From Draft Picks to Trades. Here’s what happened at the WNBA Draft
Fresh off the conclusion of the women’s NCAA season, 35 seniors and 10 international players were selected in the 2026 WNBA Draft.
Fifteen players were invited to New York, where the draft took place and saw their professional basketball dreams come true.
From draft picks to trades to other fun facts, here’s what you missed.
Full Draft Board
The 2026 WNBA Draft Board. (Photo: ESPNW on Instagram)
The WNBA Draft consisted of three rounds with 15 picks in each round. The Washington Mystics had the most picks with six selections, meanwhile the New York Liberty only had one selection.
Of those six picks, the Mystics had included three first-round picks, which was the most of the night. The Connecticut Sun and Seattle Storm were the only other teams to have multiple first-round selections.
The Storm, after a trade during the draft, ended up with three players from the first round of the 2026 draft.
During the draft, teams focused on the balance between the immediate impact of college players and international players along with long-term development players.
UCLA Makes History
Two of the Mystics’ first round picks were University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins players Lauren Betts (4th pick) and Angela Dugalic (9th pick). Along with Betts and Dugalic, fellow Bruins Kiki Rice (5th), Gabriela Jaquez (6th), Gianna Kneepkens (15th) and Charlisse Leger-Walker (18th) were also drafted.
The six UCLA players made history together as the first six players from the same school to be drafted in the same year. Five of the six Bruins (excluding Leger-Walker) also made history as the most from one school in the first round of the WNBA Draft.
Then, for Betts, Rice, Jaquez and Dugalic, it was the second instance joining the University of Connecticut (UConn) in 2002 that four players from the same school went into the Top 10.
Several UCLA players dominating the top of the draft board days after winning their first NCAA Championship showcase a dominant stretch by a college program ever.
Azzi Fudd Goes #1
Fudd, from UConn, made some history of her own as she went first overall to the Dallas Wings.
Fudd, now joining former teammate and the 2025 WNBA Draft first overall pick Paige Bueckers in Dallas, marks the second time that a school has had back-to-back number one overall selections, the other time also being two players from UConn in 2010 and 2011.
Fudd also made history with UConn as she was the 7th player from the university to be drafted number one overall, which extends the program’s record from a school.
Fudd didn’t just make history with her former teammate and UConn but also with her mother, as Fudd and her mom Katie became the second mother-daughter duo to be drafted into the WNBA, joining Pamela McGee and Imani McGee-Stafford.
Fudd is the first player to fully benefit from the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, as her base salary for her rookie year is approximately $500,000.
She signed a four-year contract that is worth approximately $2.2 million, the highest rookie contract in WNBA history.
Draft Night Trades
The WNBA Draft also included player trades.
There were only two trades that happened on draft night, one between the Golden State Valkyries and the Storm, the other between the Sun and the Portland Fire.
The big trade between the Valkyries and the Storm saw Louisiana State University Tiger Flau’jae Johnson, after being selected 8th overall by the Valkyries, now will start her WNBA career in Seattle as the Storm sends 16th overall pick Marta Suarez and a 2028 second-round pick.
Connecticut was part of the second trade, sending 33rd pick Serah Williams to Portland for 37th pick Taylor Bigby and a future third-round pick.
DJ Harding and Armani Durham are reporters for HUNewsService.com
