The 2023 NWSL Draft offered sure bets, surprises and several interesting trades Thursday night in Philadelphia.

Angel City FC telegraphed its choice for the No. 1 overall pick last week when it orchestrated a blockbuster four-team trade for the prime spot. But the draft class runs much deeper than presumptive top choice Alyssa Thompson.

Just Women’s Sports tracked every pick from every team, while staff writer Claire Watkins provided live coverage from the draft floor.

First round

1. Angel City FC: Alyssa Thompson, F, Harvard-Westlake Prep

The 18-year-old California native made her debut for the U.S. women’s senior national team in 2022 in front of a near-sellout crowd at London’s Wembley Stadium.

2. Kansas City Current: Michelle Cooper, F, Duke

The Current swapped star forward Lynn Williams for the opportunity to take Cooper with the second overall pick. After a season in which she led the Blue Devils with 19 goals and 11 assists, the 20-year-old won the MAC Hermann Trophy, which recognizes the best player in college soccer.

3. Orlando Pride: Emily Madril, D, Florida State

The 23-year-old starred for Florida State during its 2021 title run, then signed a contract with the NWSL to maintain her draft eligibility while she played for Swedish club BK Häcken FF in 2022.

4. NJ/NY Gotham FC: Jenna Nighswonger, M, Florida State

In her senior season, the 22-year-old started all 22 games for the Seminoles, notching six goals and 16 assists.

5. Portland Thorns FC: Reyna Reyes, D, Alabama

Reyes scored a career-high eight goals in 2022. The 21-year-old also led the Crimson Tide defense to 12 shutouts in 2022 en route to the SEC Defender of the Year award.

6. North Carolina Courage: Olivia Wingate, F, Notre Dame

In her fifth year with the Irish, Wingate more than doubled her career goals total, notching 14 in the 2022 season. She finished her career at Notre Dame with 26 goals and 11 assists.

7. Chicago Red Stars: Penelope Hocking, F, Penn State

Before she scored seven goals and recorded 11 assists for the Nittany Lions in 2022, she starred for four years at USC.

8. North Carolina Courage: Sydney Collins, D, California

The team captain for the Bears in 2022 anchored the team’s backline for four seasons.

9. North Carolina Courage: Clara Robbins, M, Florida State

The redshirt senior played 110 games in college, the second most in women’s college soccer history, and she won the ACC tournament MVP award in 2020 and 2021.

10. Kansas City Current: Alexa Spaanstra, F, Virginia

A versatile winger, Spaanstra made a name for herself as a pass-first player but contributed eight goals and five assists for the Cavaliers in 2022.

11. North Carolina Courage: Haley Hopkins, F, Virginia

Hopkins joined the Cavaliers from Vanderbilt as a graduate transfer in 2021, and she stuck around in 2022. Across two seasons with Virginia, she had 22 goals and 14 assists.

12. Portland Thorns FC: Izzy D’Aquila, F, Santa Clara

D’Aquila finished second in scoring in the NCAA with 19 goals in 2022. She posted 50 career goals in 78 games across three seasons for the Broncos.

Second round

13. San Diego Wave: Sierra Enge, M, Stanford
14. Chicago Red Stars: Grace Yochum, M, Oklahoma State
15. Kansas City Current: Gabby Robinson, D, West Virginia
16. Racing Louisville FC: Kayla Fischer, F, Ohio State
17. Racing Louisville FC: Brianna Martinez, D, Notre Dame
18. Kansas City Current: Jordan Silkowitz, G, Iowa State
19. OL Reign: Shae Holmes, D, Washington
20. Houston Dash: Sophie Hirst, M, Harvard
21. Orlando Pride: Messiah Bright, F, TCU
22. Houston Dash: Jyllissa Harris, D, South Carolina
23. Chicago Red Stars: Ally Schlegel, F, Penn State
24. Portland Thorns FC: Lauren DeBeau, F, Michigan State

Third round

25. Orlando Pride: Tori Hansen, D, North Carolina
26. Washington Spirit: Nicole Douglas, F, Arizona State
27. Angel City FC: Angelina Anderson, G, California
28. Washington Spirit: Lyza Bosselmann, G, Gonzaga
29. Racing Louisville: Jadyn Edwards, M, New Mexico
30. Washington Spirit: Riley Tanner, F, Alabama
31. Racing Louisville FC: Riley Mattingly Parker, F, Alabama
32. Portland Thorns: Lauren Kozal, G, Michigan State
33. San Diego Wave: Lauren Brzykcy, G, UCLA
34. Washington Spirit: Lena Silano, F, Long Beach State
35. Kansas City Current: Mykiaa Minniss, D, Washington State
36. Houston Dash: Lindsi Jennings, D, LSU

