One of the marquee events on the women’s basketball and WNBA calendars, April 14 would see the culmination of a long journey for several young basketball players.
The highs and lows, the wins and losses have all prepared them for when they would have their big moment in the spotlight at the 2025 WNBA Draft. This year’s rendition, once again staged in front of fans, was held at The Shed at New York City’s Hudson Yards – Manhattan’s West Side specifically.
First Round
First on the clock was the Dallas Wings – and to the surprise of no one, the Wings would welcome Paige Bueckers, fresh off of winning a national championship with UConn, as the first overall pick.
With Bueckers off the board, the “real” intrigue of the draft commenced when the Seattle Storm selected first. That was supposed to be the Los Angeles Sparks’ pick but that selection was traded to the Storm in the deal that sent Jewell Loyd to the Las Vegas Aces and Kelsey Plum to the Sparks.
Seattle made history by selecting Dominique Malonga out of France as the second overall selection. She stands at 6-foot-6 and is the highest selection ever for a French player in the W.
As a franchise on the rebuild one would expect the Washington Mystics to stockpile picks. The Mystics would select third, fourth and sixth. That third overall selection was Sonia Citron out of Notre Dame, the fourth was Kiki Iriafen out of USC and that sixth overall pick became Kentucky’s Georgia Amoore.
In between the fourth and sixth picks was the fifth overall selection to be held by the Golden State Valkyries – making their first-ever selection in the history of the young franchise. Despite many mock drafts expecting that it would be a landing spot for LSU’s Aneesah Morrow, the Valks (already with a large amount of international players on its roster) would go global by selecting Justé Jocyté out of Lithuania.
Another team with back-to-back selections was the Connecticut Sun – a team that will surely define “new look” in 2025. The Sun would select seventh overall as well as eighth overall. With Golden State passing on Morrow, she would fall to seventh where Connecticut would welcome her to Mohegan Sun Arena. Then, the Sun would also select Saniya Rivers out of NC State with the eighth overall pick.
Ninth overall was the Sparks – and this was felt by many to be a potential landing spot for TCU’s Hailey Van Lith. Instead, Los Angeles used the selectin that they got in that aforementioned deal with Seattle to bring Alabama’s Sarah Ashlee Barker to the purple, gold and teal.
Next on the clock would be the Chicago Sky – another franchise with back-to-back picks. Chicago went with the third international selection in this draft by choosing Ajša Sivka out of Slovenia. The headliner would be who the Sky chose 11th overall.
The Sky is a team that is set in the interior with Angel Reese at the four and Kamilla Cardoso at the five. What Chicago needs are guards – and they got one by selecting Van Lith at 11 to reunite her with her former LSU teammate in Reese.
The final selection of the first round would also be held by the Wings – and it would also see another NC State star selected as Aziaha James brought a close to the first round by being chosen by Dallas.
Second Round
The Las Vegas Aces were stripped of its first-round pick in this draft on account of the WNBA’s investigation into workplace conduct. The Aces ensured it would not leave this draft empty-handed because of a deal with the Sparks where Las Vegas would select first overall in the second round.
Who would join A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd in the Silver State? That was Aaliyah Nye – another Alabama player selected in the first 15 selections.
This was followed up with the Wings selection of Madison Scott with the second selection of the second round of the draft. Scott was the first Ole Miss player selected. The third pick of the second round was held by the Minnesota Lynx. UMMC Ekaterinburg is an internationally recognized franchise that many a WNBA player would go to during the offseason.
The Lynx went to UMMC Ekaterinburg with their second round selection by going with Anastasiia Olairi Kosu. With the fourth selection in the second round, Chicago took the short Metra trip to South Bend and selected Maddy Westbeld.
Westbeld being selected was the beginning of a string of draft picks from major schools being selected. Next up was Maryland when the Valkyries picked. Golden State would bring the Terrapins’ Shyanne Sellers cross country to the Bay Area.
South Carolina’s Te-Hina Paopao would not have to go cross country to find out where her WNBA journey would commence. Gamecock FAMs are known for making the short drive in 20 whenever a team like the Aces with Wilson play the Dream. They will make plenty more of those drives soon as Paopao was selected with the No. 18 overall pick.
Including Paopao, three of the next four selections would be Gamecocks. The Fever would have back-to-back selections following Atlanta. The first was Florida State’s Makayla Timpson then Bree Hall would be reunited with Aliyah Boston in Indy. That would be followed by the Sparks bringing Sania Feagin over from South Carolina to Southern California.
Aicha Coulibaly of Texas A&M would be the next pick – by the Chicago Sky. Then Lucy Olsen was selected by Washington then Dalayah Daniels from the University of Washington to Minnesota. Rounding out the second round would be Rayah Marshall of USC.
Third Round
Even in the third round, there were still plenty of notables still on the board. The Storm got things started by drafting one of those notables in Serena Sundell out of Kansas State. West Virginia’s JJ Quinerly was drafted by the Wings. Then Liatu King would be selected by the Sparks.
The Storm were on the clock again with the fourth pick of the third round. That selection would be another TCU standout in Madison Conner.
The third round would see two more that gave Bueckers and company in UConn a major lift in winning the Huskies its first national championship since 2016. One of those picks was the fifth pick – again, a Valkyries selection. Golden State would bring Kaitlyn Chen to San Francisco and Oakland to help begin its ascent.
Pick number six of the second round was held by the Wings via a trade made with the Dream. Dallas did not go far to find its next draftee as it went with Aaronette Vonleh out of Baylor. A third from the Crimson Tide would see its name taken off the draft board when Zaay Green was selected with the third round’s seventh pick by the Mystics.
Gonzaga’s Yvonne Ejim was drafted next by the Fever then Jordan Hobbs out of Michigan to the Storm. The Aces got themselves a steal with its final selection by drafting Harmoni Turner – who put herself on the map by getting Harvard into March Madness – with the tenth pick of the third round.
Taylor Thierry of Ohio State was drafted by the Dream then Aubrey Griffin of UConn to the Lynx and last, but not least, Adja Kane from France to the New York Liberty.
