After UConn superstar Paige Bueckers set the tone as the overall No. 1 pick, the rest of Monday night’s 2025 WNBA Draft played out without too many surprises, as teams stocked up on fresh talent from both home and abroad.
The Seattle Storm selected French phenom Dominique Malonga second, before the Washington Mystics took Notre Dame guard Sonia Citron at No. 3 and USC forward Kiki Iriafen at No. 4.
Incoming expansion team Golden State threw the night’s initial curveball with their first-ever draft pick, adding Lithuanian forward Justé Jocyté to the Valkyries' inaugural roster at No. 5.
However, Jocyté's availability remains a question mark, with the 19-year-old confirming her intent to join her national team for this summer's EuroBasket.
Young stars earn first round selections at the 2025 WNBA Draft
The rest of Monday's first round showcased NCAA and international standouts alike, with teams prioritizing both skills, potential, and team fit as they strategized and vied to load their draft boards with top talent.
The exception to the original first-round lineup was Las Vegas, whose No. 10 pick was rescinded after a 2023 investigation found the Aces guilty of violating league policies.
- No. 6: Georgia Amoore (Kentucky) to the Washington Mystics
- No. 7: Aneesah Morrow (LSU) to the Connecticut Sun
- No. 8: Saniyah Rivers (NC State) to the Connecticut Sun
- No. 9: Sarah Ashlee Barker (Alabama) to the LA Sparks
- No. 10: Ajša Sivka (Slovenia) to the Chicago Sky
- No. 11: Hailey Van Lith (TCU) to the Chicago Sky
- No. 12: Aziaha James (NC State) to the Dallas Wings
With the 2025 WNBA season starting in just one month, the new draftees will soon be joining their pro teams in training camp, where final roster decisions will be made as franchises make difficult cuts en route to May 16th's opening tip-off.
"The WNBA is so unique with how powerful the talent is because it is so small," said Van Lith, who's set to link up with her former LSU teammate Angel Reese at the Chicago Sky this year. "It's a competition that I'm ready to embrace, that I'm excited to embrace."
With the 2025 WNBA Draft tipping off on Monday night, experts across women’s basketball are busy predicting the results, as this year’s sure-thing overall No. 1 pick begets question marks down the line.
Barring a shocking surprise, the Dallas Wings will snap up UConn star Paige Bueckers first, ushering in a new era of Texas basketball.
The rest of the lottery is more of a mystery, with one lesser-known name projected to shake up the early picks.
Mock drafts from both ESPN and The Athletic have the Seattle Storm using their No. 2 spot to select 19-year-old French center Dominique Malonga, pivoting away from the NCAA-to-WNBA pipeline.
After the top two picks, opinions diverge, with factors like team-fit and overall talent influencing WNBA teams' strategies as they eye the guard-heavy field.
Among the top NCAA players expected to go early in Monday's first round are Notre Dame guard Sonia Citron, USC forward Kiki Iriafen, and LSU forward Aneesah Morrow.
Sportsbooks are also weighing in, with FanDuel currently favoring Citron at No. 3 (-140), Iriafen at No. 4 (+170), and Morrow at No. 5 (+105).
How to watch the 2025 WNBA Draft
With commissioner Cathy Engelbert set to announce the No. 1 pick shortly after 7:30 PM ET, live coverage of Monday's 2025 WNBA Draft will begin at 7 PM ET on ESPN.
NCAA basketball standouts are still making decisions on whether to remain in college or make the leap to the pros as the 2025 WNBA Draft looms on Monday — and many are choosing to stay in school.
In the most recent example of this trend, Texas senior Rori Harmon announced Wednesday that she’ll use her injury redshirt year to return to the Longhorns next season.
While most players in this year’s senior class began college in 2021 — after the cutoff to receive an extra year of eligibility following the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown — 2025’s draft-eligible group includes many players opting to stay in the NCAA.
Like Harmon, injuries resulting in redshirt seasons are allowing college standouts like South Carolina's Raven Johnson, newly announced TCU transfer Olivia Miles, and 2025 national champion and UConn star Azzi Fudd a final shot at the NCAA court.
