As the 2024-25 collegiate season draws closer and closer to March, fans should begin to familiarize themselves with the next wave of soon to be WNBA stars who will likely hear their names called on Draft Day.
The annual event is slated for April 14th this year, and much like last season, there’s a heavy favourite for the number 1 overall selection, and a wide open field of interesting names behind her. First a quick refresher on who is picking where after a bevy of offseason trades have shuffled the 1st round draft order considerably.
1. Dallas Wings
2. Seattle Storm
3. Chicago Sky
4. Washington Mystics
5. Golden State Valkyries
6. Washington Mystics
7. New York Liberty
8. Connecticut Sun
9. Los Angeles Sparks
10. Chicago Sky
11. Minnesota Lynx
12. Dallas Wings
Much like 2024 was the year of Caitlin Clark, 2025 figures to be the year of Paige Bueckers as the talented UConn standout is the runaway favourite to be selected first overall this spring.
2025 WNBA Draft — No. 1 pick odds
Paige Bueckers: -2000
Olivia Miles: +750
Kiki Iriafen: +1000
Sonia Citron: +2500
Te-Hina Paopao: +5000
Janiah Barker: +5000
Azzi Fudd: +5000
Aneesah Morrow: +5000
Stars such as USC’s Juju Watkins and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo currently aren’t draft eligible, though it will be interesting to see what provisions are added to the upcoming CBA negotiations to see if there are any new avenues to get “star players” to the league sooner.
Nevertheless, the 2025 crop presents an intriguing blend of size, skill, and raw athleticism for WNBA scouts to analyze to death between now and draft night. Most sports books have Olivia Miles going 2nd overall to the Seattle Storm as they look to usher in their post-Jewell Loyd era in the Pacific Northwest, but that remains a highly fluid situation.
Aneesah Morrow and Kiki Iriafen are two other names to keep an eye on as potentially sneaky top 3 picks. Azzi Fudd took a medical redshirt last season so she has another year of eligibility, but she has not made an official statement indicating her plans beyond this year with the Huskies. Once a highly touted recruit, injuries have limited her collegiate contributions, but the skillset has never been in question.
Could she be someone that a team like Golden State, in need of a “face of the franchise” looks to take a chance on? Or would they look for someone with a less extensive medical history in their first foray into the draft process?
Then there’s the dark horse candidates to have impactful WNBA careers, who aren’t likely to go in the top 5 picks. Players such as Sedona Prince, Rori Harmon, and Hailey Van Lith could do wonders for their draft stock with a strong showing this month, potentially creeping into the first round.
2024 may have had a more high profile draft class thanks to the national attention players like Clark and Angel Reese received, but the 2025 crop may end up being a deeper class when all is said and done in terms of players who are able to carve out meaningful WNBA minutes in their rookie campaign and beyond.
Photo: John Mac. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.