WNBA: The 2025 Season

brevity

brevity

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Reigan Richardson has declared for the draft. I'd think she's a longshot and would more likely play pro elsewhere.

https://www.instagram.com/dukeglobalzone/p/DH9q_CgPFTC/

Duke alumni in the WNBA:

- Chelsea Gray (the legend; named MVP of Unrivaled, key part of powerful Las Vegas Aces)
- Elizabeth Williams (Chicago; missed most of last season but signed extension)
- Lexie Brown (just traded to Seattle)

Haley Peters, who has shuttled between the WNBA and Europe through her career, signed a training-camp contract with Connecticut.

Add those who transferred out:

- Azura Stevens
- Celeste Taylor
 
brevity said:
Rachel DeMita, who talked to Kara Lawson and Toby Fournier last month for her Courtside Club podcast, went to France to interview 6-6 post player Dominique Malonga, who is expected to go as high as #2 in next week's WNBA Draft. She won a silver medal with Team France in the 2024 Olympics.

Click to expand...
She probably also got to sneak in a visit with Arianna Roberson's brother who plays for the men's side of the same club (Tony Parker's team). WNBA rules are different from the NBA so players who retain international status are eligible only in the year that they turn 20 unless they later go to college. That makes Malonga more than five years younger than some other center prospects who have been mentioned for this year. Had Toby either done a year of college in Canada or played professionally in some other country, she would have been a mid-first round pick at worst this year, but now she has to follow the same rules as other college players.
 
The WNBA draft was last night. Two NCSU players were invited and had their trip made worthwhile.
Both Saniya Rivers (8th) and Aziaha James (12th) were taken in the first round. ND's Sonia Citron (3rd) joined them.

Other ACC notables were
ND Maddy Westbeld (4th, 2nd round)
FSU Makayla Timpson (7th, 2nd round)
ND Liatu King (3rd, 3rd round)

The chances that any player not taken in the first will be on a roster at the start of the season are pretty slim, and they fall with each lower pick. Why they even have a third round is a mystery to me.

The highlight of the whole draft day was Carolina putting out this image.

1744736329335.png

Of course not a single one of those three heard their name called, as expected. :sneaky:
 
Also of note on the draft, Sedona Prince wasn't called. If she had no baggage, that would be a huge surprise, but she's packing a few suitcases of issues that teams don't want to touch.

apnews.com

Sedona Prince goes undrafted in WNBA with her basketball future now murky

Sedona Prince has gotten a lot of attention for her social media posts, drawing attention to gender equity questions at the NCAA Tournament in 2021, and her status as a lead plaintiff in a landmark antitrust lawsuit standing up for college athletes.
apnews.com apnews.com
 
CameronBornAndBred said:
The WNBA draft was last night. Two NCSU players were invited and had their trip made worthwhile.
Both Saniya Rivers (8th) and Aziaha James (12th) were taken in the first round. ND's Sonia Citron (3rd) joined them.

Other ACC notables were
ND Maddy Westbeld (4th, 2nd round)
FSU Makayla Timpson (7th, 2nd round)
ND Liatu King (3rd, 3rd round)

The chances that any player not taken in the first will be on a roster at the start of the season are pretty slim, and they fall with each lower pick. Why they even have a third round is a mystery to me.

The highlight of the whole draft day was Carolina putting out this image.

View attachment 19886

Of course not a single one of those three heard their name called, as expected. :sneaky:
Click to expand...
Why wear half a legging?
 
CameronBornAndBred said:
Of course not a single one of those three heard their name called, as expected. :sneaky:
Click to expand...
For all we like to make fun, Alyssa Ustby is an excellent glue player, and she has already signed a contract as an undrafted free agent with the LA Sparks. She probably won't make the final roster, primarily because of her shooting, but she at least still has a chance at it. It's been a while since a Duke player has gotten even that much of look. I think the last was Leaonna Odom, back in the COVID draft. I like the direction we're heading, though.
 
Phredd3 said:
For all we like to make fun, Alyssa Ustby is an excellent glue player, and she has already signed a contract as an undrafted free agent with the LA Sparks. She probably won't make the final roster, primarily because of her shooting, but she at least still has a chance at it. It's been a while since a Duke player has gotten even that much of look. I think the last was Leaonna Odom, back in the COVID draft. I like the direction we're heading, though.
Click to expand...
We'll get there, we are getting there.

Also, GTHC. Enjoy Europe, Alyssa.
 
CameronBornAndBred said:
The chances that any player not taken in the first will be on a roster at the start of the season are pretty slim, and they fall with each lower pick. Why they even have a third round is a mystery to me.
Click to expand...

It's being invited to tryout. Maybe 1 third rounder makes a roster each year, and that will rise slightly now that the league has increased it's team count by 9%. It serves as an acknowledgement (To some degree) that there are most qualified women out there than spots on teams.

Worst case, it allows those women to demonstrate their readiness to play overseas.


