Following one of the most hyped NCAA women’s basketball seasons in a long while, the 2024 WNBA Draft went down in Brooklyn this week!
Trending names in women’s college basketball this past season were all in the building, including Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, Rickea Jackson, Jacy Sheldon, Aaliyah Edwards, and more.
The Indiana Fever won the rights to this year’s first pick, which landed them the University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who just had a standout season. Coming in hot with the second pick, the Los Angeles Sparks selected Stanford’s Cameron Brink, a 6’4 star who won the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year this season and offers the Sparks a unique combination of size, length, mobility, and protection in the paint.
[Photos by Micah Lloyd @crisp_finishimage]
Rounding out the Top 3, Kamilla Cardoso, of South Carolina, was selected by the Chicago Sky and will join Angel Reese, who was drafted 7th overall. This right here is going to be the duo to watch! Despite being college foes, Cardoso and Reese bring intensity and versatility to the game. It will be interesting to see how they adjust to being teammates.
With the fifth pick, the Dallas Wings selected Ohio State’s Jacy Sheldon, while the Washington Mystics picked up UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards. This was a bit surprising because Edwards was projected to be the fourth pick before Draft Night. Nonetheless, Edwards is a great pickup for the Wings! She helped lead the UConn Huskies to the NCAA Final Four and also led the team with 9.3 rebounds per game!
Other notable draft picks from the evening include the Dallas Wings decision to recruit Carla Leite, a guard from France. And the Connecticut Suns’ decision to also select another French player, Leila Lacan.
To the Sun fans in the crowd who were all rooting for UConn’s Nilka Muhl to be drafted, they expressed their shock at the Lacan pick. For Muhl, who was surprisingly drafted later than expected, she was selected by the Seattle Storm–a team that once picked Husky legend, Sue Bird. Not forgetting the home team, the New York Liberty, with the 17th selection, picked dup Esmery Martinez from Arizona. Martinez is a 6’2 forward from the Dominican Republic who is just a well-rounded player bringing depth to the Liberty roster.
Overall, this highly publicized draft class has undoubtedly earned their spot in the WNBA and will surely be catalysts for a new era for the League.