Fourth round

37. Washington Spirit: Civana Kuhlmann, F, Colorado
38. Kansas City Current: Ella Shamburger, D, Vanderbilt
39. Orlando Pride: Summer Yates, M, Washington
40. Washington Spirit: Delaney Graham, D, Duke
41. Orlando Pride: Kristen Scott, F, UCF
42. Kansas City Current: Rylan Childers, M, Kansas
43. Chicago Red Stars: Sophie Jones, M, Duke
44. Houston Dash: Iliana Hocking, M, Arizona
45. San Diego Wave: Giovanna DeMarco, M, Wake Forest
46. OL Reign: Natalie Viggiano, M, Wisconsin
47. Kansas City Current: Ashley Orkus, G, Ole Miss
48. Portland Thorns FC: Madelyn Desiano, D, UCLA

Read more:

• What every team needs in the 2023 NWSL draft
• NWSL 2023 mock draft: Projecting every first-round pick
• Alyssa Thompson: Get to know No. 1 pick in NWSL draft
• Sophia Smith and the 2020 draft class that reshaped the NWSL

The Chicago Sky showed up in a big way on Tuesday night, taking down 2023 WNBA Finals runners-up New York Liberty by an impressively wide margin. 

The Sky walked away with a 101-53 win, boasting a 48 point swing that still looms large despite the fact that it's only preseason. Perhaps the team felt extra pressure to perform — not only did WNBA League Pass follow through on their promise to stream the game for free, but Chicago Bears rookies Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze also happened to be watching on from the stands.

“I’m gonna just say — it’s about time," said Sky guard Dana Evans in response to the star-studded turnout at Wintrust Arena. "Everybody wants to watch women’s basketball. I feel like we’ve been doing a really good job of doing stuff on the court and off the court. So just having them support us is great — but keep bringing them out."

Chicago's Marina Mabrey was lights out with four threes and 20 points on the night, while training camp addition Chennedy Carter racked up 11 points and two steals. 

Sky rookie Angel Reese proved that she can do it all, putting up 13 points, five rebounds, and two steals in 19 minutes — all less than 24 hours after she walked the Met Gala red carpet in New York. The 6-foot-3 top draft pick out of LSU even knocked down a layup over 2023 WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart in one of the night's many highlights.

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"So now yall can delete them drafts & tweets saying i shouldn’t have gone to the met gala & i can’t do both," she later wrote on social media. 

While some may chalk it up to preseason coaching choices and the fact that it was the Liberty’s first real game outside of training camp scrimmages, New York head coach Sandy Brondello still voiced disappointed in her team’s result.

"We just got our butts kicked, everywhere. I mean everything. It’s an embarrassing effort, I don’t care that it’s preseason," she said in a postgame press conference. "Our starters didn't get us off to a good start. We missed a lot of layups early, but they just took us out of everything."

On a lighter note, the third-year Liberty coach had some kind words for undrafted rookie Jaylyn Sherrod, who showed real effort on defense.

"She has speed," remarked Brondello. "She could guard Dana Evans. No one else could."

As the WNBA plans to implement league-wide charter flights, the NWSL is struggling with some travel issues of its own. 

Missed flights, inclement weather, and a stretch of midweek games have spurred workload and logistical concerns for a number of NWSL teams. Last week, three games were played Wednesday night, while another three games are set to be played tonight. 

"You can't play your best XI right now because of the amount of games you have," said Red Stars head coach Lorne Donaldson after last Wednesday's 4-2 loss to Washington. Donaldson emphasized the importance of rotating through the team’s depth so as to avoid injury.

"You have to get to about 16 deep where you can," he continued. "Or else your best XI is going to be injured or walk off the field and they can’t finish the season."

Kansas City has faced some of the league's most extreme turnaround times this season. On Sunday, the Current missed an evening flight to Seattle due to a multi-hour rain delay in Houston, throwing off their training schedule ahead of their midweek match against the Reign. The NWSL eventually gave them the green light to charter a plane, but not before frustration spread throughout the team.

"We lost the whole day of the opportunity to recover," said Current head coach Vlatko Andonovski after the Current's weekend draw against the Dash. "So the schedule, it's already challenging to begin with. We have by far the worst schedule in the league, and this just made it even worse.

"We don't have a hotel, we got to figure out a hotel. We don't have flights for tomorrow, we got to figure out flights. We had trainings for some players that we believe needed training time to be able to perform on Wednesday.”