LSU's Flau’jae Johnson and UCLA's Lauren Betts — current juniors who are draft eligible under the WNBA's age clause, which permits players who have not hit four collegiate seasons to go pro so long as they turn 22 years old within the draft's calendar year — have also declined to make the jump in 2025.
Star-power still up for grabs in the 2025 WNBA Draft
Despite the collegiate holdouts, there will still be significant NCAA names earning WNBA spots on Monday, led by UConn guard Paige Bueckers.
Bueckers is still considered a lock for the 2025 WNBA Draft's overall No. 1 pick, which is held tightly by Dallas — in spite of speculation that the Wings might not be her preferred destination.
Other projected first rounders include Notre Dame guard Sonia Citron, USC forward Kiki Iriafen, LSU forward Aneesah Morrow, South Carolina guard Te-Hina Paopao, Kentucky guard Georgia Amoore, and Maryland guard Shyanne Sellers — with TCU guard Hailey Van Lith also making an early-round draft case through her 2025 March Madness play.
Monday could also see international prospects making a splash, with some mock drafts expecting French prodigy Dominique Malonga to go as high as No. 2, with Slovenian forward Ajsa Sivka and Lithuanian shooting guard Justė Jocytė also possibly earning WNBA invites.
All in all, the upcoming 2025 WNBA Draft class boasts experience, solid shooting, and many winning resumes, but it's up to the pro scouts to determine who will fit their team best.
With the first round and half of the second round in the books, March Madness tipped off with massive wins, narrow upsets, busted brackets, and the survival of every team seeded No. 3 and above.
While seven of those elite squads will square off against lower seeds in their second-round matchups on Monday, five have already snagged spots in the Sweet Sixteen — No. 1-seeds UCLA and South Carolina, No. 2 seeds TCU and Duke, and No. 3 seed Notre Dame all advance with Sunday victories.
Sunday's second round also saw No. 5-seeds rule the day, as Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Kansas State all booked Sweet Sixteen berths behind wins over their No. 4-seed hosts — Baylor, Ohio State, and Kentucky, respectively.
The clash between the two Wildcat teams proved to be the game of the weekend, as Kentucky pushed Kansas State to brink before falling 80-79 in overtime to the Big 12's big 'Cats.
The lights-out play of forward Temira Poindexter secured Kansas State's first Sweet Sixteen trip in 23 years, as the senior led Sunday's game with 24 points — all of which she scored from beyond the arc.
For fellow senior Serena Sundell, who had an impressive 19-point, 14-assist performance of her own, the win helped erase memories of last March Madness, when Kansas State was ousted in a second-round upset loss.
"That loss, we all just took it so personal," remarked Sundell after Sunday's victory. "I'm just so proud of our program, and to be able to bring [this win] back to our community and our university is so special."
Top seeds show out with blockbuster offense
Before tackling second-round matchups, March Madness's biggest names dominated the first two days of games, making NCAA tournament history with six teams scoring over 100 points in their first-round wins.
No. 1-seeds South Carolina and Texas, No. 2-seed UConn, No. 3-seeds Notre Dame and LSU, and No. 5 seed Tennessee all surpassed the century mark in their 2025 March Madness debuts, tying the record for the most 100+ point team performances in a single NCAA tournament — all before the second round.
While each of those teams had at least one star score 20 or more points, UConn guard Azzi Fudd led the six-team field, posting 27 points to help the Huskies defeat No. 15-seed Arkansas State 103-34 on Saturday — Fudd's first NCAA tournament game in two years.
Notre Dame standouts Hannah Hidalgo and Sonia Citron closely trailed Fudd on the stat sheet, with each Irish guard scoring 24 points en route to a 106-54 Friday win over No. 14-seed Stephen F. Austin.
Those six blockbuster performances ultimately ballooned the first round's margin of victory to a whopping 26.5 points —the highest for any non-championship round in NCAA history.
Even more, the 2024/25 NCAA tournament's first round claimed a historic level of chalk, marking the first time in 31 years that no seed higher than No. 10 escaped the round of 64. Only two double-digit teams advanced — No. 10-seeds Oregon and South Dakota State.
Those arguably expected early-round oustings, however, bring top-tier matchups to the tournament's subsequent rounds — meaning the coming weeks will likely inject even more Madness into March.