By David Giardino (@giardino_david)

After the most successful season in league history and another thrilling college basketball tournament—capped by the UConn Huskies cutting down the nets—all eyes quickly turned to the WNBA Draft. In a class that was top-heavy with star power, some teams navigated the chaos of the first round with poise, while others faltered. Let’s break down the winners and losers of the 2025 WNBA Draft.

Winners:

1. Washington Mystics:

The Mystics went into this draft with three top-10 picks at 3,4, and 6. The unfortunate part of their positioning is that they just missed out on the two clear best players and potential generational talents in this draft in Paige Bueckers and Dominique Malonga. However, what they did with the remaining players was nearly perfect. The Mystics are coming off of a tough year, starting the year 0-12 before finishing 14-14 and missing the playoffs. Additionally, this offseason the Mystics lost their leading scorer and overall best player, Ariel Atkins, to the Chicago Sky. This move left a largely unproven roster centered around the 7th overall pick of last year’s draft Aaliyah Edwards. Edwards had a very slow start to last year but posted some good performances at the end of the year and looked like a totally transformed player in the Unrivaled league this year. With her at the center point, the Mystics’ draft strategy was clearly to take the best player available at each pick while keeping in mind the fit around Edwards. With the 3rd overall pick they took Sonia Citron out of Notre Dame. Citron was the best 2 way player in this draft, known for her incredible on ball defense and high overall defensive IQ. She also is an elite shooter from the wing position with a smooth jumper and a high release point. She has some on ball capability on the ball but her role will be as an elite 3 and D player. Next, with the 4th pick the Mystics took Kiki Iriafen out of USC. Iriafen was considered by many to be the clear second-best prospect in this draft behind Paige Bueckers before the rise of Malonga in the middle of the season. Iriafen has the potential to affect the game in every conceivable way. A strong post-up big that has the capability to face up and play off the bounce and a good mid-range jumper. She’s also a very versatile defender with the foot speed to be able to switch out on guards as well as bang down low, and to top it off is a very strong rebounder both on the offensive and defensive glass. Iriafen is the pick of the Mystics that has the most upside and has the chance to be an all-star level player. Finally, with the 6th pick, the Mystics took Georgia Amoore out of Kentucky. Amoore is one of the most intriguing players in this draft. In colleg,e she proved herself as a high-level bucket getter who is able to score the ball at all three levels and in very difficult ways. The knock on her offensively is that she can be very inefficient at times and settle for too many tough shots. The other main knock on her as a prospect is her size. Standing at just 5 ‘6”, she’ll have to find ways to score and get her shot off over taller, more athletic guards in the WNBA. Overall, if Amoore can pick her spots offensively and be a strong playmaker, Citron can knock down her shots, and Iriafen develops into the All-Star I think she can, the Mystics will have a really good young foundation to build around.

2. Connecticut Sun

After making the league semifinals the last 6 seasons as well as the WNBA finals just three years ago, the Sun hit the reset button this offseason, trading their entire big three of Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner, and Brionna Jones and firing head coach Stephanie White. My opinion on those moves aside, the Sun were poised to enter a rebuild for the first time in nearly a decade with not a lot of pieces standing on the roster. In this draft, the Sun had back-to-back picks at 7 and 8. With the uncertainty of who would be selected before them, nobody knew what they were thinking at 7 and 8, but their front office has to be thrilled with who they walked out with. At number 7 the Sun took Aneesah Morrow out of LSU. Morrow is considered the best rebounder in this draft who’s motor helps her play way above her 6’1” standing. In college, Morrow was a double-double machine in college who showed some promise in being able to extend her offensive game away from the basket. Her greatest strength is her motor, which for a team trying to establish a culture is huge to have. Playing alongside Marina Mabrey and their next draftee, the Sun are clearly trying to establish a culture of hungry, high-effort, athletic players and build around defense. Sticking to this philosophy, the Sun selected Saniya Rivers out of NC State with the 8th pick. Rivers is a really good all-around wing that can handle the ball, score, and has a high assist-to-turnover ratio. Rivers is an elite on-ball defender with long arms and a high defensive IQ. She is also a very good rebounder and is capable of pushing the pace in transition. She does not have the most polished offensive game, and her shooting is going to have to come a long way to be a valuable piece in the WNBA. Overall, the Sun maximized their draft position and picked two players who can go a long way in establishing a winning culture in Connecticut.

Honorable Mentions: Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, Seattle Storm.

Losers:

1. Minnesota Lynx

While I find it very hard to put a team that did not have a first-round pick as the biggest loser of the draft, considering the return they got for the 11th pick from the Sky was very good, the drafting strategy in the 2nd and 3rd rounds for the Lynx is very puzzling. As a team that finished as the runner-up in the league last year mostly due to the outstanding play of Napheesa Collier, the Lynx were in a position to hedge their bets with the way they drafted. Teams in the Lynx’s position often take one prospect with high upside that can sit and develop for a future timeline and one high-floor prospect that they think can maybe come in and help the team right away. Instead of doing this, the Lynx decided to take three pretty clear project players in this draft. With the 15th overall pick, the Lynx took Anastasiia Kosu out of Russia. The thought process for taking international players is that they can be stashed on the roster without taking up a roster spot, a smart move for contenders. However, Kosu was the 91st-ranked prospect by ESPN coming into the draft and certainly would have been on the board later in the 2nd round and even in the 3rd round. Instead, Minnesota passed on prospects like Shyanne Sellers out of Maryland, Maddy Westbeld out of Notre Dame, or even Serena Sundell out of Kansas St. Because of the talent in these drafts it is very hard to pick losers of these drafts but a team that reached on an international prospect despite having later draft capital deserves to be here.

2. Golden State Valkyries:

While I hate to put this burden on the WNBA’s first expansion team in ages, I really do not like what the Valkyries did at the top of this draft. While I feel they redeemed themselves later on in the draft, taking Shyanne Sellers out of Maryland in the 2nd round and Kaitlyn Chen in the 3rd, the Valkyries missed an opportunity to draft someone with an existing brand in women’s basketball at the 5th pick. With Amoore, Morrow, and Rivers still on the board, it doesn’t make a lot of sense that the expansion team would take a chance on a foreign prospect at 5. Juste Jocyte was ranked in the teens on a lot of people’s draft boards heading into Monday, so drafting her at 5 is a reach. Not to say that Jocyte isn’t going to be a good player, but as a new team trying to establish a fanbase, it would make more sense to take a player more people are familiar with. In my opinion, the Valkyries are putting a lot of pressure on the development of Kate Martin to grow the brand of the team, and this draft choice does not help that. Additionally, in the past, very few international picks this high have worked out for teams and while international talent is clearly growing in women’s basketball, it is still nowhere near the level of college basketball. The saving grace of this pick is that Jocyte is only 19 and has been playing pro basketball for multiple years at this point. This team is going to be bad next year but they might as well have tried to capitalize on the existing brands of some of the players in this class while they grow their brand and fan base.

Honorable Mention: Atlanta Dream.