2025 Draft Lottery

[MrDollarBills]

Agh. I'm so biased. I am happy for Wings fans but now my dreams of a new age Showtime in LA are dashed. I wanted Paige to play with Rickea, Cam and Hamby

I don't know how it will work in Dallas unless Arike changes up how she plays.

[jumpman28]

Agh. I'm so biased. I am happy for Wings fans but now my dreams of a new age Showtime in LA are dashed. I wanted Paige to play with Rickea, Cam and Hamby

I don't know how it will work in Dallas unless Arike changes up how she plays.

IDK with Olivia Miles playing and shooting the three the way she is right now, that's a pretty dang good consolation prize, and also still fits with showtime.

[MrDollarBills]

Agh. I'm so biased. I am happy for Wings fans but now my dreams of a new age Showtime in LA are dashed. I wanted Paige to play with Rickea, Cam and Hamby

I don't know how it will work in Dallas unless Arike changes up how she plays.

IDK with Olivia Miles playing and shooting the three the way she is right now, that's a pretty dang good consolation prize, and also still fits with showtime.

Very true. She's killing it

[TheSuzerain]

I still think it makes sense for FlaueJae to declare with how the lottery played out, and she seems like a better prospect than Miles.

Although Miles has become a more legit prospect for sure with the 3-ball developing (although you've got to be wary of the mid 70s FT%).

[sikma42]

Dominque Malonga seems like an underrated prospect. Just seeing the glimpses from the Olympics but she looked to have #1 pick talent.

https://youtu.be/Eap1GBHHlXc?si=OrZ8TGJ7PBrvro1B

I’d consider taking her over Bueckers


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[Green Chile]

I still think it makes sense for FlaueJae to declare with how the lottery played out, and she seems like a better prospect than Miles.

Although Miles has become a more legit prospect for sure with the 3-ball developing (although you've got to be wary of the mid 70s FT%).

The new CBA for the W could be a factor for some players.

The only players that won't immediately benefit from the new CBA are the recently drafted players, and worst of all for the 2025 draft picks. They will be locked into cheap 4 year contracts as everybody is a free-agent with salaries ballooning. Also a reason 2025 draft picks have massive value to teams.

Who knows what the pay scale for rookies will look like, but 2026 will be the first class with the new pay scale.

It may not matter much to the really marketable players (like FlauJae) who make more money through endorsements and other avenues, but it could be a factor.

Heck, it's not even 100% guaranteed that Paige comes out this year.

[Green Chile]

Shyanne Sellers from Maryland could be playing her way up into the 1st round. She's kicking ass.

6'2" guard that just took Juju to the brink. Always been a decent 3 point shooter, this year at 38.5%.

Easy to see her sliding in with other guards, like Georgia Amoore and Raven Johnson, that may be slipping out of the 1st round.

[Jstock12]

Looks like Juste Jocyte has been allowed to participate in the 2025 Draft despite being born in D.C. She's still only 19 years old, but she made her debut on the Lithuanian Women's national team at age 13.

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[ellobo]

Looks like Juste Jocyte has been allowed to participate in the 2025 Draft despite being born in D.C. She's still only 19 years old, but she made her debut on the Lithuanian Women's national team at age 13.

There's always room for more lefties.

[kdawg32086]

What are the odds that Paige ends up in Seattle? A buddy of mine who seems pretty connected with UConn stuff suggested that Paige doesn't want to go to Texas and that Seattle might have traded for #2 in order to land Paige. It would make sense, given her best friend plays for the Storm. Heck, with Paige and Nika both on the team, I would probably drive up from Portland to watch a lot of Storm games.

[Ghetto Gospel]

What are the odds that Paige ends up in Seattle? A buddy of mine who seems pretty connected with UConn stuff suggested that Paige doesn't want to go to Texas and that Seattle might have traded for #2 in order to land Paige. It would make sense, given her best friend plays for the Storm. Heck, with Paige and Nika both on the team, I would probably drive up from Portland to watch a lot of Storm games.

probably closer to zero.

at the time of the draft lottery, paige wanted the sparks and the sparks wanted paige but seeing that the sparks traded out of #2, i think that tells you all you need to know of her chances at slipping past #1

[Green Chile]

What are the odds that Paige ends up in Seattle? A buddy of mine who seems pretty connected with UConn stuff suggested that Paige doesn't want to go to Texas and that Seattle might have traded for #2 in order to land Paige. It would make sense, given her best friend plays for the Storm. Heck, with Paige and Nika both on the team, I would probably drive up from Portland to watch a lot of Storm games.

probably closer to zero.

at the time of the draft lottery, paige wanted the sparks and the sparks wanted paige but seeing that the sparks traded out of #2, i think that tells you all you need to know of her chances at slipping past #1

I think he meant the chances of a trade.

Who knows if it would happen, but I think there's some chance if Paige is adamant about not going to Dallas. She has some leverage having another year of eligibility.

Dallas could be open to it with 2026 being such a strong class. I think Lauren Betts is an even better prospect than Paige.

[Ghetto Gospel]

What are the odds that Paige ends up in Seattle? A buddy of mine who seems pretty connected with UConn stuff suggested that Paige doesn't want to go to Texas and that Seattle might have traded for #2 in order to land Paige. It would make sense, given her best friend plays for the Storm. Heck, with Paige and Nika both on the team, I would probably drive up from Portland to watch a lot of Storm games.

probably closer to zero.

at the time of the draft lottery, paige wanted the sparks and the sparks wanted paige but seeing that the sparks traded out of #2, i think that tells you all you need to know of her chances at slipping past #1

I think he meant the chances of a trade.

