Karlie Samuelson arrived in town a few days ahead of Washington Mystics training camp, and for the first time in her career, she unpacked her suitcase knowing she wasn’t going anywhere.
The last seven seasons, Samuelson bounced in, out and around the league on 17 short-term contracts. There were five training-camp contracts, and every time, the 6-foot guard from Stanford was sent packing on cutdown day. Throughout the ensuing regular seasons, she penned her name to six hardship contracts, three seven-day contracts and three rest-of-season contracts.
This is life on the edge of a limited group in the WNBA, statistically the most difficult U.