With the WNBA Draft on Monday, the league has announced the 16 players who have been invited to attend the draft in person. These players will get to sit in the venue with their families while they wait for their names to be called by WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Inadvertently, this list also gives fans an inside look of who may be drafted in the early rounds of the draft.
Here is the official list of players who will be in attendance Monday night in New York:
- Georgia Amoore, Kentucky
- Sarah Ashlee Barker, Alabama
- Paige Bueckers, UConn
- Sonia Citron, Notre Dame
- Sania Feagin, South Carolina
- Kiki Iriafen, USC
- Aziaha James, NC State
- Dominique Malonga, France
- Aneesah Morrow, LSU
- Te-Hina Paopao, South Carolina
- Saniya Rivers, NC State
- Madison Scott, Ole Miss
- Shyanne Sellers, Maryland
- Ajša Sivka, Slovenia
- Serena Sundell, Kansas State
- Hailey Van Lith, TCU
This is also the second year in a row that fans were able to buy tickets to be in attendance for the draft. The venue has changed though, allowing for more creativity than the Brooklyn Academy of Music allowed last year. That was a traditional theater venue, where as The Shed in Manhattan gives the organizers the opportunity to create their draft atmosphere from scratch.
“It’s got two floors that will feature visitors and fans who will be in attendance. The orange carpet is on the same floor, but all the stretching all the way across the shed,” said Hilary Guy, Vice President of Production, WNBA and NBA Studio in Thursday’s pre-draft media availability. “They’ll be able to show off all their fits, and walk straight from the orange carpet onto the draft floor. It’s just going to be a really awesome multi story execution.”
While there is no telling who will be drafted and in what order as WNBA GMs continue to analyze their prospects, the WNBA doesn’t randomly invite people to be there in person. The league has done its due diligence in speaking to teams to assess who will likely go in the first round and early second round in order to determine who to send invitations to. That’s why this list is a pretty good indicator of what we may be able to expect.
Another factor to the invites is that there a lot of international prospects this season. Dominique Malonga (France) and Ajsa Sivka (Slovenia) will be there in person, but Justé Jocyté (Lithuania) and Anastasiia Kosu (Russia) are potential first and second round draft picks as well. If they couldn’t make it over for the draft (potentially meaning they won’t be coming over for the season), then more invites could have opened up for other players projected later.
There is also the chance that a team takes a big swing and drafts someone who is projected to go later in the draft and isn’t invited to the live broadcast. That happened to Lexie Hull (No. 6 overall in 2022), Abby Meyers (No.11 overall in 2023) and Mya Hollingshed (No. 8 overall in 2022).
In most cases though, these players who will be there in person for Monday’s Draft can be expected to be the first names taken off the board. The mock draft orders have changed quite a lot in recent weeks, with players deciding whether or not they will enter the draft or stay in college. Olivia Miles, projected No. 2 overall a few weeks ago, decided to both not declare and transfer out of Notre Dame. She committed to TCU about a week later. Azzi Fudd, another first-round prospect, decided to stay another year at UConn instead of declaring for the draft. Juniors such as Lauren Betts and Raven Johnson, who meet draft eligibility since they turn 22 this year, both decided to play their senior years in college as well.
Other than Paige Bueckers going first overall, the rest of the specific order is up in the air. Based on these invites, expect a few surprises up the sleeves of WNBA General Managers and Coaches when it comes to who they will draft.
