The 2026 WNBA Draft started in almost an identical fashion to the 2025 edition: the Dallas Wings selected a guard from UConn with the No. 1 overall pick. This year, the Wings selected Azzi Fudd, who will reunite with her girlfriend, Paige Bueckers, the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year. The duo won a national championship together at UConn and will now try to bring that same level of success to Dallas.
The Lynx then took TCU guard Olivia Miles at No. 2, the Storm added Spanish center Awa Fam at No. 3 and the Washington Mystics and Chicago Sky rounded out the lottery by taking UCLA stars Lauren Betts and Gabriela Jaquez at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.
As always, the draft went much better for some teams and players than it did for others. We graded each first-round pick here.
Ahead of training camps, which will open in less than a week on April 19, here are the winners and losers from the 2026 WNBA Draft:
Winner: Storm’s rebuild off to a great start
The Storm lost Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, Gabby Williams, Brittney Sykes and Erica Wheeler in free agency, which forced the franchise into a rebuild. That process is already off to an incredible start.
Early on Monday, they caught a major break when the Wings and Lynx both passed on Awa Fam, allowing the Storm to select her at No. 3. Fam, a 19-year-old center from Spain, was a candidate to be the top pick and has the most upside of any player in this class. She is an excellent athlete, a strong interior finisher and a gifted passer who’s significantly younger than any of the other lottery picks. Plus, she’s a perfect fit next to Dominique Malonga and Ezi Magbegor, who can handle rim protection duties on defense and allow Fam to come along slowly.
WNBA Draft 2026: Who is Awa Fam? Seattle Storm choose Spanish star with No. 3 pick
Jack Maloney
Later in the evening, the Storm fleeced the Valkyries by trading Marta Suarez (the No. 16 pick) and a 2028 second-round pick for LSU star Flau’jae Johnson (No. 8). While Johnson had an underwhelming senior season in Baton Rouge, she’s one of the most athletic and naturally gifted players in this class with serious potential as a two-way wing.
Fam and Johnson were such an exciting haul that the Storm’s confusing decision to select Duke’s Taina Mair at No. 14 doesn’t even matter. At this point, whatever they get from Mair — an intriguing prospect, but a reach in the first round — is a bonus.
Here’s a look at the young talent in Seattle now:
Some franchises can rebuild for years without ever getting a player as talented as Malonga or Fam. The Storm have both, and are in a great position moving forward, especially if they can get one more lottery selection in 2027, which is a loaded class.
Loser: Valkyries trade Johnson in baffling decision
What were the Valkyries doing by trading Johnson — a real talent, who seemed like she would be a good fit in the Bay Area, both on and off the court — for two second-round picks? It’s a secret, according to general manager Ohemaa Nyanin.
“When I’m ready to speak more about what the strategy is behind it, I’ll speak on it,” Nyanin said during a post-draft press conference. “I don’t really speak about my strategy publicly because other teams are watching.
“I’m going to take a beat to be able to eloquently give a response,” Nyanin continued. “I don’t have a lot of detail to share. One, because I’m exhausted. Two, because I want to be very thoughtful when I’m talking about other humans and their basketball abilities and how they would or would not show up for our squad.”
If the Valkyries weren’t completely sold on Johnson, who can be frustratingly inconsistent, that’s fair. But then why draft her in the first place? And if they selected her with designs on trading her to a team that really wanted her, why couldn’t they extract a better return than Suarez and another second-round pick?
Suarez is a fun player, and her ability to shoot and make decisions with the ball should theoretically make her a fit in Golden State. But there are some real questions about whether or not she can hold up athletically in the pros, however, and the Storm’s 2028 second-round pick is going to be in the late teens at best.
The trade is even more baffling considering the Valkyries’ stellar track record since they entered the league as an expansion franchise last season.
Winner: UCLA makes history
Fresh off a national championship, the UCLA Bruins made WNBA Draft history with six players selected on Monday night, the most ever from a single program in one draft. Five of them went in the first round, also a new record.
Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice were chosen fourth, fifth and sixth overall, marking just the second time ever the draft saw three consecutive picks from the same program. Later in the night, Angela Dugalić joined Betts on the Washington Mystics roster as the No. 9 pick. Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker were picks No. 15 and No. 18, respectively, and both will reunite in Connecticut. Leger-Walker also made history as the first player from New Zealand drafted.