I long for the day when these talentend ladies can have a successful future.
 
uh_no said:
It's being invited to tryout. Maybe 1 third rounder makes a roster each year, and that will rise slightly now that the league has increased it's team count by 9%. It serves as an acknowledgement (To some degree) that there are most qualified women out there than spots on teams.
Click to expand...
Being a 2nd or 3rd rounder isn't a death knell for WNBA hopes, but face reality and those hopes take a massive hit. Enjoy your tryout and enjoy playing overseas. It's not like NOT being in the WNBA is crushing, especially since there's a reason that almost all players go overseas anyway for the bigger bucks. But it's still a matter of prestige.

In a NYT article of "winners and losers", it's pointed out that 2nd rounder Mikalya Timpson from FSU actually might be perfect right where she landed, so she gets Winner status.

Timpson (Florida State) also landed in an ideal spot. Indiana stocked up on bigs during the offseason, but Timpson most closely resembles Temi Fagbenle, who is now with the Valkyries. Clark loved having a rim-running big on the floor with her, and that is one of Timpson’s best skills.
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www.nytimes.com

Winners and losers of the 2025 WNBA Draft: Dallas Wings, UConn players and Sedona Prince

Who missed out on a key player? How did the Valkyries do?
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
Leaonna Odom signs a contract with the New York Liberty, the team that drafted her five years ago. It seems like an unusual move, although it is great to see her trying to play again. She has had some bad luck with injuries, missing out on a chance to play in Australia after a WNBA injury. Once she recovered, she signed in Ukraine and then had to leave ahead of the invasion by Russia. She was out of the WNBA after training camp and then signed in Hungary only to suffer another season-ending injury.
 
awhom111 said:
Leaonna Odom signs a contract with the New York Liberty, the team that drafted her five years ago. It seems like an unusual move, although it is great to see her trying to play again. She has had some bad luck with injuries, missing out on a chance to play in Australia after a WNBA injury. Once she recovered, she signed in Ukraine and then had to leave ahead of the invasion by Russia. She was out of the WNBA after training camp and then signed in Hungary only to suffer another season-ending injury.
Click to expand...

She started for 16 games for the Liberty in 2020 and shot 49% from the field, 55% from 2-point range.

Injuries are the scourge of women's basketball.
 
WNBA Training Camp starts on April 27 (Sunday). It's not exactly like NBA Summer League, but at least I can carry over an annual tradition from that thread: roster announcement graphics.

When a team supplies their own image, I'll share it here. If they don't, or if it's just too hard to read, I'll make my own cheap version. Let's start with recent Duke WBB departee Reigan Richardson and the Minnesota Lynx. They announced their roster on Wednesday and put up a graphic on Threads.

minnesotalynx.jpg

What do you think? Can you read the names? I think that, despite the lower case, fancy font, and blue-on-blue contrast, they are just legible. (If not, I can probably create a graphic using fictional sheriff Marge Gunderson, who works two hours away in Brainerd.)

Aside from undrafted rookie Reigan Richardson, this roster features 2nd rounders Anastasiia Kosu from Russia and Dalayah Daniels from the University of Washington. A different Husky, UConn's Aubrey Griffin, was selected in the 3rd round but isn't here. Emily Adams of the Hartford Courant reported "The Lynx will hold on to Griffin’s rights for a year as an unsigned draftee, so she could presumably opt to report to training camp in 2026." I'm guessing she's injured, then?
 
Next up are the Seattle Storm, who announced their training camp roster on Friday. Among several newcomers to the team is former Duke player Lexie Brown, an 8-year pro traded from Los Angeles in the offseason.

seattlestorm.jpg

This is a reunion of #2 pick Dominique Malonga with veteran Gabby Williams; both were on the French National Team that won silver in the Paris Olympics last year. Other rookies include a trio of 3rd rounders: Kansas State's Serena Sundell, TCU's Madison Conner, and Michigan's Jordan Hobbs. Sundell led the nation in assists last season (7.3 per game), though I guess she was limited to a 15-4-4 line in the Wildcats' loss to Duke.
 
LasVegas said:
Super excited to see how much Caitlin Clark improved in the offseason.
Click to expand...

If you've been following my posts in the season-long WBB thread, you already know this, but new Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White also moonlights as an announcer for ESPN/ACC Network, and called a handful of games in Cameron. I included some offseason WNBA content, like her first practice with Caitlin Clark in this video:


As I pointed out then, the female assistant coach in the orange and gray hoodie is Karima Christmas-Kelly, a former Blue Devil, and the male assistant coach in the gray T-shirt is her husband and Duke classmate, Austin Kelly. Coach White brought Mr. Kelly with her from the Connecticut Sun, and retained Mrs. Christmas-Kelly, who was already employed by the Fever.

This would be a great time to add Indiana's training camp roster, but I don't think it's been released yet. So instead I'll share this short clip of Caitlin Clark and Lexie Hull stacking cups, posted by the team on Friday.

 
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