We\u2019re almost a month into the WNBA season, and it\u2019s time to take a look at how the 2026 draft class has fared thus far.<\/p>\n
Full disclaimer: it\u2019s early days, and a lot of this will change. Still, here\u2019s a way-too-early glance at the Rookie fo the Year race.<\/p>\n
1. Olivia Miles, Minnesota Lynx<\/p>\n
Draft Number: No. 2
Stats: 15.8 points (on 49.5% shooting), 6.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 1.7 steals
Minutes per game: 30.6<\/p>\n
Olivia Miles has been incredible in the early days of the WNBA season. She leads all rookies in minutes, points, made field goals (5.4), and made free throws per game (4.7). The Lynx have outscored opponents by 12.1 points per game with her on the floor, and in turn, they have the league\u2019s best record at 7-2. Miles has looked much more like a 10-year veteran than a rookie so far.<\/p>\n
2. Azzi Fudd, Dallas Wings<\/p>\n
Draft Number: No. 1
Stats: 12.1 points (on 57.1% shooting and 43.8% from three), 1.1 assists, 1.1 steals, 1 block
Minutes per game: 25.5<\/p>\n
Azzi Fudd came off the bench to begin the season, but she\u2019s been on an upward trajectory. The Dallas Wings, meanwhile, keep winning games. Fudd has scored at least 22 points in two of the last three games, and in double figures in four of the last six.<\/p>\n
3. Kiki Rice, Toronto Tempo<\/p>\n
Draft Number: No. 6
Stats: 13.1 points (on 55.2% shooting and 40.9% from three), 4.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists
Minutes per game: 27<\/p>\n
The former UCLA standout has been awesome for the Tempo in her rookie campaign. She\u2019s the second-leading scorer among rookies, the 5th-leading rebounder, and she\u2019s been a critical part of the Tempo\u2019s 5-4 start to the year. Rice has been shooting lights out from three, while showing versatility on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n
4. Pauline Astier, New York Liberty<\/p>\n
Draft Number: Undrafted
Stats: 12 points (on 61.2% shooting and 47.1% from three), 3.7 rebounds, 3.6 assists
Minutes per game: 26.2<\/p>\n
Pauline Astier, the 24-year-old undrafted rookie out of France, has been huge for the Liberty, particularly in the wake of so many early-season injuries. She\u2019s the fifth-leading scorer among rookies and has been shooting lights out. Astier has started 8 of 9 games this season for the Liberty, and filled in well with Sabirna Ionescu sidelined.<\/p>\n
5. Gabriella Jaquez, Chicago Sky<\/p>\n
Draft Number: No. 5
Stats: 11.5 points (on 42.9% shooting and 33.3% from three), 5.3 rebounds, 1.2 steals
Minutes per game: 28.3<\/p>\n
Lots of people wondered if Gabriella Jaquez was drafted too high at No. 5, calling into question whether UCLA\u2019s recent title run had swayed WNBA front offices too much. But Jaquez has been every bit the player Jeff Pagliocca and the Sky front office envisioned when they selected her fifth overall. She\u2019s scored in the double-figures in four of her last six games, and has been one of the top rebounders in the class. The only concern is that she\u2019s been sidelined since May 23rd with a knee injury.<\/p>\n
6. Jovana Nogic, Phoenix Mercury<\/p>\n
Draft Number: Undrafted
Stats: 12.8 points (on 42.9% shooting and 50.9% from three), 1.5 assists, 1 rebound
Minutes per game: 21.9<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been an interesting season for Nogic, the 28-year-old rookie out of Serbia. On one hand, she\u2019s been an offensive powerhouse \u2014 the third-leading scorer on the Mercury and third-leading scorer among rookies. On the other hand, she\u2019s seen limited minutes on a Mercury squad that has been among the league\u2019s worst (they\u2019re currently one of two teams with a 2-8 record). Nogic will probably need to be better on the defensive end of the floor, but she\u2019s already shown she can score with the best of them.<\/p>\n
7. Flau\u2019jae Johnson, Seattle Storm<\/p>\n
Draft Number: No. 8
Stats: 11.9 points (on 31.2% shooting and 25% from three), 5.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists
Minutes per game: 26.2<\/p>\n
Flau\u2019jae Johnson was drafted 8th overall by the Golden State Valkyries and subsequently traded to the Seattle Storm on draft night in exchange for Marta Suarez, who was later waived. Johnson will probably benefit from that trade; she\u2019s already playing the fourth-most among rookies, and is averaging the 6th-most points per game. But, Johnson hasn\u2019t been very efficient \u2014 not unusual for a rookie WNBA guard. The Storm is a good landing spot for her to figure it all out.<\/p>\n
8. Sydney Taylor, Chicago Sky<\/p>\n
Draft Number: Undrafted
Stats: 9.2 points (on 32.7% shooting and 21.2% from three), 1.5 assists, 1.2 rebounds
Minutes per game: 13.9<\/p>\n
Sydney Taylor has been one of the biggest surprises in the rookie class. The former Louisville standout went undrafted, signed with the Sky, and has since become a rotation player. Last Wednesday, she poured in a career-high 27 points in a loss to the Toronto Tempo. Like Johnson, Taylor hasn\u2019t been particularly efficient, but she\u2019s managed to find minutes on the roster and showed flashes of the scoring prowess that could keep her on the court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re almost a month into the WNBA season, and it\u2019s time to take a look at how the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-680761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680761","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=680761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}