The WNBA Draft will include 15 picks in the first round in 2026. Five lottery picks will be followed by the two expansion teams, and then eight picks from the teams that made the playoffs in reverse order of standings, though five of those franchises have already traded those first-rounders. We do not yet know the order of the expansion team selections because that relates to the expansion draft, and the expansion procedures are collectively bargained. For now, Portland will choose ahead of Toronto because the Fire are alphabetically first.<\/p>\n
(Stats are through Saturday.)<\/p>\n
1. Dallas WingsAwa Fam | 6-4 center | Valencia (Spain)<\/p>\n
The foreign frontcourt revolution is upon us. After Dominique Malonga in 2025, here comes Fam, 19. The Spanish center is an excellent athlete and so smooth in the half court. She explodes on rolls to the basket and has a great feel for how to move off the ball, which includes quick passing while stationary and when cutting. She protects the basket well and can stick with guards on switches. You watch her mirror a smaller player\u2019s drive to the basket and wonder how opponents ever thought they could get a shot attempt past her. Fam doesn\u2019t seem to have a shooting touch beyond the paint, but she is so advanced already at her age that it\u2019s hard to believe she won\u2019t get there.<\/p>\n
Fam isn\u2019t exactly on the same timeline as Bueckers, but the Wings don\u2019t plan on being in the lottery again for a long time. Cash in on the lottery ticket now, and surround Bueckers with some veterans in free agency.<\/p>\n
2. Minnesota Lynx (from Chicago Sky)Olivia Miles | 5-10 guard | TCU<\/p>\n
Miles would have been a lottery pick in an arguably superior draft in 2025. She is a complete point guard prospect with a tight handle, elite vision, effective finishing at the rim and a heavy dose of flair. Miles can make outlet passes, skip passes, entry passes and find her pick-and-roll partner with aplomb. She had the best plus-minus on a stacked Notre Dame team in 2024-25. Miles is also a solid team defender, even if she\u2019ll never be a go-to stopper. One thing missing from her arsenal pre-injury was a consistent jumper, and she made 40.6 percent of her 3-pointers last season. If she regresses at TCU, Miles will fall on the board, but for now, she is a top-two prospect in this draft.<\/p>\n
With a roster full of free agents, it\u2019s hard to know what prototype of player the Lynx need. Miles is the best available option, so let\u2019s send her to Minnesota.<\/p>\n
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\n Could Azzi Fudd be the perfect complement to the Storm\u2019s roster? (Scott Taetsch \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
3. Seattle Storm (from Los Angeles Sparks)Azzi Fudd | 5-11 guard | UConn<\/p>\n
Heading into the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the scouting report on Fudd<\/a> was measured. She hadn\u2019t yet played a full healthy season, she was mostly a complementary player, and she hadn\u2019t exactly filled up the box score. But then Fudd went on to win Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four and finish 2024-25 with the best on-off differential for UConn, ahead of Sarah Strong and Bueckers. And Fudd has been on a heater to start her final year in college. She\u2019s averaging 27 points per game and making half of her 3-pointers while providing solid wing defense and secondary playmaking. She still has the best on-off differential for the Huskies, and she isn\u2019t just racking up stats in blowouts; her clutch shooting helped UConn hold off Michigan<\/a> in the game of the season to date.<\/p>\n The pedigree is finally shining through on a consistent basis. Fudd is an ace scorer and shooter who doesn\u2019t really take anything off the table. She would be an awesome complement to Malonga for years to come.<\/p>\n 4. Washington MysticsLauren Betts | 6-7 center | UCLA<\/p>\n Betts is a dominant college player. She knows how to use her size to get post positioning, seal her defender and score at the rim. She effectively controls the glass and the paint on both ends of the floor. She passes well out of doubles and is expanding her shooting range to outside the paint. It\u2019s tough to score on her in the lane, and she\u2019s even hard to exploit on the perimeter. Betts was the hub of a team that made the Final Four last season and won the Big Ten tournament.<\/p>\n But her skills are better suited for college, where there is no defensive three-second rule and there aren\u2019t enough skilled scorers on a team to spread the floor against her. She isn\u2019t a great screener, her shooting touch needs improvement, and she has displayed a limited set of post moves \u2014 which, to be fair, generally get the job done. There are weaknesses in Betts\u2019 game for opponents to pick on. But she\u2019s also been hugely productive and impactful for winning at UCLA, and the bet is she figures out how to do so in the WNBA. The Mystics have exciting young frontcourt talent in Shakira Austin and Kiki Iriafen, who will give Betts some time to learn and grow into a WNBA role.