Who knows if it would happen, but I think there's some chance if Paige is adamant about not going to Dallas. She has some leverage having another year of eligibility.

Dallas could be open to it with 2026 being such a strong class. I think Lauren Betts is an even better prospect than Paige.

i would think that if paige was adamant about not going to dallas, the sparks would probably have been privy to that and if so, wouldn't have traded #2. could the storm offer a huge haul to trade up to #1? maybe..? but it seems like they're just going to try and rebuild the team given the age of nneka and SDS, so trading multiple future picks wouldn't be very intelligent and doesn't seem that likely

dallas would be fools to trade paige just because the 2026 class is strong. they are not guaranteed the #1 overall pick in 2026

[Green Chile]

probably closer to zero.

at the time of the draft lottery, paige wanted the sparks and the sparks wanted paige but seeing that the sparks traded out of #2, i think that tells you all you need to know of her chances at slipping past #1

I think he meant the chances of a trade.

Who knows if it would happen, but I think there's some chance if Paige is adamant about not going to Dallas. She has some leverage having another year of eligibility.

Dallas could be open to it with 2026 being such a strong class. I think Lauren Betts is an even better prospect than Paige.

i would think that if paige was adamant about not going to dallas, the sparks would probably have been privy to that and if so, wouldn't have traded #2. could the storm offer a huge haul to trade up to #1? maybe..? but it seems like they're just going to try and rebuild the team given the age of nneka and SDS, so trading multiple future picks wouldn't be very intelligent and doesn't seem that likely

dallas would be fools to trade paige just because the 2026 class is strong. they are not guaranteed the #1 overall pick in 2026

The Sparks are one of the worst run franchises in the league. They didn't get that way by being able to predict the future, and the most likely explanation of trading the pick was they don't think much of Olivia Miles (or don't think she's entering the draft). Based on track record, they'll probably be wrong on that. Whatever they do, it's very likely it will end up being the wrong choice, so I'm not going to assume they are omniscient here.

Obviously, Dallas wouldn't trade Paige "just because" the 2026 class is strong. If they did it, it would mostly be for a haul and not having to deal with a player not wanting to be there. We just watched an entire off-season of cored players with no real rights to get out being traded because they didn't want to be there.

Paige really doesn't want to leave UConn without a title so the threat to stay in college would be very real.

Heck, she could declare for the draft, and just not sign a rookie contract from Dallas, and go right back into the draft next year. Sounds crazy, but it would just mean not playing basketball from April to January, then go make 4X what her rookie salary would have been playing in Unrivaled.

I'm not saying I think any of this will happen, but just within the realm of possibility.

[TheSuzerain]

I just don't really see it with Miles. Not enough of on ball juice.

Citron looks better to me (albeit in a lesser/different role).

Hidalgo by far the best talent on the team though.

[Green Chile]

I just don't really see it with Miles. Not enough of on ball juice.

Citron looks better to me (albeit in a lesser/different role).

Hidalgo by far the best talent on the team though.

I see it with her offensively. But it certainly wasn't a good look that she kept getting subbed out in crunch time for a better defensive player yesterday. If you are going to be a huge liability defensively, you better make up for it. I think maybe she can, but it's a risk.

I do agree about Citron. I think she's criminally underrated. Maybe she doesn't jump off the page athletically, but she just does everything very well. Her defense on Juju, imo, is the biggest reason they beat USC. Maybe she's just destined to be a great role-player, but I think she's a near lock to be that, and I think that's worth a Top 3 pick. If you spent a Top 3 pick on someone that was basically guaranteed to be good, versatile defender and knock down 3's, I think you take that. She can handle and create as well.

[G R E Y]

Big name off the list.

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Double post from NCAA thread. Affects both; discussion both intertwines and diverges. Big impact of NIL for pro teams and players coming into the league.

Interesting challenge for the WNBA as a top tier player makes this decision.

[Green Chile]

It's not good to lose a player for this year's draft, but I could see it being good for WNBA teams to get another year to evaluate her. It was her first year shooting 3's well, and she didn't play very well down the stretch. Pretty surprising that she'd transfer, but we'll see what she thinks the best fit is.

There are a lot of interesting players in this draft, so this opens up a little bit more opportunity for them. Fascinated to see where teams land on players like Rivers, Sellers, Amoore, and HVL. Sarah Ashley Barker also might have just played her way in the 1st round.

[hermes]

when is the next cba happening? wnba needs to catch up to the ncaa in money (which is probably tough because NIL is a black box that could have no upward limit)

[Green Chile]

when is the next cba happening? wnba needs to catch up to the ncaa in money (which is probably tough because NIL is a black box that could have no upward limit)

After this WNBA season (before the '26 Draft).

It'll be great for the WNBA players to make more money, but I'd guess it won't affect rookie pay too much.

But I don't think players staying in college longer is bad for the WNBA. I'd argue the opposite. When we get past the COVID years, and get the new CBA, I'd expect good players to stay 4 years, and the truly elite to stay 3 years, which is a good spot. Heck, the W still doesn't have enough jobs. Getting these players some cash in their pocket while they develop and continue to get noticed by the public is pretty awesome.

I'd even say that until the W's popularity grows by several orders of magnitude, it's highly important that players stay in college as long as possible.

In this particular situation, Miles coming out this year or next year really has no impact for the W. Caitlin, Paige, Juju, and others becoming huge stars before they come to the W means everything.