Rapinoe, Lloyd, Press Among Unprotected Players for Louisville's NWSL Expansion Draft

Just because certain U.S. women's national team veterans were left unprotected doesn't mean they're likely to be selected, though.

Racing Louisville's NWSL expansion draft is a week away, and it will have some intriguing options available from which to select.

Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, Christen Press, Tobin Heath and Becky Sauerbrunn are among the U.S. women's national team players left unprotected by their clubs, with the full list of protected and unprotected players revealed by NWSL on Thursday.

Teams were able to protect 11 players, including up to two allocated U.S. national team players (as determined by the league's 2020 list). If one of their allocated U.S. players are taken, then they're exempt from the rest of the draft. Louisville can take up to two players from each team and up to two allocated U.S. players total. As an added wrinkle, if it does not take any allocated players, it will receive $150,000 in allocation money, and if it only takes one, it will receive $75,000. 

The Chicago Red Stars can take Thursday's news without worry after securing expansion draft protection in a recent trade. They effectively lost their two players to Louisville by dealing Savannah McCaskill and Yuki Nagasato (along with a draft pick and international roster slot) in exchange for being exempt from next Thursday's exercise. As a result, the draft that will involve the eight participating clubs will last no more than 16 rounds. 

It's important to note that just because certain players are left unprotected does not mean that they are liable to be picked. Louisville isn't going to waste a pick on a player that won't wind up playing for the club for various reasons, whether that's due to having established roots elsewhere or due to them currently playing overseas for the bulk of 2021 (but expected to return to NWSL eventually).

There's a risk involved, naturally, by clubs leaving some of their headlining players unprotected, but there's an equal risk for Louisville of selecting some of them not being a worthwhile venture. The financial incentive to not pick any allocated players may wind up being of more interest to Louisville in the end. Conversely, Louisville could get bold, pick unprotected players and flip them for other assets.

Some clubs had harder decisions than others. Neither Houston nor Washington has any U.S. allocated players, while the Portland Thorns employ five.

Here are the full lists of protected and unprotected players by team, which include the playing rights of players who have retired or whose rights remain under NWSL club control:

HOUSTON DASH

PROTECTED: Jane Campbell, Allysha Chapman, Rachel Daly, Shea Groom, Haley Hanson, Veronica Latsko, Kristie Mewis, Katie Naughton, Megan Oyster, Nichelle Prince, Sophie Schmidt. 

UNPROTECTED: Bridgette Andrzejewski, Chloe Castaneda, Taylor Comeau (Playing Rights), Nikki Cross (Playing Rights), Amanda Dennis, Marissa Diggs (Playing Rights), Jamia Fields, Lindsey Harris, Melissa Henderson (Playing Rights), Bianca Henninger (Playing Rights), Savannah Jordan (Playing Rights), Maegan Kelly, Cecelia Kizer, Christine Nairn, Ally Prisock, Cambria Privett, Erin Simon, Katie Stengel, Brianna Visalli.

SKY BLUE FC

PROTECTED: Imani Dorsey, Nahomi Kawasumi, Amanda McGlynn, Paige Monaghan, Ifeoma Onumonu, Mallory Pugh (U.S. Allocated), Margaret Purce, Kailen Sheridan, Evelyne Viens, Sarah Woldmoe, McCall Zerboni.

UNPROTECTED: Nicole Baxter, Melanie Booth (Playing Rights), Jennifer Cudjoe, Julie Doyle (Playing Rights), Caprice Dydasco, Elizabeth Eddy, Sabrina Flores, Mandy Freeman, Christina Gibbons (Playing Rights), Didi Haracic, Megan Hinz, Jennifer Hoy (Playing Rights), Estelle Johnson, Gina Lewandowski, Carli Lloyd (U.S. Allocated), Jill Loyden (Playing Rights), Manya Makoski (Playing Rights), Dominique Richardson, Kaleigh Riehl, Erica Skroski, Chantelle Swaby, Madison Tiernan (Playing Rights), Rebecca Tweed (Playing Rights), Kenie Wright.

WASHINGTON SPIRIT

PROTECTED: Dorian Bailey, Aubrey Bledsoe, Jordan DiBiasi, Bayley Feist, Ashley Hatch, Tori Huster, Tegan McGrady, Paige Nielsen, Ashley Sanchez, Sam Staab, Andi Sullivan. 

UNPROTECTED: Jaye Boissiere, Averie Collins, Megan Dougherty Howard, Jenna Hellstrom, Brooke Hendrix, Natalie Jacobs, Devon Kerr, Lori Lindsey (Playing Rights), Joanna Lohman (Playing Rights), Katie Lund, Katie McClure, Meghan McCool, Jessie Scarpa, Crystal Thomas, Kumi Yokoyama.

