{"id":303197,"date":"2025-11-20T12:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T12:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/303197\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T12:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T12:50:07","slug":"top-prospect-already-boosted-her-draft-stock-with-big-offseason-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/303197\/","title":{"rendered":"Top prospect already boosted her draft stock with big offseason move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dawn Staley is no stranger to sending great players to the WNBA. In the last ten years, A\u2019ja Wilson, Aliyah Boston, Kamilla Cardoso, Allisha Gray, Tiffany Mitchell, and Ty Harris, among others, have all come out of her program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

South Carolina players are also expected to be featured in the first round of the 2026 WNBA Draft. Ta\u2019Niya Latson is widely mocked to go sixth overall to one of the expansion teams, but could also play her way into the lottery. ESPN\u2019s Michael Voepel also mocked Madina Okot to go in the first round in mid-October, and Staley recently made the case for Raven Johnson as a first-round pick<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Latson is the most interesting draft prospect in that group. Last season, she was the leading scorer in the country, averaging 25.2 points per game for Florida State, and established herself as a top draft prospect. Transferring to South Carolina allowed her to join a more competitive program and play for a coach who regularly prepares players well for the next level. According to Dawn Staley, the move has already paid off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn just the short time that she\u2019s been with us, I think, she\u2019s increased her chances of being a pro because of what she\u2019s doing on the defensive side of the ball,\u201d Staley said<\/a> after her team\u2019s 106-56 win over Winthrop. \u201cShe\u2019s really guarding. And then, she\u2019s very very efficient with us. She\u2019s shooting over 50% from the floor. That\u2019s what teams are looking for. They actually know what she can do. It is, can she play with other players?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ta\u2019Niya Latson is off to a good start with the Gamecocks<\/p>\n

Ta\u2019Niya Latson may not be putting together the kind of 30-point games she had last season, but she is still off to a tremendous start with the Gamecocks. She is averaging 17 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists while shooting over 40% from the floor in all of her first five games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coming to South Carolina was a big change for Latson. At Florida State, Latson was the team\u2019s main star alongside Makayla Timpson. South Carolina is a much deeper team with Joyce Edwards, Raven Johnson, and Madina Okot leading the charge as well. Latson had to figure out how to fit into that system and contribute while not always being the focal point of everything that\u2019s happening on the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far, Latson has met the challenge. She is scoring efficiently, meaning that she doesn\u2019t need the ball in her hand all the time to put up numbers, grabbing rebounds, and dishing out assists while also competing on the defensive end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Latson is part of a stacked draft class<\/p>\n

The WNBA has experienced an influx of great young talent in recent years. The 2026 WNBA Draft class will only add to that. It is stacked with so much talent that there isn\u2019t even a clear number one pick yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lauren Betts or Awa Fam will likely go first if the Wings have the top pick. If the Lynx win the lottery, Olivia Miles could also end up being the top pick. Or, if Azzi Fudd or Flau\u2019jae Johnson have incredible senior seasons, the top of the draft could change completely. Latson could also play her way into the lottery with a strong senior season at South Carolina.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also strong talent beyond the top six, like UCLA guards Giannis Kneepkens<\/a> and Kiki Rice, or Spanish point guard Iyana Mart\u00edn Carri\u00f3n.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dawn Staley is no stranger to sending great players to the WNBA. In the last ten years, A\u2019ja…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-303197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}