4/17/26
This year, the WNBA draft was very hyped and exciting. The No.1 pick in the draft was Azzi Fudd. She went to the University of Connecticut but was drafted by the Dallas Wings. In her rookie season, she is going to earn $500,000; that is seven times more than Paige Beuckers got when she was drafted as the No.1 pick last year. After Azzi Fudd’s last college basketball season and falling short in March Madness and losing to South Carolina, she was still named the most outstanding player in the Final Four.
During the WNBA draft, UCLA was making history after winning the National Championship this year, beating South Carolina. UCLA is the first program in WNBA history to have six draftees in one draft. The first person to get drafted from UCLA was Lauren Betts, who got picked by the Washington Mystics. Next was Gabriela Jaquez getting drafted by the Chicago Sky. The Toronto Tempo made history after drafting Kiki Rice from UCLA as their franchise’s first-ever draft pick. Other players that got drafted from UCLA were Angela Dugalic, Gianna Kneepkens, and Charliesse Leger-Walker. In CNN it states, “During her pre-draft news conference, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert framed this moment as a generational pivot point. The past 30 years have been about building the foundation. The next 30 are about sealing the game, unlocking what’s possible for the entirety of women’s basketball and women’s sports.” She wants to make women’s sport more fun and get more people to follow the draft and watch the games.
After the first round picks, most of the good players were already picked. A crazy thing happened during the draft that has never happened before: Flau’jae got traded to the Seattle Storms after getting drafted by the Golden State Valkyries. The Portland Fire drafted a guard from Spain. The Connecticut Sun drafted guard Gianna Kneepkens from UCLA, sealing the UCLA sweep.
The WNBA started in 1996 but tipped off in 1997, with only eight teams involved. The WNBA is the longest-running professional women’s league in North America. The Houston Comets were the first to win four consecutive championships, from 1997 to 2000. Lisa Leslie was the first player in WNBA history to dunk. She was standing at 6 ‘5, but the tallest woman in WNBA was 7’2. In 2021, the WNBA celebrated its 25th anniversary. The WNBA has been around for quite some time now and each year the fans get bigger and bigger. This is a growing sport that people are starting to watch more and love. It is the same with women’s college basketball. People are starting to watch more college basketball and are enjoying it because the player knows the sport is more than just being about basketball.
