Forgotten WNBA Rookie of the Year Candidate Could Edge Out Azzi Fudd, Olivia Miles
All four of the last Rookie of the Year winners were the number-one pick in their respective draft classes. This year’s top pick, Azzi Fudd, will also have a solid shot at the honor. She may not put up the most eye-popping numbers, but she will play an integral role on a pretty competitive team.
Olivia Miles, who was drafted just after Fudd, is the other top candidate for the award. She will bring flair, incredible passing, and a ton of scoring to a Minnesota Lynx team that will struggle with Napheesa Collier and Dorka Juhasz sidelined to start the season.
Kiki Rice and Flau’jae Johnson are also primed to make interesting cases, but another player may actually have a better shot at edging out Miles and Fudd: Georgia Amoore.
Amoore joined the Washington Mystics as the sixth overall pick in 2025, but never got to play that season. She tore her ACL and had to watch her fellow draftees develop and grow from the sidelines. So, she is considered a rookie in 2026, and shouldn’t be underestimated when it comes to the Rookie of the Year race.
Georgia Amoore looks ready for a big season
Preseason offered two glimpses of Amoore post-ACL injury. She played limited minutes against the Lynx and Atlanta Dream, not even cracking the 20-minute mark, but she looked comfortable and confident in both outings.
The Mystics’ loss of veteran guard talent—they traded Brittney Sykes to the Seattle Storm, and Sug Sutton went to the Portland Fire in the expansion draft—means that Amoore will immediately step into a big role. She will be tasked with running the Mystics’ offense. That will put the ball in her hands a lot, and give her opportunities to wow with her handles, passes, and shifty moves.
She will have to be the Mystics’ primary playmaker as well as an impactful perimeter scorer for a team that may be better than a franchise with such a young roster has any business being. That gives her the right spotlight for a Rookie of the Year candidacy despite the many other rookies on the Mystics’ roster.
Moreover, Amoore also doesn’t have veteran stars to fall back on, as Miles and Fudd do with players like Collier, Kayla McBride, Courtney Williams, Arike Ogunbowale, and Alanna Smith. She has two All-Star teammates, but Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen are also just in their second season as pros.
This year’s Rookie of the Year race should be much more interesting than in previous years
There was usually little doubt about who would win Rookie of the Year in recent seasons. Sonia Citron received two votes in 2025, but Paige Bueckers was the overwhelming favorite. The year prior, one voter opted for Angel Reese, but Caitlin Clark unsurprisingly secured every single other vote. Aliyah Boston won the award unanimously in 2023, and Rhyne Howard handily beat out Shakira Austin and NaLyssa Smith in 2022.
This year’s competition could be much more interesting. Much like there was much debate about who should even be the number-one pick up until the Wings actually made their selection, no player looks primed to easily eliminate all possible competition quite yet.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.