While the team was given permission to charter a plane, navigating such approvals has proven difficult in the past. This past July, the NWSL fined Kansas City $55,000 over the unauthorized use of a charter flight.

Recently retired WNBA superstar Candace Parker has her next gig lined up: president of women’s basketball at Adidas.

Parker announced her retirement at the end of April, bringing a close to a 16-year professional career spanning three WNBA championship titles with three different teams. And now, she’s stepping into a slightly different role — this time off the court — with longtime sponsor Adidas.

"The brand and I have grown together, and we’ve done some amazing things," she told Fast Company in an exclusive interview published Wednesday morning. "I’m excited about what the future holds on this side of things, because I’m so passionate about growing the game of basketball."

Parker initially signed with Adidas at the end of her first professional season in 2008, going on to spend the vast majority of her illustrious WNBA career linked to the German athletic brand. In 2010, she became the first woman to receive a signature Adidas shoe: the ACE Commander.

Her most recent Adidas collaborations include basketball sneakers Exhibit B (2022) and Exhibit Select (2023) in a variety of different colorways, as well as limited edition off-court apparel.

In 2022, Parker led a mentorship program for the brand’s first class of NIL-sponsored college athletes, a stacked roster that involved the likes of rising star Hailey Van Lith, among others. In her new position, she’ll be "overseeing pretty much everything" when it comes to the brand’s women’s basketball operations.

That "everything" includes weighing in on shoe and clothing design, navigating new and existing athlete partnerships, and taking control of Adidas' grassroots growth strategies. She’ll also help with "how we actually speak to the women’s basketball consumer," Eric Wise, who leads the brand’s global basketball business, told Fast Company.

According to Parker, the decision to accept the offer hinged on her desire to be more than just "the face" of Adidas women’s basketball.

"I said to [Adidas], 'I don’t want to be a mascot,'" Parker said. "'I really want to be in the meetings, and I want to be a part of making decisions.'"

Charter flights are on the horizon for the WNBA, with commissioner Cathy Engelbert saying on Tuesday that the league will provide teams with full-time private travel services beginning as soon as this season. 

The move is set to address years of player safety concerns, among other issues. Engelbert told AP Sports Editors that the league aims to launch the program "as soon as we can logistically get planes in place."

The initiative is projected to cost around $25 million per year over the next two seasons.

The WNBA has previously provided charter flights on a limited basis, including during the postseason and when teams were scheduled to play back-to-back regular season games. Individual owners seeking to independently provide their teams with private travel — such as the New York Liberty’s Joe and Clara Wu Tsai back in 2022 — faced significant fines for using unauthorized charters.

While players and team staff have been calling for league-wide charters even before Caitlin Clark and other high profile rookies joined the league, Engelbert has routinely cited steep year-to-year costs as the reasoning behind sticking to commercial flights. 

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However, the WNBA's surging popularity means increased visibility, and a subsequent uptick in security concerns — especially when it comes to big name newcomers like Clark — has Englebert reconsidering her previous decision. 

WNBA Players Association president Nneka Ogwumike called the move "transformational," and credited the WNBPA as well as the league for its implementation. 

"Our league is growing, the demand for women's basketball is growing," Ogwumike told ESPN. "That means more eyes on us, which is what we want, but that means more protection from the organization that we play for, the whole W that we play for.

"Chartering flights not only is a safety measure, the biggest thing, and then obviously what it means to be able to play a game and go home and rest and recover and be the elite athletes that we try to be every single night when we step out onto this court."

Aces coach Becky Hammon called the immediate response to the charter announcement "great" but noted that there are still kinks to be worked out. 

"What it all looks like, we’re still gathering information, we don’t know," she said Tuesday.

Several players emphasized the importance of safety, highlighting how last season the Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner was harassed in an airport while traveling commercial.

"All these players and these faces are becoming so popular that it really is about that as much as it as about recovery," Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier said.

"Above everything else, I think it's the safety of our players," Mercury player Natasha Cloud added. "We have a prime example with BG on our team that needs to be safe. At airports, it's like a madhouse. You see Caitlin Clark walking through airports, people following her, people trying to touch her, get pictures with her. It's just a safety measure, through and through. You would never have an NBA team walk through an airport."

Prior to Tuesday's announcement, the league had said it would charter flights for the playoffs and back-to-back games via a program introduced last year. The latest news, however, promises that teams will also be provided charters to and from all regular season games.

"Our safety is being taken seriously now, finally. In no world should our security not be a priority," Griner told ESPN. "If we want to be the league that we want to be and have the respect that we have, it comes with some risks. Sometimes people want to get close to you and it's not people you want, so I'm just glad that we don't have to deal with that anymore."