OL REIGN

PROTECTED: Bethany Balcer, Lauren Barnes, Amber Brooks, Jess Fishlock, Sofia Huerta, Darian Jenkins, Rose Lavelle (U.S. Allocated, Playing Rights), Allie Long (U.S. Allocated), Kristen McNabb, Yuka Momiki, Leah Pruitt 

UNPROTECTED: Morgan Andrews, Julia Ashley, Michelle Betos, Meg Brandt (College Protected), Mariah Bullock (Playing Rights), Stephanie Catley (Playing Rights), Stephanie Cox, Shirley Cruz Trana, Kiersten Dallstream (Playing Rights), Schuyler Debree (Playing Rights), Machaela George, Madison Hammond, Sam Hiatt, Kelcie Hedge, Celia Jimenez Delgado, Adrienne Jordan (Playing Rights), Alyssa Kleiner (Playing Rights), Theresa Nielsen (Playing Rights), Morgan Proffitt (Playing Rights), Quinn, Megan Rapinoe (U.S. Allocated), Taylor Smith, Jasmyne Spencer, Jodie Taylor (Playing Rights), Rumi Utsugi (Playing Rights), Abby Wambach (Playing Rights), Danielle Weatherholt, Rosie White, Lydia Williams (Playing Rights), Beverly Yanez (Playing Rights)

PORTLAND THORNS

PROTECTED: Simone Charley, Crystal Dunn (U.S. Allocated), Lindsey Horan (U.S. Allocated), Kelli Hubly, Meghan Klingenberg, Natalia Kuikka, Emily Menges, Raquel Rodriguez, Christine Sinclair, Sophia Smith, Morgan Weaver.

UNPROTECTED: Nadine Angerer (Playing Rights), Bella Bixby, Celeste Boureille, Marian Dougherty, Brittany Eckerstrom, Marissa Everett, Adrianna Franch (U.S. Allocated), Tobin Heath (U.S. Allocated, Playing Rights), Tyler Lussi, Andressa Machry (Playing Rights), Nikki Marshall (Playing Rights), Meagan Morris (Playing Rights), Meaghan Nally, Emily Ogle, Madison Pogarch, Hayley Raso (Playing Rights), Katherine Reynolds (Playing Rights), Angela Salem, Becky Sauerbrunn (U.S. Allocated), Gabby Seiler, Katrina Tarr (Playing Rights), Rachel Van Hollebeke (Playing Rights), Christen Westphal, Sandra Yu (Playing Rights)

UTAH ROYALS

PROTECTED: Elizabeth Ball, Kate Bowen, Rachel Corsie, Kate Del Fava, Tziarra King, Lo’eau Labonta, Kelley O’Hara (U.S. Allocated), Amy Shilling (Rodriguez), Abigail Smith, Michele Vasconcelos, Gabrielle Vincent .

UNPROTECTED: Nicole Barnhart, Veronica Boquete, Kate Deines (Playing Rights), Cyera Hintzen, Lauren Holiday (Playing Rights), Gunnhildur Jonsdottir, Samantha Johnson (Playing Rights), Amanda Laddish (Playing Rights), Taylor Leach, Taylor Lytle, Michelle Maemone, Diana Matheson, Sydney Miramontez, Madeline Nolf, Christen Press (U.S. Allocated, Playing Rights), Brittany Ratcliffe, Desiree Scott, Arielle Ship, Raisa Strom-Okimoto, Erika Tymrak (Playing Rights), Mallory Weber.

ORLANDO PRIDE

PROTECTED: Claire Emslie, Taylor Kornieck, Sydney Leroux, Phoebe McClernon, Jade Moore, Alex Morgan (U.S. Allocated, Playing Rights), Courtney Petersen, Ali Riley, Emily Sonnett (U.S. Allocated, Playing Rights), Marta, Marisa Viggiano.

UNPROTECTED: Kristen Edmonds, Caitlin Farrell (Playing Rights), Joanna Fennema (Playing Rights), Caitlin Foord (Playing Rights), Ashlyn Harris (U.S. Allocated), Alanna Kennedy, Abi Kim, Ali Krieger (U.S. Allocated), Camila, Erin McLeod, Carson Pickett, Konya Plummer, Toni Pressley, Cheyenne Shorts, Emily Van Egmond, Chelsee Washington, Brittany Wilson, Shelina Zadorsky.

NC COURAGE

PROTECTED: Abby Dahlkemper (U.S. Allocated), Debinha, Abby Erceg, Kristen Hamilton, Hallie Mace, Merritt Mathias, Jessica McDonald, Casey Murphy, Denise O’Sullivan, Lynn Williams, Samantha Mewis (U.S. Allocated, Playing Rights). 

UNPROTECTED: Lindsay Agnew, Jaelene Daniels (Playing Rights), Brianne Folds, Hailey Harbison, Kaleigh Kurtz, Steph Labbe, Samantha Leshnak, McKenzie Meehan, Addisyn Merrick, Lauren Milliet, Sinclaire Miramontez, Heather O’Reilly (Playing Rights), Cari Roccaro, Katelyn Rowland, Havana Solaun, Meredith Speck, Ally Watt, Ryan Williams.