<\/p>\n 5. Chicago Sky (from Connecticut Sun)Flau\u2019jae Johnson | 5-10 guard | LSU<\/p>\n Everything I wrote about Johnson<\/a> during the offseason still applies, and thanks to LSU\u2019s cakewalk of a nonconference schedule, we haven\u2019t learned anything new about Johnson in her senior season. What we do know is that she has a consistent pull-up jumper, is devastating in transition and is an active defensive playmaker, particularly as a help defender. Whether she can be a No. 1 option is up in the air, but she is good at just about everything on the basketball court, and she seems like an A-plus teammate to have in the locker room. Chicago gets some perimeter star power to complement Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, reuniting the LSU national champions.<\/p>\n 6. Portland FireYarden Garzon | 6-3 wing | Maryland<\/p>\n Garzon was one of the best shooters in college basketball at Indiana, a 42.6 percent markswoman from 3-point range while taking nearly half of her shot attempts from long range. She was ludicrously efficient off spot-ups and handoffs with the Hoosiers, routinely exceeding 1.2 points per possession on those play types. She moves well off the ball, is a dead-eye catch-and-shoot threat and has good positional size as a combo forward. Indiana had a positive on-off differential when Garzon played in each of her three seasons, a testament to the value of her spacing and wing defense.<\/p>\n The shooting hasn\u2019t traveled with Garzon to Maryland, but a handful of games isn\u2019t enough to devalue the scoring and playmaking threat she has been throughout her NCAA career. Portland can use a multipositional shooter and defender on its expansion roster.<\/p>\n 7. Toronto TempoIyana Mart\u00edn | 5-9 guard | Avenida (Spain)<\/p>\n The Spanish guard announced herself on the international scene in 2023 when she won MVP at the U-19 World Cup. Spain, which hosted the tournament, took a USA team with Hannah Hidalgo, Cotie McMahon, Joyce Edwards and Madison Booker, among others, into overtime in the gold-medal game. Mart\u00edn dazzled with her court awareness and playmaking, finishing the tournament with averages of 16.1 points and 3.3 assists. She was the EuroLeague Young Player of the Year in 2024-25. Even if she doesn\u2019t come over right away \u2014 and Spanish players historically have been limited participants in the WNBA \u2014 Mart\u00edn has too much potential to pass at this spot. On the league\u2019s first international team, with an international coach, she could be the global floor general that sets the tone.<\/p>\n 8. Golden State ValkyriesTa\u2019Niya Latson | 5-8 guard | South Carolina<\/p>\n The offensive side of the ball was more challenging than the defensive end for Golden State in its inaugural season, so why not bring in the leading scorer in college basketball? Latson is one of the most relentless downhill attackers in the game; while the Valkyries attempted fewer than 20 percent of their shots in the restricted area in 2025, Latson took 30 percent of her field goals within 4\u00bd feet of the rim. For Golden State, which led the WNBA in 3-point attempts, Latson could supercharge drive-and-kick opportunities. She is a great athlete and finisher.<\/p>\n 9. Washington Mystics (from Seattle)Charlisse Leger-Walker | 5-10 guard | UCLA<\/p>\n At 24, Leger-Walker is a bit older than some prospects, currently in her sixth year of college after missing 2024-25 due to a torn ACL. However, age didn\u2019t seem to bother the Mystics when they selected Georgia Amoore in the 2025 draft, and Leger-Walker can play as a point guard and off the ball. She zips passes all over the court and has steadily improved as a pick-and-roll operator throughout her college career. Her points per possession as the pick-and-roll ballhandler increased from 0.691 to 0.737 to 0.878 to 0.938 in her four years at Washington State, per Synergy. Leger-Walker is also a physical and crafty finisher in the paint. Assuming she has fully recovered from her torn ACL in January 2024, and UCLA has limited her minutes to build her strength throughout the season, there is no reason why Leger-Walker shouldn\u2019t be a first-round pick.<\/p>\n 10. Indiana FeverGabriela Jaquez | 6-0 wing | UCLA<\/p>\n Jaquez can do a little bit of everything. She may not have star upside like some other players below her on the draft board. Still, Indiana already has two high-usage superstars under contract in Boston and Clark, and it hopes to bring back Kelsey Mitchell, making it a team that doesn\u2019t need a ball-dominant player. The Fever need a role player with toughness who can defend, move off the ball and shoot from distance. Jaquez fits the bill. In 2024-25, Jaquez\u2019s first season as a full-time starter, she had the highest on-off differential for the Bruins. She finished in the 98th percentile in points per possession and the 96th percentile in turnover rate, per Her Hoop Stats. Jaquez is versatile, can play positions one to four, even though she\u2019s best on the wing. She ran some point guard for UCLA during the summer and preseason, with Kiki Rice and Leger-Walker returning from injury, and is now starting at the four. A player who is always willing to sacrifice her body and crash the boards resembles fellow former Pac-12 alum Lexie Hull, especially if Jaquez\u2019s 3-point shooting (47.4 percent this season) isn\u2019t just a hot streak.