The WNBA has already set the date for the 2026 draft, perhaps ambitiously, since the draft cannot proceed without a new collective bargaining agreement. Regardless, there is an order for the draft — or at least most of it (we’ll get to that) — now that the draft lottery has taken place.

Dallas was the big winner of Sunday’s lottery, claiming the No. 1 pick for the second consecutive season. Nevertheless, there weren’t as many disappointed war rooms or faces this year as in the recent past. In the last three seasons, the top selection was a foregone conclusion from the second the previous draft concluded (assuming that player chose to declare). Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers were uncontested No. 1 picks as no-brainer superstars. Now, some indecision is at the top of the board, and some meaningful changes could be in our mock drafts from now until April, both within the lottery picks and throughout the first round.

The WNBA Draft will include 15 picks in the first round in 2026. Five lottery picks will be followed by the two expansion teams, and then eight picks from the teams that made the playoffs in reverse order of standings, though five of those franchises have already traded those first-rounders. We do not yet know the order of the expansion team selections because that relates to the expansion draft, and the expansion procedures are collectively bargained. For now, Portland will choose ahead of Toronto because the Fire are alphabetically first.

(Stats are through Saturday.)

1. Dallas WingsAwa Fam | 6-4 center | Valencia (Spain)

The foreign frontcourt revolution is upon us. After Dominique Malonga in 2025, here comes Fam, 19. The Spanish center is an excellent athlete and so smooth in the half court. She explodes on rolls to the basket and has a great feel for how to move off the ball, which includes quick passing while stationary and when cutting. She protects the basket well and can stick with guards on switches. You watch her mirror a smaller player’s drive to the basket and wonder how opponents ever thought they could get a shot attempt past her. Fam doesn’t seem to have a shooting touch beyond the paint, but she is so advanced already at her age that it’s hard to believe she won’t get there.

Fam isn’t exactly on the same timeline as Bueckers, but the Wings don’t plan on being in the lottery again for a long time. Cash in on the lottery ticket now, and surround Bueckers with some veterans in free agency.

2. Minnesota Lynx (from Chicago Sky)Olivia Miles | 5-10 guard | TCU

Miles would have been a lottery pick in an arguably superior draft in 2025. She is a complete point guard prospect with a tight handle, elite vision, effective finishing at the rim and a heavy dose of flair. Miles can make outlet passes, skip passes, entry passes and find her pick-and-roll partner with aplomb. She had the best plus-minus on a stacked Notre Dame team in 2024-25. Miles is also a solid team defender, even if she’ll never be a go-to stopper. One thing missing from her arsenal pre-injury was a consistent jumper, and she made 40.6 percent of her 3-pointers last season. If she regresses at TCU, Miles will fall on the board, but for now, she is a top-two prospect in this draft.

With a roster full of free agents, it’s hard to know what prototype of player the Lynx need. Miles is the best available option, so let’s send her to Minnesota.

Could Azzi Fudd be the perfect complement to the Storm’s roster? (Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)

3. Seattle Storm (from Los Angeles Sparks)Azzi Fudd | 5-11 guard | UConn

Heading into the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the scouting report on Fudd was measured. She hadn’t yet played a full healthy season, she was mostly a complementary player, and she hadn’t exactly filled up the box score. But then Fudd went on to win Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four and finish 2024-25 with the best on-off differential for UConn, ahead of Sarah Strong and Bueckers. And Fudd has been on a heater to start her final year in college. She’s averaging 27 points per game and making half of her 3-pointers while providing solid wing defense and secondary playmaking. She still has the best on-off differential for the Huskies, and she isn’t just racking up stats in blowouts; her clutch shooting helped UConn hold off Michigan in the game of the season to date.

The pedigree is finally shining through on a consistent basis. Fudd is an ace scorer and shooter who doesn’t really take anything off the table. She would be an awesome complement to Malonga for years to come.

4. Washington MysticsLauren Betts | 6-7 center | UCLA

Betts is a dominant college player. She knows how to use her size to get post positioning, seal her defender and score at the rim. She effectively controls the glass and the paint on both ends of the floor. She passes well out of doubles and is expanding her shooting range to outside the paint. It’s tough to score on her in the lane, and she’s even hard to exploit on the perimeter. Betts was the hub of a team that made the Final Four last season and won the Big Ten tournament.

But her skills are better suited for college, where there is no defensive three-second rule and there aren’t enough skilled scorers on a team to spread the floor against her. She isn’t a great screener, her shooting touch needs improvement, and she has displayed a limited set of post moves — which, to be fair, generally get the job done. There are weaknesses in Betts’ game for opponents to pick on. But she’s also been hugely productive and impactful for winning at UCLA, and the bet is she figures out how to do so in the WNBA. The Mystics have exciting young frontcourt talent in Shakira Austin and Kiki Iriafen, who will give Betts some time to learn and grow into a WNBA role.

