Next season the WNBA will add a crew from the Bay Area, the Golden State Valkyries, earlier than Portland and Toronto begin play in 2026, with one other franchise prone to arrive in 2028.
These groups, in fact, will want new gamers. And Golden State will choose their new stars on Friday by an growth draft. The WNBA has up to now loved 5 growth drafts – in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006, and 2008. This yr’s version will enable the Valkyries to pick out at the very least 11 gamers to their roster. They even have Nos 5, 17, and 30 in subsequent yr’s draft.
The growth draft might be a chaotic time for the opposite groups, who can solely defend a handful of gamers from Golden State, and for followers, who’re connected to their crew’s rosters and unlikely to be glad about anybody leaving. But on the similar time, an growth draft is a sign that the WNBA is a thriving ecosystem that may nurture and assist extra groups, that means extra gamers, extra coaches, and extra girls’s basketball. So take a deep breath, as a result of the growth draft is a good factor.
At the identical time, don’t get too snug after Friday’s enterprise is concluded as a result of subsequent yr the league will host two drafts for the Portland and Toronto groups. Plus, roughly 90% of the league’s gamers might be free brokers on the similar time, which implies issues might be fairly spicy.
When is the WNBA growth draft?
The draft is scheduled for Friday 6 December and can air on ESPN at 6.30pm ET.
Who are the Golden State Valkyries?
The crew had been formally introduced in October final yr, and inside hours greater than 2,000 deposits for season tickets had been positioned. Ohemaa Nyanin joined the Valkyries because the crew’s GM in May, and former Aces assistant coach Natalie Nakase was named as their head coach. The crew will play on the Chase Center in San Francisco, additionally the house of the opposite Golden State crew, the NBA’s Warriors.
How does the growth draft work?
Each of the present groups within the WNBA will have the ability to defend six gamers from being drafted by the Valkyries. Golden State will then have the ability to draft gamers from every crew. These are gamers the groups have proper to, together with energetic, suspended, draft checklist/reserved, core, and retired athletes. The crew can then purchase the rights to at least one participant from every of the 12 groups, and may also solely select one unrestricted free agent from throughout the checklist of these out there.
By the top of the growth draft, the Valkyries ought to have at the very least 11 gamers (the roster most is 12, and the crew have the No 5 choose in subsequent yr’s WNBA draft).
Can the Valkyries take any unprotected participant they need?
No. The crew can solely take one unrestricted free agent whole – one from throughout your entire league – after which the Valkyries can core that participant to guard them in future drafts and commerce offers. The participant will be unable to signal with some other crew for one yr (and might be paid the league’s supermax wage of $249,244 for 2025).
Additionally, inside the checklist of potential gamers, there are some who’ve spent the final two seasons cored beneath their very own groups and might’t be cored once more. Right now, this implies six gamers (Brittney Griner, Brionna Jones, Natasha Howard, DeWanna Bonner, Nneka Ogwumike, and Tina Charles) who the Valkyries may technically choose, however they’d probably find yourself shedding them anyway after the 2025 season – and would lose out on that just about $250,000 funding.
Which gamers might be protected?
The checklist of protected gamers might be saved confidential, so it’s not particular who’s on the checklist and who is just not. However, educated guesses can (and are) being made. Teams will be certain they grasp on to their finest gamers. So, sorry Golden State followers, stars like Caitlin Clark, A’Ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier and Angel Reese are going nowhere.
Which groups will lose out essentially the most
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Both the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx should preserve their beginning lineup secure (until somebody has particularly requested to switch to San Francisco, which isn’t info they’re prone to share forward of the growth draft), which implies they every stand to lose key younger gamers from their rosters. The Lynx solely have three gamers – Diamond Miller, Dorka Juhasz, and Alissa Pili – beneath the age of 27, so a lack of any of them could be robust on the crew. On high of that, each Miller and Pili had been excessive draft picks (No 2 and No 8, respectively).
How growth groups have fared
There have been 5 growth drafts for the reason that WNBA was based in 1996. The league added the Detroit Shock and Washington Mystics in 1998, the Orlando Miracle and Minnesota Lynx in 1999, the Indiana Fever, Miami Sol, Portland Fire, and Seattle Storm in 2000, the Chicago Sky in 2006, and the Atlanta Dream in 2008.
Those groups have run the gamut by way of first-season highs and lows. The Shock ended their first season with a 17-13 report and in a three-way tie with the Miracle and the Charlotte Sting for the playoffs, however quickly suffered a years-long droop that wasn’t corrected till former Detroit Pistons participant and coach Bill Laimbeer took over in 2003 and the crew received the WNBA finals. The crew relocated to Tulsa after Laimbeer left in 2009 and finally folded.
The Mystics entered their first season with excessive hopes after including Olympian Nikki McCray to their roster however misplaced 27 of their 30 video games – they didn’t make it to the playoffs till 2000. And although the Lynx are completely dominant now, they struggled for a number of years till the crew made the playoffs in 2003. Drafting Seimone Augustus in 2005 was a boon, however the Lynx didn’t win a championship till 2011, though they’ve since added one other three, in 2013, 2015 and 2017.
The Miracle didn’t have the endurance that the Lynx loved. Though the crew made it to the playoffs in 2000, Orlando Magic proprietor Rich DeVos opted in opposition to protecting the crew in Florida. They relocated to Connecticut, the place they turned the Sun, in 2003.
The Fever had their first profitable yr in 2002 after Tamika Catchings was named Rookie of the Year and helped lead the crew to their first playoff look, the place they misplaced to the Liberty. The Sol folded three seasons into the crew’s existence after failing to lift sufficient cash to proceed to function, an issue that additionally plagued the Portland Fire after chairman Paul Allen was unable to purchase the crew.
The Storm had a rocky two seasons earlier than drafting Sue Bird in 2002. Bird proved to be a franchise-defining participant and the crew had been the WNBA champions in 2004. They received three extra championships, in 2010, 2018, and 2020.
The Sky joined the WNBA to lots of fanfare (Destiny’s Child singer Michelle Williams and Beyoncé’s father Matthew Knowles had been introduced as minority shareholders) however not a lot preliminary success. The 2013 playoffs marked a big turning level for the crew after they drafted Elena Delle Donne because the second general choose. The crew received their first championship, and up to now solely, championship in 2021.
The Dream’s first season was dismal – they went 4-26 in 2008. But they drafted Angel McCoughtry No 1 general in 2009 and reached the playoffs in the identical yr. Like lots of groups, the Dream skilled teaching modifications often however reached the WNBA finals in 2010, 2011, and 2013.
