Caitlin Clark changed the game.
Paige Bueckers is about to take it even further.
A sure thing, number one selection—like the complete changing of the guard that gave Indiana new energy—the Dallas Wings would have been as foolish as the Mavericks trading Luka Dončić if they hadn’t taken UConn grad Bueckers with the first selection in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
Luckily, sometimes we don’t make the same mistakes twice.
ESPN announced that this year’s draft also attracted an average of 1.25 million viewers.
Second only to you-know-who.
After selecting generational talent Paige, the second pick in the draft class was French forward Dominique Malonga—no shrinking violet herself. The former Lyon ASVEL player will suit up in the Seattle Storm’s emerald green following a major trade that sent their former superstar, Jewell Loyd, to Las Vegas and Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks. Los Angeles, in turn, is sending this pick to Washington.
The second selection in the draft class, after the generational talent Paige, was French forward Dominique Malonga—no shrinking violet herself. The former Lyon ASVEL player will suit up in Seattle Storm emerald green following a big trade that sent their former superstar Jewell Loyd to Las Vegas and Kelsey Plum to the LA Sparks. Los Angeles, in turn, sent this pick to Washington.
The Purple and Gold franchise also gifted Seattle with Chinese center Li Yueru, part of their incredible draft class last year that also featured number two pick Cameron Brink and rising rookie Rickea Jackson.
This year, the Sparks were no slouches either. They further reinvigorated their rebooted team by using the tenth pick to select sharpshooter Sarah Ashlee Barker from Alabama, who was also part of the Seattle trade.
Washington mystified the league once again with the third and fourth picks, choosing Notre Dame’s Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen of USC. If that wasn’t enough, they also continued to rebuild with Georgia Amoore, who is sitting in sixth. Their third spot came from the Chicago Sky, who had their own back-to-back picks at ten and eleven, selecting Ajša Sivka (Slovenia) and the absolute steal of Hailey Van Lith (TCU).
Washington mystified the league once again with the third and fourth picks, choosing Notre Dame’s Sonia Citron and USC’s Kiki Iriafen. If that wasn’t enough, they also continued to rebuild by selecting Georgia Amoore, who is sitting at sixth. Their next picks came from the Chicago Sky, who had their own back-to-back selections at the tenth and eleventh spots, selecting Ajša Sivka (Slovenia) and the absolute steal Hailey Van Lith (TCU).
Connecticut even doubled up by selecting Aneesah Morrow (seventh overall) and Saniya Rivers (eighth). The rest of the top ten featured the Golden State Valkyries’ fifth pick. After building a team in the expansion draft, the new franchise also banked its future on former Lyon forward Justė Jocytė from Lithuania.
Add the great expectations of Brittney Griner signing with the Atlanta Dream, Natasha Cloud being traded to the champion New York Liberty, legend Tina Charles reuniting with the Sun, Courtney Vandersloot joining the Sky, and the “W” in WNBA standing for “WOW”.
Yet, the buck stops with Paige. Dallas is about to take wing.