5. Chicago Sky (from Connecticut Sun)Flau’jae Johnson | 5-10 guard | LSU

Everything I wrote about Johnson during the offseason still applies, and thanks to LSU’s cakewalk of a nonconference schedule, we haven’t learned anything new about Johnson in her senior season. What we do know is that she has a consistent pull-up jumper, is devastating in transition and is an active defensive playmaker, particularly as a help defender. Whether she can be a No. 1 option is up in the air, but she is good at just about everything on the basketball court, and she seems like an A-plus teammate to have in the locker room. Chicago gets some perimeter star power to complement Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso, reuniting the LSU national champions.

6. Portland FireYarden Garzon | 6-3 wing | Maryland

Garzon was one of the best shooters in college basketball at Indiana, a 42.6 percent markswoman from 3-point range while taking nearly half of her shot attempts from long range. She was ludicrously efficient off spot-ups and handoffs with the Hoosiers, routinely exceeding 1.2 points per possession on those play types. She moves well off the ball, is a dead-eye catch-and-shoot threat and has good positional size as a combo forward. Indiana had a positive on-off differential when Garzon played in each of her three seasons, a testament to the value of her spacing and wing defense.

The shooting hasn’t traveled with Garzon to Maryland, but a handful of games isn’t enough to devalue the scoring and playmaking threat she has been throughout her NCAA career. Portland can use a multipositional shooter and defender on its expansion roster.

7. Toronto TempoIyana Martín | 5-9 guard | Avenida (Spain)

The Spanish guard announced herself on the international scene in 2023 when she won MVP at the U-19 World Cup. Spain, which hosted the tournament, took a USA team with Hannah Hidalgo, Cotie McMahon, Joyce Edwards and Madison Booker, among others, into overtime in the gold-medal game. Martín dazzled with her court awareness and playmaking, finishing the tournament with averages of 16.1 points and 3.3 assists. She was the EuroLeague Young Player of the Year in 2024-25. Even if she doesn’t come over right away — and Spanish players historically have been limited participants in the WNBA — Martín has too much potential to pass at this spot. On the league’s first international team, with an international coach, she could be the global floor general that sets the tone.

8. Golden State ValkyriesTa’Niya Latson | 5-8 guard | South Carolina

The offensive side of the ball was more challenging than the defensive end for Golden State in its inaugural season, so why not bring in the leading scorer in college basketball? Latson is one of the most relentless downhill attackers in the game; while the Valkyries attempted fewer than 20 percent of their shots in the restricted area in 2025, Latson took 30 percent of her field goals within 4½ feet of the rim. For Golden State, which led the WNBA in 3-point attempts, Latson could supercharge drive-and-kick opportunities. She is a great athlete and finisher.

9. Washington Mystics (from Seattle)Charlisse Leger-Walker | 5-10 guard | UCLA

At 24, Leger-Walker is a bit older than some prospects, currently in her sixth year of college after missing 2024-25 due to a torn ACL. However, age didn’t seem to bother the Mystics when they selected Georgia Amoore in the 2025 draft, and Leger-Walker can play as a point guard and off the ball. She zips passes all over the court and has steadily improved as a pick-and-roll operator throughout her college career. Her points per possession as the pick-and-roll ballhandler increased from 0.691 to 0.737 to 0.878 to 0.938 in her four years at Washington State, per Synergy. Leger-Walker is also a physical and crafty finisher in the paint. Assuming she has fully recovered from her torn ACL in January 2024, and UCLA has limited her minutes to build her strength throughout the season, there is no reason why Leger-Walker shouldn’t be a first-round pick.

10. Indiana FeverGabriela Jaquez | 6-0 wing | UCLA

Jaquez can do a little bit of everything. She may not have star upside like some other players below her on the draft board. Still, Indiana already has two high-usage superstars under contract in Boston and Clark, and it hopes to bring back Kelsey Mitchell, making it a team that doesn’t need a ball-dominant player. The Fever need a role player with toughness who can defend, move off the ball and shoot from distance. Jaquez fits the bill. In 2024-25, Jaquez’s first season as a full-time starter, she had the highest on-off differential for the Bruins. She finished in the 98th percentile in points per possession and the 96th percentile in turnover rate, per Her Hoop Stats. Jaquez is versatile, can play positions one to four, even though she’s best on the wing. She ran some point guard for UCLA during the summer and preseason, with Kiki Rice and Leger-Walker returning from injury, and is now starting at the four. A player who is always willing to sacrifice her body and crash the boards resembles fellow former Pac-12 alum Lexie Hull, especially if Jaquez’s 3-point shooting (47.4 percent this season) isn’t just a hot streak.

