Pivec won’t play in the WNBA during the 2020 season

If the 2020 WNBA season eventually gets started, Mikayla Pivec will not be part of it.

The Lynnwood High School graduate, who was selected in the third round of this year’s WNBA draft by the Atlanta Dream, has chosen to sit out the 2020 season, the Dream announced Monday.

The Dream, through their public relations Twitter account, said, “Mikayla Pivec has chosen to sit out the 2020 WNBA season for personal reasons and will be suspended by the Atlanta Dream. We look forward to having Pivec attend training camp in 2021.”

Mikayla Pivec has chosen to sit out the 2020 WNBA season for personal reasons and will be suspended by the Atlanta Dream.

We look forward to having Pivec attend training camp in 2021. pic.twitter.com/8Juabq7hYm

— Atlanta Dream PR (@ATLDreamPR) May 25, 2020

Pivec, via text message, declined to comment.

Pivec, a 5-foot-10 guard who graduated from Lynnwood in 2016, was selected 25th overall by Atlanta in April’s WNBA draft. She was coming off a senior season at Oregon State University where she averaged 14.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game for a Beavers team that was anticipating a high seed to the NCAA tournament when college sports were canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The pandemic has also played havoc with the WNBA season. Games were originally scheduled to begin May 15, but training camps and the start of the season have been postponed indefinitely. Further complicating matters is that teams are required to get under the salary cap Tuesday in anticipation of paying players on June 1. Therefore, teams are being forced to make roster cuts without having seen players in training-camp settings.

Pivec is the first Snohomish County native to be selected in the WNBA draft since Snohomish High School graduate Milena Flores was taken in the third round of the 2000 draft by the Miami Sol. Had Pivec appeared in a game this season it is believed she would have been the first county native to appear in a WNBA contest since Meadowdale High School graduate Kristen O’Neill played in 11 games with the Seattle Storm in 2008.