WNBA Draft Underscores Stanford's Transfer Problem

In two straight WNBA drafts, the Washington Mystics have selected players that began—but didn't finish—at Stanford

Apr 13, 2026; New York, NY, USA; Lauren Betts poses for a photo on the orange carpet before the 2026 WNBA Draft at The Shed at Hudson Yards. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

In two straight WNBA drafts, the Washington Mystics have selected players that began—but didn't finish—at Stanford. After the retirement of the legendary Tara VanDerveer, and the school's move to the ACC, Kiki Iriafen saw Cameron Brink get drafted second overall and decided to head down to USC for her final season.

In 2025, the Washington Mystics selected her with the fourth overall pick, and she became an All-Star as a rookie, posting 13.3 points per game along with 8.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 0.6 steals. The pick before Iriafen, Washington also selected Sonia Citron, another rookie All-Star, and the duo formed a formidable nucleus for this roster.

Washington finished at 16-28, seven games back of the playoffs. They ended up with the fourth overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, and again took a former Stanford product that had transferred elsewhere in Lauren Betts. The 6-foot-7 center spent the 2022-23 campaign on The Farm, along with Iriafen, and earned roughly ten minutes per game.

Betts transferred to UCLA for her sophomore season, and ended up winning the National Championship just a couple of weeks ago. Now she joins a roster with Citron, Iriafen and Shakira Austin in what could be a fairly terrifying roster for years to come.

The more worrisome part of this recent trend

The roster that Betts was a part of in 2022-23 was an impressive one, with Cameron Brink, Haley Jones and Iriafen, all of whom are now in the WNBA.

Now, for the second straight season, Stanford didn't have a single player selected in the draft after boasting four future pros on one roster not too long ago.

There three rounds in the draft each year, with 13-player rounds last season, and 15-player rounds this year, thanks to the addition of the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire for the 2026 season. Even with more selections being made, Stanford hasn't been able to get one name into the WNBA the past two years.

Of course, part of this is just the age of the roster that Stanford has had, as these women need to be four years out of high school in order to be drafted in the first place. At the same time, it showcases that the cycle of constant stars on The Farm has been broken in recent years.

For a program that has had a lot of prestige in the past, this is not something that can continue to be a trend for the program, much the same way that they cannot continue to miss the NCAA tournament, as they have the past two seasons.

The way that Stanford has been able to recruit the best of the best is because they not only offer a terrific education, but they have been able to lay out a path to the WNBA in the past. Right now, that's not the case.

This past season, they had a player on the roster that looked like a surefire WNBA pick, potentially even a first rounder for next year's draft, in Nunu Agara. Trouble is, she's also entered her name in the portal, which will likely give Stanford a third straight year of players that have transferred being big additions to a WNBA roster.

The Cardinal roster is experiencing plenty of churn this offseason, with seven women entering the transfer portal, and three of them already finding new homes, including standout freshman Lara Somfai.

The optics of this haven't been great, and Stanford's lack of presence at the WNBA Draft really underscores the issues currently facing the program.

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