By Clare Brennan and Emma Hruby

The top three picks from this year’s WNBA draft class have wasted no time making their presence known in the league. But just how well do Rhyne Howard, NaLyssa Smith and Shakira Austin stack up against top trios from years past?

Just Women’s Sports decided to investigate, delving into four previous sets of top picks from the past 15 years. While the sample size for Howard, Smith and Austin is small, they hold their own amid some impressive company.

2008 Draft Class: Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowles, Candice Wiggins

These three players have five WNBA championships between them across the last 15 seasons, which shows their staying power – indeed, Candace Parker and Sylvia Fowles are still going strong. They also all made an immediate impact upon their introduction to the league.

After setting a WNBA record in her debut, No. 1 overall pick Parker didn’t let her foot off the gas for the Sparks. She finished the season as both Rookie of the Year and league MVP. She also led the league in rebounding.

Parker failed to score in double digits in just one game all season – the final regular-season contest, in which she played just nine minutes as Los Angeles emptied its bench. Her peak performance came against Houston on July 9, when she racked up 40 points, 16 rebounds, five blocks and two steals. She averaged 18.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.3 blocks for the season, which remains one of the best of her career.

Fowles, the second overall pick, didn’t post the same eye-popping numbers as Parker, but her stat line (10.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 1.1 steals) earned her a spot on the All-Rookie team and the All-Defensive Second Team. Austin boasts similar stats through her first seven games this season.

Rounding out the 2008 trio, Candice Wiggins was named Sixth Woman of the Year in her rookie season. She averaged 15.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game for Minnesota despite starting just one game all season.

2013 Draft Class: Brittney Griner, Elena Delle Donne, Skylar Diggins-Smith

No. 1 overall pick Brittney Griner ended her first season as the WNBA blocks leader. She posted 81 blocks in 2013, then followed it up with a career-high 129 a season later. As a rookie, she averaged 12.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocks.

Elena Delle Donne, the No. 2 overall pick, was named Rookie of the Year after averaging 18.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.8 blocks and starting in all 30 games for the Sky.

In her first game, Delle Donne compiled 22 points, eight assists and four blocks to set the tone for the season. She regularly scored in double digits, and she scored at least 20 points 13 times.

Skylar Diggins-Smith took a season to come into her own. Now a star for the Mercury, she began her career with the Tulsa Shock, averaging 8.5 points, 3.8 assists, 1.9 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game in her rookie season. The next season, she averaged 20.1 points per game.

2018 draft class: A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Mitchell, Diamond DeShields

A’ja Wilson headlined the 2018 WNBA draft class as the No. 1 overall pick by the Las Vegas Aces, with Kelsey Mitchell going second to Indiana and Diamond DeShields rounding out the top three after she was selected by Chicago.

The trio stepped into the spotlight from the get-go, particularly Wilson, who earned Rookie of the Year honors. The former South Carolina star averaged 20.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.67 blocked shots in her debut campaign, with Wilson joining Seimone Augustus as only the second rookie in WNBA history to average at least 20 points per game.

Right now, Howard is on pace to join the pair, as she is averaging 20.5 points through six games.

For the Fever, Mitchell logged 70 three-pointers, a tally only surpassed by two other rookies in WNBA history. She averaged 12.7 points and 2.7 assists per game, and she notched 20 or more points on six different occasions.

DeShields dropped the second-most points by a rookie that season, averaging 14.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. The Sky guard topped out at a then-career-high 28 points in one of the last games of the season, putting an exclamation point on her introduction to the league.

2020 draft class: Sabrina Ionescu, Satou Sabally, Lauren Cox

The New York Liberty had high hopes for Sabrina Ionescu when they selected the Oregon superstar as the No. 1 overall pick in 2020. The guard was one of the most exciting draft prospects in recent memory after her historic career with the Ducks.

The hype around Ioenscu’s WNBA debut, however, was dampened when the rookie injured her ankle in the Liberty’s third game, sidelining her for the remainder of the season. Ionescu averaged 18.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists in her three games of the 2020 campaign.

Ionescu’s Oregon teammate Satou Sabally was selected second overall by the Dallas Wings, but her inaugural campaign also was plagued by injury, with the former Duck sitting out six games. When she was on the floor, however, Sabally made an impact, averaging 13.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists across 16 games.

Lauren Cox of Baylor rounded out the top three picks, going to the Indiana Fever. The forward played in 14 games with the team, starting in just one appearance, averaging 3.6 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists.

Ahead of the 2020 season, it seemed safe to assume one of the two Oregon stars would claim Rookie of the Year honors, but the award went to second-round draft pick Crystal Dangerfield of the Minnesota Lynx. The guard was the first player not drafted in the first round to win the award.

WHAT A GAME for @howard_rhyne as she lead the @AtlantaDream to their win over the Fever with a career-high of 33 points. 🔥

And, we are only 4 games into the season 👀 pic.twitter.com/MZ7qE0jUlO

— WNBA (@WNBA) May 15, 2022

2022 Draft Class: Rhyne Howard, NaLyssa Smith, Shakira Austin

So far, this trio has lived up to the hype, starting with top pick Howard. She has yet to score below double digits for the Atlanta Dream, and she dropped 33 points in her fourth game, which puts her in elite company.

Through six games, the guard is averaging 20.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals. While there’s still plenty of ball left to be played, if her scoring trend continues, Howard could be on track for one of the best rookie seasons in league history.

Smith is also having a standout campaign. She’s scored in double digits in all but one game while stacking up the rebounds, including a season-high 17 rebounds against the Liberty on May 13. As of Tuesday, she leads the WNBA in rebounds per game with 10.0, and she is also averaging 13.0 points, good for a double-double on the season.

Since 2008, just one player has averaged more than 10 rebounds per game as a rookie: Tina Charles, who posted 11.7 per game for the Connecticut Sun in 2010.

Austin has earned a starting spot in just three games for a veteran Mystics team, but she has started to come into her own. She has dropped double-digit points totals in each of the last three games, and she’s factored heavily on the stat sheet in each, especially in a 20-point, eight-rebound performance against Dallas on May 17.

She’s averaging 9.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.1 blocks through six games, but those averages could go up if she continues to garner more playing time.

All three of this year’s top rookies will take the court Tuesday night: Howard and Austin will face off at 7 p.m. as the Dream take on the Mystics, and Smith and the Fever will face Parker and the Sky at 8 p.m.

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

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Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.