{"id":306019,"date":"2025-11-25T13:50:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T13:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306019\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T13:50:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T13:50:16","slug":"wnba-should-the-dallas-wings-take-awa-fam-with-the-no-1-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/306019\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA: Should the Dallas Wings take Awa Fam with the No. 1 pick?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With no clear \u201cbest player available\u201d in the 2026 WNBA Draft, Sunday night\u2019s draft lottery, won for the second year in a row by the Dallas Wings, didn\u2019t tell us much about who will be going where.<\/p>\n

Instead, it built up early scaffolding for those who like to theorize. Entering the season where we start to see patterns across mock drafts, there\u2019s still one player who is consistently breaking consensus: Awa Fam.<\/p>\n

Is Awa Fam the next Dominque Malonga?<\/p>\n

\"Awa<\/a><\/p>\n

Awa Fam became the youngest player to suit up for Valencia when she was just 15 years old. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Fam, the 19-year-old center for Valencia Basket in Spain, is not the best player in this class. She\u2019s a semi-raw athletic stat stuffer who doesn\u2019t yet have a polished isolation game, nor has she dominated her competition over the past year. However, her youth gives way to the reasonable argument that she may be this year\u2019s best prospect.<\/p>\n

Similar conversations were had about Dominique Malonga last year. Malonga too was foreign, athletic, young and raw. The height of Fam\u2019s reputation as a potential first overall pick has eclipsed the prospect reputation of Malonga, but Malonga was tethered down by Paige Bueckers\u2019 all-around supremacy. This draft lacks a 1A player like Bueckers, welcoming a wider range of competition for that top spot.<\/p>\n

Through no fault of her own, Fam is also a victim of greater positional competition. Malonga overtook Kiki Iriafen for \u201ctop forward\u201d well before draft night. The race between Fam and UCLA center Lauren Betts does not project to finish so definitively. Betts, three years Fam\u2019s senior, is more polished and has produced at a much higher volume. For teams with any kind of \u201cwin now\u201d mentality, it will be hard to pass on Betts\u2019 immediate upside.<\/p>\n

As many overarching traits as they may share, Malonga and Fam also have been graced with two very different situations. While some scouts believe Fam is a better prospect than Malonga was, her place in the draft may not reflect that notion. She\u2019s going to be held to the standard of Betts throughout the entire draft cycle. Gaps in her skillset won\u2019t just be seen as room for growth, but instead reason to not pick her as the top big. While Malonga had no shot at going first overall, she was a solid lock for the second pick by the Seattle Storm.<\/p>\n

Fam is looking at a wide range of futures: She could still end up being picked first, but could reasonably fall as far down as sixth.<\/p>\n

Are the Wings, Sky or another team the best fit for Fam?<\/p>\n

\"Fam<\/a><\/p>\n

Fam competed for the Spanish national team at Eurobasket in the summer. FIBA via Getty Images<\/p>\n

One of the reasons I believe Fam\u2019s prospective draft range is so wide is because of fit. Bigger forwards and centers will always invite this discussion because it\u2019s naturally harder to deploy multiple non-shooters and non-floor spacers at one time.<\/p>\n

Dallas, picking No. 1 overall, is in desperate need of a big. Unsurprisingly, there\u2019s a vocal pocket of fans who think that Bueckers herself will pull strings to make sure her team takes Azzi Fudd, her college teammate and partner, with the first pick.<\/p>\n

From a tactical standpoint, however, it\u2019s hard to see Dallas pass on Betts or Fam.<\/p>\n

If Dallas takes Betts, Fam\u2019s situation gets tricky. The next three picks belong to the Minnesota Lynx, Storm and Washington Mystics. Minnesota is a title contender, and guard play is probably still the best way to maximize the all-world talent that is Napheesa Collier. Fudd or Olivia Miles may make more sense up north, despite Fam\u2019s age and ceiling. Seattle has Malonga, who has obvious redundancies with Fam. Not only does Washington have Iriafen, but they\u2019re in desperate need of supportive guard play. All three teams could absolutely still take a shot at Fam as a pure upside bet. However, it\u2019s unlikely that she would find herself starting in any of those lineups. She would be a bench piece, at most, to begin her career.<\/p>\n

The Chicago Sky are no different at pick No. 5. Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso have over-saturated the young big market in the Windy City, and Fam\u2019s fit would just feel uncomfortable. Again, she\u2019s still a huge upside bet and should never be viewed as a bad pick in any regard. It\u2019s just harder to view her as a surefire candidate for some of these teams.<\/p>\n

Finally, the league\u2019s two newcomers pick at No. 6 and No. 7. Given that the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire don\u2019t even have rosters, we can finally throw away the positional logjam argument. Fam will not make it past these two picks. The Tempo and Fire should have no concern over fit nor immediate impact, and Fam would be given an opportunity to see high volume usage from the beginning of her career.<\/p>\n

Fam herself is likely comfortable letting her future determine itself. Becoming a first round draft pick is an accomplishment that very few people can claim, and how high she goes will not determine how good she becomes. Months still separate us from draft night, and Fam will have plenty of opportunities to strengthen her own case. However, a handful of teams might find themselves grappling with the war between pure potential and an awkward fit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With no clear \u201cbest player available\u201d in the 2026 WNBA Draft, Sunday night\u2019s draft lottery, won for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630,38381],"class_list":["post-306019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-draft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}