Monday night time was WNBA Draft night time. The occasion was hosted at Manhattan’s Spring Studios New York and solely broadcast on ESPN. The league’s 12 groups gathered to pick out the younger collegiate stars they hope will grow to be cornerstones of their franchise. The WNBA draft is comprised of three rounds and 36 complete picks. 15 gamers had been invited to attend the draft in individual.
The 2023 Draft was one of the hyped stagings in latest reminiscence. Hours earlier than it started, the league introduced the growth of constitution flight use. Moreover, the wealth of expertise accessible had specialists hailing the category’ depth. Nevertheless, this additionally led to the same old lamentations in regards to the league’s measurement, and thus the gamers who would go undrafted. The Indiana Fever held the primary total choose for the primary time in franchise historical past.
WNBA Draft Offers Chaos And Surprises
The draft started as many specialists had predicted. The Indiana Fever took South Carolina standout first total and the Minnesota Lynx took Maryland star Diamond Miller second. Then the Dallas Wings, who initially held the third and fifth picks, managed to take three gamers in a row. The Wings chosen Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist third, instantly traded for the rights to Iowa State’s Stephanie Soares when the Washington Mystics took her fourth, after which took UConn’s Lou Lopez Senechal fifth. Dallas’ aggressive strikes apart, few mock drafts had Soares and Senechal going as excessive as the highest 5.
The surprises continued to come back all through the three-round draft. South Carolina’s Brea Beal, projected to go on the finish of the primary spherical, fell to the top of the second. Angel Reese‘s teammate Alexis Morris additionally needed to wait till the top of the second to listen to her identify referred to as. Nevertheless, by the top of the night time, 36 gamers had been drafted. That included 5 from South Carolina alone, making the Gamecocks the third college (and fourth class total) to see that many gamers drafted. In the meantime, the Wings ultimately ended the night time with six complete gamers, with 4 within the top-15. Eyes will now flip to Could and the beginning of the 2023 WNBA season to see how this rookie class fares on the courtroom.
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