<\/p>\n 11. Washington Mystics (from New York Liberty via Connecticut)Talaysia Cooper* | 6-0 guard | Tennessee<\/p>\n Cooper has one more year of eligibility after redshirting a season following her transfer from South Carolina. But physically, she already looks like a WNBA player. She leverages those physical tools particularly well defensively. Cooper has been a ball hawk in coach Kim Caldwell\u2019s up-tempo system in Tennessee, collecting three-plus steals per game in the full-court press. She defends well in isolation, navigates screens and is an elite shot blocker for her position. She also scores effectively in the paint and gets great lift on her midrange, though that hasn\u2019t yet made her a good free-throw or 3-point shooter.<\/p>\n Cooper in Control<\/p>\n Talaysia Cooper recorded her second double-double of the season as she led the No. 12 Vols to a big win against Belmont<\/p>\n Our @jerseymikes<\/a> Naismith Women\u2019s College POY Watch List guard delivered tonight!<\/p>\n Photo: @LadyVol_Hoops<\/a> Video: @WomensHoops_USA<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ivBM562dBH<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Naismith Awards (@NaismithTrophy) November 14, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Real concerns exist within Cooper\u2019s game, starting with shooting. Cooper also plays in a system unlike any WNBA team, with short, high-energy stints. How will that translate to extended shifts at the pro level? Nevertheless, the WNBA success of Saniya Rivers \u2014 another erstwhile South Carolina guard \u2014 gives hope for Cooper. Tremendous athleticism and smart defensive instincts can help Cooper carve out a role, and Washington\u2019s commitment to building through the draft can give her some time to figure out how to produce consistent offense.<\/p>\n 12. Connecticut Sun (from Phoenix Mercury)Gianna Kneepkens | 6-0 guard | UCLA<\/p>\n Yes, this is the fourth Bruin in the first round \u2014 a sign of how much is expected of UCLA this season and how far the Bruins could fall off next year. Focusing on the draft, Kneepkens is simply one of the most efficient scorers in all of college basketball. She isn\u2019t a hyper-athlete, but she is a career 42.8 percent 3-point shooter who has also made 56.9 percent of her 2-pointers. Playing at Utah for four years has made Kneepkens analytically driven, as mid-rangers were just 8.3 percent of her shot diet before coming to UCLA. She simply gets to her spots and makes a lot of baskets, and she can use that scoring gravity to become a facilitator. Kneepkens isn\u2019t exactly a defensive playmaker, but she has good size; she\u2019ll need to prove she can compete on that end to stay in this spot.<\/p>\n \n Will Raven Johnson\u2019s winning ways and defense entice a team to pick her in the first round? (Sean Rayford \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n 13. Atlanta DreamRaven Johnson | 5-9 guard | South Carolina<\/p>\n Here is what Dawn Staley had to say about Johnson\u2019s pro prospects after the veteran guard led South Carolina to a road win over USC on Nov. 15: \u201cWhen you think about a winner, when you think about a consummate point guard, Raven is that. And if WNBA teams want to be like us, meaning the amount of success that we\u2019ve had with her in the lineup, they\u2019re going to take Raven, they\u2019re going to take Raven in the first round.\u201d<\/p>\n Setting aside Staley\u2019s obvious endorsement, Johnson is a proven floor general. She sets the tone offensively and defensively. There aren\u2019t many defenders at their position in this class, considering Johnson\u2019s ability to stay attached, pressure the ballhandler and slow offenses. She is a smart passer who knows how to hit bigs and perimeter players in their preferred catch radius. Johnson hasn\u2019t consistently proven that she can generate her own offense, which she will have to in the WNBA. But given the Gamecocks\u2019 depth and the flashes Johnson has shown, she probably has enough in her bag to survive as a pro. Plus, she and Te-Hina Paopao make a great backcourt duo.<\/p>\n 14. Seattle Storm (from Las Vegas Aces)Payton Verhulst | 6-1 guard | Oklahoma<\/p>\n Verhulst is sort of Kneepkens-lite. About the only thing she doesn\u2019t do well offensively is draw fouls, and that\u2019s because she is money on jumpers from everywhere else on the court, so she can leave the paint open for her bigs and drivers. But she is feisty and finishes well through contact inside when she chooses. Verhulst has been dynamite in two-player actions with Raegan Beers, if not explicitly in pick-and-roll. She is a strong rebounder and plays with pace. Verhulst has never rated particularly well defensively. Part of that is playing for Oklahoma, which isn\u2019t very good on defense. But she also isn\u2019t great at defending in isolation and could stand to be more disciplined on that end. Still, the offensive tools are worth taking a shot on.<\/p>\n Welcome to the broadcast, y\u2019all!<\/p>\n Payton is doing what she does best \ud83d\udd25\ud83c\udfaf<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcfa FS1 \/\/ @payton_verhulst<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/mmPusA6p6i<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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