2026 WNBA Draft Winners and Losers: A Few Surprising Picks and One Strange Trade

The 2026 WNBA draft produced a few surprises, lots of international flair, some incredible ’fits, and one decidedly strange trade. Here’s a look at the winners and losers from the night.

Winners

UCLA

This one was obvious. Fresh off its national championship, UCLA was expected to set a record for the most WNBA players selected in one draft with Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez, Angela Dugalić, Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker. (Five of the six were official league draft invitees—Leger-Walker, the sixth, was still in attendance, however, ostensibly to support her teammates.) But it was a bit striking how quickly it came together. Betts, Jaquez and Rice were chosen all in a row, at Nos. 4, 5 and 6, respectively. Dugalić was not far behind at No. 9, with Kneepkens finishing out the first round at No. 15 and Leger-Walker coming just a few picks later at No. 18. That’s a one-of-a-kind draft class.

In particular, it should be a joy for Betts and Dugalić, who both were selected by the Mystics. (That choice is also slightly puzzling, given that Washington’s frontcourt was already stacked with Kiki Iriafen and Shakira Austin, but it should offer some intriguing rotations, at the very least.) Kneepkens and Leger-Walker will also be heading to the W as a pair, with both of them drafted by the Sun, for the franchise’s farewell season in Connecticut. And it meant that no one at the draft seemed happier (or got more camera time) than UCLA coach Cori Close. She may have a lot of playing time to fill next year. But she has an awful lot to show recruits.

UCLA keeps making history.

🏆 First NCAA Championship (last week)
📈 WNBA Draft record: most picks overall + most first-rounders#WFinalFour pic.twitter.com/8HjFYqnu19
— NCAA Women's Final Four (@WFinalFour) April 14, 2026

Seattle Storm

It’s hard to imagine the Storm expected this draft to unfold quite like this. The vast majority of projections had Awa Fam going at either No. 1 or No. 2—making it likely that Seattle would then be set to acquire a top guard at No. 3. But as it happened, Dallas and Minnesota both took guards, Azzi Fudd and Olivia Miles, respectively, and that left the player with the highest potential upside here for the Storm.

Fam is just 19. But she offers a rare combination of size and skill, and she’s already proven herself internationally, putting up gaudy statlines as a teenager in EuroBasket. It’s true that Seattle already has a high-upside, developing frontcourt player in Dominique Malonga. Yet the ceiling for Fam is so high that it makes plenty of sense to pick her up now and ease her into the WNBA alongside Malonga. It might take a bit of time to work out the rotations for this pair of young talents and for them to adjust to the league together. But the potential here is remarkable.

Of course, Fam’s selection at No. 3 meant that Seattle did not have a chance to pick up a top guard, which could have easily felt like a misstep for the Storm. (Much of the scoring talent on this roster from last year has since departed in free agency.) But in the end, Seattle managed to get their first-round guard, after all: They traded for No. 8 pick Flau’jae Johnson. The Storm sent No. 16 pick Marta Suárez and a 2028 second-round selection to Golden State in exchange for Johnson. That’s a tremendous value-flip that adds a fun option for them on the wing.

(Was it a bit strange for Seattle to pick Taina Mair out of Duke as high as No. 14? Yes. Are there legitimate concerns about how Johnson’s game carries over to the W after an uneven final season at LSU? Yes. But those are relatively minor points next to what it means for Seattle to get Fam at No. 3 and spin the No. 16 pick into a big name like Johnson.)

General view of the draft board after the first round of the 2026 WNBA Draft — With the WNBA draft moved to a bigger venue, more fans are able to join in on the night’s festivities. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Hosting the draft with fans in attendance

Just a few years ago, the WNBA draft was a largely quiet affair, focused solely on players and their families. Some years had a few tickets available for purchase by fans. Others had none. But as the W has leveled up, it has made the draft a true public event, and that comes with a beloved tradition for any major sports league—fans booing as the commissioner makes a big announcement.

Johnson was among the most widely beloved players in this college draft class. So when WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert walked up to the podium and shared that Golden State had flipped her to Seattle, fans reacted with gasps and then, of course, boos. It was a perfect moment for television. And it was something the league could not have imagined just a few years ago. Not just a room full of fans, but a room full of fans sufficiently engaged to boo when a recent expansion franchise moves the No. 8 pick for the No. 16, plus a future second-rounder? That’s progress.