11. Washington Mystics (from New York Liberty via Connecticut)Talaysia Cooper* | 6-0 guard | Tennessee

Cooper has one more year of eligibility after redshirting a season following her transfer from South Carolina. But physically, she already looks like a WNBA player. She leverages those physical tools particularly well defensively. Cooper has been a ball hawk in coach Kim Caldwell’s up-tempo system in Tennessee, collecting three-plus steals per game in the full-court press. She defends well in isolation, navigates screens and is an elite shot blocker for her position. She also scores effectively in the paint and gets great lift on her midrange, though that hasn’t yet made her a good free-throw or 3-point shooter.

Cooper in Control

Talaysia Cooper recorded her second double-double of the season as she led the No. 12 Vols to a big win against Belmont

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— Naismith Awards (@NaismithTrophy) November 14, 2025

Real concerns exist within Cooper’s game, starting with shooting. Cooper also plays in a system unlike any WNBA team, with short, high-energy stints. How will that translate to extended shifts at the pro level? Nevertheless, the WNBA success of Saniya Rivers — another erstwhile South Carolina guard — gives hope for Cooper. Tremendous athleticism and smart defensive instincts can help Cooper carve out a role, and Washington’s commitment to building through the draft can give her some time to figure out how to produce consistent offense.

12. Connecticut Sun (from Phoenix Mercury)Gianna Kneepkens | 6-0 guard | UCLA

Yes, this is the fourth Bruin in the first round — a sign of how much is expected of UCLA this season and how far the Bruins could fall off next year. Focusing on the draft, Kneepkens is simply one of the most efficient scorers in all of college basketball. She isn’t a hyper-athlete, but she is a career 42.8 percent 3-point shooter who has also made 56.9 percent of her 2-pointers. Playing at Utah for four years has made Kneepkens analytically driven, as mid-rangers were just 8.3 percent of her shot diet before coming to UCLA. She simply gets to her spots and makes a lot of baskets, and she can use that scoring gravity to become a facilitator. Kneepkens isn’t exactly a defensive playmaker, but she has good size; she’ll need to prove she can compete on that end to stay in this spot.

Will Raven Johnson’s winning ways and defense entice a team to pick her in the first round? (Sean Rayford / Getty Images)

13. Atlanta DreamRaven Johnson | 5-9 guard | South Carolina

Here is what Dawn Staley had to say about Johnson’s pro prospects after the veteran guard led South Carolina to a road win over USC on Nov. 15: “When you think about a winner, when you think about a consummate point guard, Raven is that. And if WNBA teams want to be like us, meaning the amount of success that we’ve had with her in the lineup, they’re going to take Raven, they’re going to take Raven in the first round.”

Setting aside Staley’s obvious endorsement, Johnson is a proven floor general. She sets the tone offensively and defensively. There aren’t many defenders at their position in this class, considering Johnson’s ability to stay attached, pressure the ballhandler and slow offenses. She is a smart passer who knows how to hit bigs and perimeter players in their preferred catch radius. Johnson hasn’t consistently proven that she can generate her own offense, which she will have to in the WNBA. But given the Gamecocks’ depth and the flashes Johnson has shown, she probably has enough in her bag to survive as a pro. Plus, she and Te-Hina Paopao make a great backcourt duo.

14. Seattle Storm (from Las Vegas Aces)Payton Verhulst | 6-1 guard | Oklahoma

Verhulst is sort of Kneepkens-lite. About the only thing she doesn’t do well offensively is draw fouls, and that’s because she is money on jumpers from everywhere else on the court, so she can leave the paint open for her bigs and drivers. But she is feisty and finishes well through contact inside when she chooses. Verhulst has been dynamite in two-player actions with Raegan Beers, if not explicitly in pick-and-roll. She is a strong rebounder and plays with pace. Verhulst has never rated particularly well defensively. Part of that is playing for Oklahoma, which isn’t very good on defense. But she also isn’t great at defending in isolation and could stand to be more disciplined on that end. Still, the offensive tools are worth taking a shot on.

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— Oklahoma Basketball (@OU_WBBall) November 11, 2025

15. Connecticut Sun (from Minnesota via Washington)Janiah Barker | 6-4 forward | Tennessee

In spurts, Barker looks like an All-WNBA player. She is a fluid and dynamic athlete, she can cover ground that makes you do a double-take, and she has an ease with her jumper, especially in the midrange. But she is maddeningly inconsistent. She commits silly fouls and gambles herself out of position on defense; she also attacks crowds when she should pass and takes unnecessarily difficult shots. Barker’s game needs a lot of refinement, which is what makes her fit in Tennessee so interesting — she doesn’t necessarily have to tone down any of her instincts when she can play at full speed for short bursts for the Lady Vols.

Still, I can’t quit the potential of Barker. Seeing her in person regularly in Los Angeles reinforced the idea that she has gifts that cannot be taught. This is Connecticut’s second pick of the first round and it has the third pick of the second round, so the Sun can afford the risk.

Also considered: Madina Okot (South Carolina), Rice (UCLA), Grace VanSlooten (Michigan State).