2025 WNBA Draft Preview: Paige Bueckers Goes First, Then Who?

The Dallas Wings are expected to draft the UConn Huskies star first. The favorite to go second overall, to Seattle, is Dominique Malonga of France.

Paige Bueckers of the UConn Huskies celebrates in the fourth quarter of the title game against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., on April 6, 2025. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Unlike the NBA Draft, which takes place two-and-a-half months after the conclusion of the men’s college basketball season, the WNBA Draft is held roughly a week after the women’s college basketball season ends. This year’s draft will take place on April 14 at The Shed in New York City.

There will be 38 total selections over three rounds, and while each round was set to have 13 picks, the Las Vegas Aces were forced to forfeit their first-round pick because league policy violation, so the first round will have 12 picks. The draft lottery determined the order with the top four, with the rest of the picks determined in inverse order by the teams’ regular-season records. The Dallas Wings hold the No. 1 overall pick, and just as the NBA Draft has a sure-fire top overall prospect in Cooper Flagg, the WNBA Draft has the same in Paige Bueckers.

The former UConn star is coming off a national championship and could have returned to Storrs, Conn., but is likely taking her talents to Dallas. The Wings (9-31) had the league’s second-worst record a year ago but advanced to the WNBA Semifinals in 2023 with a 22-18 mark. The team gave up 92.1 points per game in 2024, which was the second-most in WNBA history. So while it needs help on the defensive end, it would be shocking to see Dallas pass up on a generational talent like Bueckers, as she is likely to pair with the WNBA’s second-leading scorer in Arike Ogunbowale next season.

Of the last 17 top overall picks in the WNBA Draft, 16 became All-Stars, including last year’s selection, Caitlin Clark. However, Wings fans have a reason to be anxious as the lone No. 1 overall pick over the last 17 years to not become an All-Star was Charli Collier (2021), who was taken by Dallas. She averaged 2.9 ppg over her two-year WNBA career and now plays overseas.

The Seattle Storm, who made the playoffs at 25-15 a year ago, have the second pick, thanks to the three-team trade that sent Kelsey Plum to the Sparks and Jewell Loyd to the Aces. The favorite to go second overall is Dominique Malonga, who has been playing professionally in France for the last four years and is just 19 years old. Last year, the 6-foot-6 center became the first Frenchwoman to dunk in a game.

Starting with the third pick is a run of Washington Mystics selections as they hold the third, fourth, and sixth picks in the opening round. Sandwiched in between is the No. 5 pick, which will be the first selection in WNBA history for the league’s newest franchise. The Golden State Valkyries are joining the league this season as the first WNBA expansion team in 17 years. The Valkyries held their expansion draft in December, when they notably took Tiffany Hayes, a former All-Star who was the 2024 Sixth Woman of the Year with Las Vegas.

Other teams with multiple first-round picks include the Wings, who will bookend the first round, with the first and last (No. 12) picks. Also, the Connecticut Sun holds the No. 7 and No. 8 selections. Five teams do not have first-round picks in the Aces (forfeiture), as well as the Atlanta Dream, Indiana Fever, Phoenix Mercury, and New York Liberty, each of whom traded away those selections.

Eligibility for the WNBA Draft is a bit more detailed than the NBA counterpart. Domestic players, such as those who competed in the NCAA, must be at least 22 in the year of the draft, have no more college eligibility remaining, or must renounce any remaining eligibility. Several college stars opted to bypass the 2025 WNBA Draft, even though they were eligible, such as Olivia Miles—the projected No. 2 overall pick—and Azzi Fudd, who won a title alongside Bueckers and was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Eligibility for international players requires them to turn 20 in the year of the draft.

Other former college stars expected to be drafted early include forward Kiki Iriafen, who averaged 18-plus ppg over the last two years—one at Stanford and one at USC—as well as guard Sonia Citron, who is coming off three All-ACC selections at Notre Dame. Additionally, former TCU star Hailey Van Lith, who also played for LSU and Louisville, could be a late first-rounder after becoming the first player in NCAA history to appear in the Elite Eight with three different programs.

With the age requirements favoring international players, there is also expected to be a heavy foreign presence in the first round. Besides Malonga, Slovenia’s Ajsa Sivka is high on draft boards after leading her country to the FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship in 2023 with a 20-point, 12-rebound performance in the title game. Also, Juste Jocyte of Lithuania could be an early pick as, at 14 years old in 2019, she was the youngest player in the history of the top women’s league in France. She was a teammate of Malonga’s, and both Jocyte and Sivka are 19 years old and will turn 20 this year.

A total of 16 prospects have been invited by the WNBA to attend the draft, including Bueckers, and all of the aforementioned, save for Jocyte. Malonga and Sivka are the only two international players invited, while the other 14 are all former college stars. Then, roughly a month after hearing their names called by commissioner Cathy Engelbert, the rookies will make their regular season debuts as the 2025 season is just around the corner, beginning on May 16.