The 2026 WNBA draft, held on April 13 at The Shed in New York City, delivered a night of opportunity as teams selected from a talented class without a clear top prospect.<\/p>\n
The Dallas Wings, who held the No. 1 overall pick for the second consecutive year, faced one of the toughest decisions of the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Talks centered on whether it should prioritize a guard or a post presence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prospects like Lauren Betts, Azzi Fudd and Awa Fam Thiam were the main pre-draft candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the Wings selected Fudd<\/a> from the University of Connecticut, adding an elite scorer to their roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Minnesota Lynx selected Texas Christian University guard Olivia Miles <\/a>with the No. 2 pick, adding a playmaker known for her court vision. At No. 3, the Seattle Storm drafted Fan Thiam <\/a>from Spain, one of the top international prospects in the draft.<\/p>\n Expansion teams were among the headlines of the night. With the No. 6 pick, the Toronto Tempo selected University of California, Los Angeles\u2019 Kiki Rice<\/a> as the franchise\u2019s inaugural pick.\u00a0<\/p>\n One selection later, the league\u2019s second new franchise, the Portland Fire, selected Iyana Mart\u00edn Carri\u00f3n<\/a> from Spain.\u00a0<\/p>\n UCLA, <\/a>fresh off a national championship, set a new WNBA record for the most first-round selections from a single school, with five players drafted in the first round. At No. 4, the Washington Mystics selected Betts<\/a>, a dominant center, and later added Angela Dugali\u0107<\/a> at No. 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Chicago Sky drafted Gabriela Jaquez<\/a> at No. 5, a versatile guard known for her defense and scoring ability.\u00a0 The Connecticut Sun capped the first round, drafting Gianna Kneepkens<\/a> at No. 15, adding a three-point shooter to their roster.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the second round, the Sun selected Charlisse Leger-Walker<\/a>, making UCLA the first program to have six draftees in a single WNBA draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite the historical selections, one of the most striking moments of the night was a major trade. Louisiana State University star Flau\u2019jae Johnson<\/a> was selected No. 8 overall by the Golden State Valkyries before being traded to the Storm.\u00a0<\/p>\n In exchange, Golden State received Seattle\u2019s No. 16 pick, Marta Su\u00e1rez<\/a> from TCU, along with a 2028 second-round selection.<\/p>\n Another notable trade involved UConn\u2019s Serah Williams<\/a>, who was drafted 33rd overall by the Connecticut Sun.\u00a0 Later in the night, she was traded to the Portland Fire in return for the 37th pick, 2027 third-round pick Taylor Bigby<\/a> from TCU.<\/p>\n The Indiana Fever selected Raven Johnson<\/a> at No. 10, adding a tough defender.\u00a0 The Atlanta Dream drafted Madina Okot<\/a>, bringing strong rebounding, while the Los Angeles Sparks picked Ta\u2019Niya Latson<\/a> at No. 20, a guard known for offensive production. As the 30th season of the WNBA is set to begin on May 8, the rookies look poised to make a name for themselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 WNBA draft, held on April 13 at The Shed in New York City, delivered a night…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-618021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618021","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=618021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}