The Atlanta Dream waived Holly Winterburn before their game against the Dallas Wings, and the guard said her welcome to the WNBA came as she was getting on the bus for her first ever game. In a post on Instagram Story on Tuesday, Winterburn said she would always be grateful for the opportunity Atlanta gave her and added: “I’m built for this.”
Winterburn framed the moment as part of the hard edge of professional sports, writing that she thought her introduction to the league would come on the court, not as she boarded the bus. “I thought my welcome to the W moment would happen on the court, not as I’m getting on the bus for my first ever game. But that’s the reality of this business & I will always be grateful for the opportunity Atlanta gave me,” she wrote. She followed that with another message: “I’m built for this. Thank you to everyone who has checked in on me & sent love. Everything happens for a reason and I’m so excited for what’s next.”
The cut lands in a league where roster spots are limited and every decision can be brutal, even for players who have just arrived. The WNBA ratified a new collective bargaining agreement that changed the landscape for athletes and franchises, but it did not change the fact that the margins remain thin. Winterburn’s exit also comes in the same stretch of the season that saw Kate Martin cut from the Golden State Valkyries squad last week, another reminder that the league’s business side often moves faster than the human side can absorb.
Martin said on Wednesday that the move “was not easy at all” and called it a business decision, adding, “That’s what professional sports is. It’s a business.” She later signed a developmental contract with the Los Angeles Sparks, a path that shows how quickly a player can go from being let go to landing somewhere else. For Winterburn, the immediate question is less about what happened in Atlanta than whether another team gives her the same chance to prove she belongs.
