The Portland Fire waived a trio of players Thursday, May 21 and converted two players on developmental deals to standard contracts.
Haley Jones, Kamiah Smalls and Sug Sutton were the players the Fire parted ways with, while Frieda Bühner and Holly Winterburn were promoted to full roster spots.
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Jones and Sutton were two of the Fire’s selections in the 2026 WNBA expansion draft. Sutton had been with the Washington Mystics while Jones came from the Dallas Wings. Smalls signed with Portland as a free agent last month.
Sutton was Portland’s second-leading scorer on Wednesday night in a 90-73 loss to the Indiana Fever, a game in which she tallied 14 points. Through three appearances with the Fire — two of them starts — she was averaging 11.3 points and 5.7 assists per game. Sutton currently ranks eighth in the league in assists per game.
A product of Texas where she was an All-Big 12 selection, Sutton has had a journeyman-like career so far in the WNBA. She’s played in 127 games with Portland, Washington and the Phoenix Mercury. She’s also played abroad in Poland, Australia, Turkey and Israel, and played with Rose BC in Unrivaled this year.
Jones, a former Pac-12 Player of the Year and national champion at Stanford, has bounced around the league recently as well. The Atlanta Dream selected her sixth overall in the 2023 draft, but waived her prior to the start of last season. She played in four games with the Mercury last year before joining Dallas, where she started 16 of the 24 games she played in. Jones had played in all five of Portland’s games so far this season.
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For her career, Jones averages 4.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game across 112 games.
Smalls, a product of James Madison where she was the CAA Player of the Year, has appeared in 15 WNBA games since 2020. She’s also played professionally in France, Italy and Turkey.
Bühner was drafted in the second round by the Fire this year. She played for Germany in the 2024 Olympics.
Winterburn has played professionally in England, Turkey and Greece, and played one year of college ball at Oregon in the 2019-20 season. She’s played for Great Britain in the EuroCup.
Portland is 2-3 so far in its first WNBA season.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Portland Fire waive Haley Jones, Kamiah Smalls, Sug Sutton
