Bueckers is Dallas-bound | WNBA Draft lotto cleans up | 2025's Cinderella call-ups

We both are so excited ‘cause we’re — reunited…

Bueckers is bound for Dallas

Dallas made the easiest decision of the 2025 WNBA Draft last night, selecting UConn guard Paige Bueckers with the No. 1 overall pick.

• “I can't wait to play with that system, to play with that team, to embrace that new city,” Bueckers told reporters after hearing her name called. “To be in a place that you’re loved and wanted, that’s very important.”

• “Very early on it was Paige, and Paige only. She’s such a special player,” recently hired Dallas general manager Curt Miller said on Monday.

Big picture: Bueckers has been the consensus No. 1 pick since the start of the 2024/25 season, with top pick-holder Dallas assembling a strong foundation of existing WNBA talent over the offseason to complement their anticipated recruit.

• In addition to returning starters Arike Ogunbowale and Teaira McCowan, Miller brought on experienced players like NaLyssa Smith, DiJonai Carrington, and Ty Harris.

• “There’s new levels of standards that are going to be set in play, and there’s a new GM, new coach, new assistant coach, a whole new team, so we’re excited for that fresh start,” Bueckers said.

Franchise player: The Wings finished last season in 11th place, missing the 2024 playoffs after a nine-game losing streak handed them a 9-31 final record — an ending that makes a franchise player like Bueckers even more valuable as the team looks right the ship.

• “She can take over a game when she wants to, but she has a great feel for getting others involved and that’s really special,” said incoming Wings head coach Chris Koclanes. “You put that next to Arike, and I feel together they’ll be able to play off each other.”

Bottom line: With a fully revamped roster and an arena and practice facility upgrade in the works, Dallas is looking to bypass the traditional slow rebuild to hit the ground running in 2025.

WNBA draft lottery cashes in

After Bueckers set the tone at No. 1, the rest of last night’s WNBA draft lottery played out without too many surprises, as teams stocked up on fresh faces from both at home and abroad.

• Seattle selected French phenom Dominique Malonga second, before Washington took Notre Dame guard Sonia Citron at No. 3 and USC forward Kiki Iriafen at No. 4.

Big picture: Incoming expansion team Golden State threw the night’s initial curveball with their first-ever draft pick, adding Lithuanian forward Justé Jocyté to their inaugural roster at No. 5.

• However, Jocyté’s availability remains a question mark, with the 19-year-old confirming her intent to join her national team at this summer’s EuroBasket.

Picks No. 6 - 12: The rest of the first round showcased NCAA and international talent alike, as teams vied to load their boards with both skillset and team-fit in mind — except for Las Vegas, whose No. 10 pick was rescinded after a 2023 investigation found the team guilty of violating league policies.

6. Washington: Georgia Amoore (Kentucky)

7. Connecticut: Aneesah Morrow (LSU)

8. Connecticut: Saniyah Rivers (NC State)

9. Los Angeles: Sarah Ashlee Barker (Alabama)

10. Chicago: Ajša Sivka (Slovenia)

11. Chicago: Hailey Van Lith (TCU)

12.  Dallas: Aziaha James (NC State)

Missing names: While many mock drafts tapped them as early picks, South Carolina's Sania Feagin and Te-Hina Paopao both went in the second round, with the 2024 NCAA champion Gamecocks failing to produce any first-round draftees this year.

Bottom line: While decisions are ultimately made in training camp, every first-round pick will have a role to play in the upcoming WNBA season.

• “The WNBA is so unique with how powerful the talent is because it is so small,” said Van Lith, who’s set to link up with former LSU teammate Angel Reese at the Chicago Sky. “It’s a competition that I’m ready to embrace, that I’m excited to embrace.”

Malonga takes the WNBA by storm

Seattle’s No. 2 overall draft pick Dominique Malonga introduced herself to the WNBA on Monday, as the French 19-year-old etched her name into the Storm’s history books.

• “I’m so proud just to show that today, French basketball is at a level that we have never seen,” she told reporters after her selection.

• “She’s a unicorn. She’s one-of-one,” Seattle head coach Noelle Quinn said of the 6-foot-6 teenager.

Big picture: After turning pro in 2021, Malonga’s first international spotlight came during the 2024 Olympics, when she debuted as the youngest player on France’s silver medal-winning national team.

• A nimble, athletic player with sharp shooting and marked versatility, she went on to make waves last October as the first-ever Frenchwoman to dunk in a game.

• “I would say that international FIBA basketball prepared me [on] toughness because it was always high-level,” Malonga added.

Bottom line: She might not be a household name Stateside, but Seattle is eying the future, reaching beyond borders to develop what could become a generational talent.

Surprise picks make a splash

Showing up in part to support fellow Husky Paige Bueckers ahead of her No. 1 pick debut, two UConn stars heard their names called from the audience during Monday’s WNBA Draft.

• Transfer guard Kaitlyn Chen was selected by Golden State in the third round, before Minnesota took forward Aubrey Griffin with the night’s second-to-last pick.

• “Honestly, I’m still in a little bit of shock… I was really just here to watch Paige get drafted and I’m so happy for her,” Chen said afterward. “I didn’t really have any expectations coming into the night, but to be able to experience that with my team all around me and them all jumping and screaming was pretty amazing.”

Noteworthy additionss: Other late-round call-ups included Maryland’s Shyanne Sellers (Golden State), Harvard’s Harmoni Turner (Las Vegas), Kansas State’s Serena Sundell (Seattle), and Iowa’s Lucy Olsen (Washington).

• But the night’s biggest Cinderella story belongs to Alabama’s Sarah Ashlee Barker, with Los Angeles drafting the lower-profile recruit No. 9 overall after a breakout NCAA tournament performance.

Prince remains on the sidelines

With some mock drafts projecting her to go as high as the second round’s first pick, TCU’s Sedona Prince was not selected in Monday’s WNBA Draft — even after the 6-foot-7 center helped lead the Horned Frogs to this year’s Elite Eight.

• During the ESPN broadcast, the commentators noted that multiple allegations of intimate partner violence could have impacted the 24-year-old’s WNBA prospects, in addition to her injury history and age.

• As reported both via social media and by The Washington Post, several women have accused Prince of abuse or sexual assault, with Prince denying the claims outright. She has never been charged with a crime.

Front office concerns: “We wouldn’t touch it, but I think that everybody’s at a different spot,” an unnamed WNBA GM told ESPN’s Katie Barnes in a recent article detailing Prince’s draft prospects. “Everybody has different information. But where we’re at with this franchise, right, wrong, or indifferent, there’s a risk associated and that’s not a risk on someone’s character that we’d take."

Photo of the day

33 of this year’s 38 draftees come from DI programs, with many featuring in the 2025 NCAA tournament — which ended just nine days before last night’s WNBA Draft.