-star-to-clear-spot-for-betnijah-laney-hamilton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33810","title":{"rendered":"Mystics Waive Former Texas Star to Clear Spot for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"Paragraph-module-scss-module__0ovlkG__blockParagraph\" blockindex=\"0\" articletitle=\"Mystics Waive Former Texas Star to Clear Spot for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/washington\">Washington<\/a> Mystics reportedly waived rookie guard Rori Harmon on Saturday. Harmon played in 10 games with Washington after the franchise drafted her with the No. 34 pick in the third round of the 2026 WNBA Draft.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageBlock-module-scss-module__rUGLEG__container\">\n<div class=\"ImageBlock-module-scss-module__rUGLEG__imageContainer\" style=\"padding-bottom:37.1014%\"><img id=\"12300933\" alt=\"Rori Harmon #3 of the Washington Mystics controls the ball during the second half against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center on May 18, 2026 in Arlington, Texas.\" caption=\"Rori Harmon #3 of the Washington Mystics controls the ball during the second half against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center on May 18, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sam Hodde\/Getty Images)\" captionoverride=\"Rori Harmon #3 of the Washington Mystics controls the ball during the second half against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center on May 18, 2026 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Sam Hodde\/Getty Images)\" credit=\"\" sourcealt=\"\" sourceimage=\"Getty Images\" sources=\"[]\" blockindex=\"1\" articletitle=\"Mystics Waive Former Texas Star to Clear Spot for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"690\" height=\"256\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 640px) 680px, 100vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rori-harmon.jpg?w=640&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 640w, https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rori-harmon.jpg?w=750&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 750w, https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rori-harmon.jpg?w=1000&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 1000w, https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rori-harmon.jpg?w=1200&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 1200w, https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rori-harmon.jpg?w=1360&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 1360w, https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rori-harmon.jpg?w=1600&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 1600w\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rori-harmon.jpg?w=1600&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-module-scss-module__0ovlkG__blockParagraph\" blockindex=\"2\" articletitle=\"Mystics Waive Former Texas Star to Clear Spot for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton\">Waiving Harmon opens a roster spot for veteran guard\/forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, who the Mystics recently claimed off waivers after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/new-york\">New York<\/a> Liberty waived her on Thursday. The Mystics are hopeful Laney-Hamilton can be a big contributor to the team as the Mystics finish out the WNBA playoff race. <\/p>\n<section class=\"RelatedStoriesV2-module-scss-module__Hqo30W__container\" data-gtm-action=\"Read_More\" data-variant=\"v2\" data-loading=\"true\" aria-busy=\"true\" aria-label=\"Loading related stories\">\n<p><h4 class=\"RelatedStoriesV2-module-scss-module__Hqo30W__headlineText\"><span class=\"RelatedStoriesV2-module-scss-module__Hqo30W__headlinePrefix\">Read More<!-- --> on <\/span><span>Sports<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-module-scss-module__0ovlkG__blockParagraph\" blockindex=\"4\" articletitle=\"Mystics Waive Former Texas Star to Clear Spot for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton\">Laney-Hamilton missed the entire 2025 season with a knee injury. The 2021 WNBA All-Star returned for the Liberty&#8217;s regular season opener but has not performed as well as she did in previous seasons.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageBlock-module-scss-module__rUGLEG__container\">\n<div class=\"ImageBlock-module-scss-module__rUGLEG__imageContainer\" style=\"padding-bottom:36.3121%\"><img id=\"12300956\" alt=\"Betnijah Laney-Hamilton #44 of the New York Liberty looks on against the Golden State Valkyries in the first quarter at Chase Center on June 28, 2026 in San Francisco, California.\" caption=\"SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 28: Betnijah Laney-Hamilton #44 of the New York Liberty looks on against the Golden State Valkyries in the first quarter at Chase Center on June 28, 2026 in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Eakin Howard\/Getty Images)\" captionoverride=\"Betnijah Laney-Hamilton #44 of the New York Liberty looks on against the Golden State Valkyries in the first quarter at Chase Center on June 28, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Eakin Howard\/Getty Images)\" credit=\"\" sourcealt=\"\" sourceimage=\"Getty Images\" sources=\"[]\" blockindex=\"5\" articletitle=\"Mystics Waive Former Texas Star to Clear Spot for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"705\" height=\"256\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 640px) 680px, 100vw\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Betnijah-Laney-Hamilton.jpg?w=640&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 640w, https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Betnijah-Laney-Hamilton.jpg?w=750&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 750w, https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Betnijah-Laney-Hamilton.jpg?w=1000&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 1000w, https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Betnijah-Laney-Hamilton.jpg?w=1200&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 1200w, https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Betnijah-Laney-Hamilton.jpg?w=1360&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 1360w, https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Betnijah-Laney-Hamilton.jpg?w=1600&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1 1600w\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Betnijah-Laney-Hamilton.jpg?w=1600&amp;quality=80&amp;webp=1\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-module-scss-module__0ovlkG__blockParagraph\" blockindex=\"7\" articletitle=\"Mystics Waive Former Texas Star to Clear Spot for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton\">Meanwhile, Harmon has seen very few minutes on the court during her rookie season with the Mystics. She has averaged just one point in 6.7 minutes per game across 10 games. <\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-what-s-next-for-harmon\" class=\"Heading-module-scss-module__qpyFFW__blockHeading\" style=\"background-color:inherit;color:inherit\">What&#8217;s Next for Harmon?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-module-scss-module__0ovlkG__blockParagraph\" blockindex=\"9\" articletitle=\"Mystics Waive Former Texas Star to Clear Spot for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton\">Now that Harmon has been waived, other teams will have 48 hours to claim her off waivers. If no team claims Harmon, she will become an unrestricted free agent and can explore options with other teams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph-module-scss-module__0ovlkG__blockParagraph\" blockindex=\"10\" articletitle=\"Mystics Waive Former Texas Star to Clear Spot for Betnijah Laney-Hamilton\" id=\"artend_links\">The Mystics currently have one developmental roster spot open. If Harmon clears waivers, she could sign a developmental contract with Washington and join Darianna Littlepage-Buggs as one of the team&#8217;s two developmental players.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Washington Mystics reportedly waived rookie guard Rori Harmon on Saturday. Harmon played in 10 games with Washington after the franchise drafted her with the No. 34 pick in the third round of the 2026 WNBA Draft. Waiving Harmon opens a roster spot for veteran guard\/forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, who the Mystics recently claimed off waivers&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/assets.newsweek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/rori-harmon.jpg?w=1200&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}