- 4. Lauren Betts – Washington Mystics
- 5. Gabriela Jaquez – Chicago Sky
- 6. Kiki Rice – Toronto Tempo
- 9. Angela Dugalić – Washington Mystics
- 15. Gianna Kneepkens – Connecticut Sun
- 18. Charlisse Leger-Walker – Connecticut Sun
“This is so special,” Rice said. “Every one of us here deserves it so much and I’m just so proud of this group because we’ve put in so much work over the course of these past few years. It’s such a special moment.”
– Isabel Gonzalez
Loser turned winner: Latson falls into a great spot
Ta’Niya Latson averaged at least 20 points per game in each of her first three college seasons at Florida State, and led the nation in scoring as a junior. But despite her best efforts, she was never able to get the Seminoles past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, so she decided to transfer to South Carolina for her senior season to play for Dawn Staley and compete for a title.
While Latson did get to experience a deep tournament run, she struggled to adjust to a lesser role in the Gamecocks’ egalitarian offensive system. Her scoring fell off a cliff, from 25.2 points per game to 14.1, and her 3-point efficiency dropped from 34.3% to 32.5%. While she did improve defensively, that wasn’t enough to maintain her draft stock.
Latson was once regarded as a potential lottery pick, but by the end of the season was projected to go late in the first round. In the end, she fell all the way to No. 20 to the Los Angeles Sparks. Falling out of the first round cost Latson some serious money and a guaranteed contract next season, but the upside is that she landed in a great spot.
The Sparks have signed Nneka Ogwumike, re-signed Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby and traded for Ariel Atkins in an effort to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and end the longest active playoff drought in the league. Instead of going to a rebuilding team, Latson gets to join a likely playoff team that needs guard depth. Her slide could end up being a blessing in disguise.
Loser: The Mystics still need shooting
Just a few weeks ago, the Mystics were regarded as one of the best situations in the league. They nailed their 2025 draft, highlighted by Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen, had three first-round picks in Monday’s 2026 draft and swap rights to the Sky’s 2027 pick, and had plenty of cap space.
Then, just ahead of free agency, the organization made a stunning announcement that general manager Jamila Wideman was out after just one year in the job due to “serious strategic differences.” A few days later, they added to their draft stockpile by getting the Sky’s 2028 first for Jacy Sheldon, then matched the three-year max offer sheet Shakira Austin signed with the Tempo.
While the Wideman firing and the decision to match Austin’s contract raised some eyebrows, the Mystics were still in great shape, but desperately needed to add some shooting in the draft. Instead, they selected Betts, Dugalić and Cotie McMahon.
WNBA free agency winners and losers: Liberty add fourth star in Satou Sabally, Lynx face a talent exodus
Jack Maloney
The 6-foot-7 Betts was too talented to pass up at No. 4, even if there are some questions about the fit with Iriafen and Austin. But considering she scores almost exclusively in the paint and attempted just two 3-pointers in her college career, it only heightened the need to get a shooter, or two, at Nos. 9 and 11. They did not. Dugalić shot 32.6% on 2.3 attempts per game as a senior and McMahon shot 28.6% on 3.5 attempts per game as a senior.
The Mystics shot 32.9% on 17.1 3-point attempts per game last season. They took the fewest 3s of any team by a wide margin — no one else took fewer than 20 a night — and were 10th in percentage. Citron, who shot 44.5% as a rookie — a mark that will be difficult to maintain — accounted for nearly one-third of the team’s 3-point makes (81 of 248).
Georgia Amoore‘s return from injury will at least help boost the Mystics’ 3-point rate, if not their efficiency, and free agent signing Michaela Onyenwere is a decent threat, but the Mystics are still woefully short on arguably the most important skill in the league these days.
It’s confounding that the Mystics didn’t add a single elite shooter when they had three first-round picks and four of the top-19 selections. Especially when they passed on Gianna Kneepkens and Marta Suarez multiple times. There are suddenly a lot more questions about the Mystics’ future than there were a few weeks ago.
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