Every player about to sign a rookie contract

In the first three decades of the WNBA, rookie salaries never topped $80,000. Consider the history of UConn players who have gone No. 1: Sue Bird earned roughly $40,000 as the 2002 top pick, and more than two decades later, Paige Bueckers got $78,000 in 2025. WNBA salaries kept up with inflation and increased only very modestly beyond that. But that has changed. The latest UConn player to go No. 1 is Azzi Fudd, and under the new collective bargaining agreement, her rookie salary will be $500,000. She will earn more in one season than Bueckers was set to earn across the collective four seasons of her entire original rookie deal. (Don’t be too concerned for Bueckers: All previously existing rookie contracts were reset to match the new CBA.) These players are walking into a very new league.

It should also be easier for this crop of players to make and stay on rosters. There are simply more spots now: With three expansion teams added to the league over the last two seasons, there are more options for these players to find a place and stick there. The new CBA additionally creates developmental roster spots and requires that every team carry 12 players on the regular, active roster. (Some teams previously carried only 11 to stay under the salary cap.) It was not so long ago that WNBA training camp roster cuts felt like a bloodbath for new draftees. That will no longer be quite so much the case.

Losers

Golden State Valkyries

In a vacuum, Marta Suárez is a perfectly solid pick, and she could be a good fit on this distinctly global roster. In context… Golden State picked Flau’jae Johnson at No. 8 and then flipped her to Seattle not even half an hour later, for a package of Suárez and a 2028 second-round pick. While there are fair questions about Johnson’s upside in the WNBA—her performance was a mixed bag in her senior year at LSU—this still feels like a rather baffling use of the pick for Golden State. (If they didn’t love the potential fit with Johnson, was there really no one else on the board who seemed like an option?) It’s hard to see how turning a No. 8 pink into Suárez and a 2028 second-rounder is an optimal use of assets.

Valkyries GM Ohemaa Nyanin declined to answer questions for now on the selection and subsequent trade of LSU star Flau'jae Johnson:

"I'm going to take a beat to be able to eloquently give a response… I don't have a lot of detail to share. One, because I'm exhausted. Two,…
— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) April 14, 2026

Chicago Sky

Perhaps it’s not fair to look backward here. It’s been an entire year since Chicago traded its 2026 first-round pick to Minnesota—there was nothing the front office could do about that on Monday. But it was hard not to watch the early picks here without thinking how much one could have benefitted the Sky: That original No. 2 pick could have been a true difference-maker. After trading Angel Reese, this front office dove into free agency with a few surprising, fun pickups, and Chicago is apparently looking to contend. (Or at least not to not contend.) Getting a player like Awa Fam or Olivia Miles here could have been tremendous. Alas! Instead, Chicago’s highest pick was No. 5, where it chose UCLA wing Gabriela Jaquez. She’s a quality perimeter option who offers both distance shooting and capable defense. But it was a tad surprising to see her go as high as fifth.

Portland fans hoping for someone recognizable

This very well might turn out to be a solid draft for the Fire. Iyana Martín and Frieda Bühner are both established international talents with upside. They obviously fit the model of GM Vanja Černivec, known for her global scouting ability, which helped make her successful as the vice president of basketball operations for the Valkyries and in turn earned her this gig with the Fire. Martín (No. 7) and Bühner (No. 17) both make sense in that model. That being said…

A new franchise is tasked with building an identity and connecting with fans just as much as filling out a roster. It’s hard to bring in recognizable names through an expansion draft. But there’s a clear opportunity to do that with the new player draft. Martín and Bühner were both chosen slightly above where most projections had them going: This was not exactly a case of choosing obvious best talents available who simply could not be missed. Portland could have used these picks to build some buzz and grow the budding fandom with a domestic college star—a player who could feel like an immediate face of the franchise and help sell a few jerseys. (Like, say, Flau’jae Johnson, who had still been available at No. 7.) Instead, they got… this.

Absolutely hilarious scene at Moda for the Fire draft watch party. Air completely came out of the room when they selected a European player most of the fans have never heard of with several big college stars still on the board.

Pick is certainly in line with Vanja's vision.
— Sean Highkin (@highkin) April 13, 2026