An Early 2025 Draft Discussion

With free agency news cooling down and the college season gaining attention as March approaches, the entry draft is becoming the next item to focus on in the WNBA calendar. The Golden State Valkyries have the 5th, 17th, and 30th picks in the draft and fans are certainly looking forward to adding young players to the mix who could be building blocks for many seasons to come. While there are certainly no guarantees of a star being available at that first pick or a player who will stick in the league coming from the later picks, the right decision here could be a big help to the team.

Draft Date and Time

The draft will take place on Monday, April 14th and the plan is for the official start to be at 4:30pm on ESPN after a pre-draft show. The location has not been announced yet, but last year’s draft was open to a limited fan audience, which is also planned for this year. Training camps are set to open on Sunday, April 27th, so it will be a quick turnaround for many of the players to sign contracts and report to their new teams.

College Players

Almost all of the players selected in the draft will be from the American college system, but there is still a lot of uncertainty about all of the players who will be available. Players who have exhausted eligibility naturally are automatically in the draft as well as players born in 2003 who have no remaining eligibility because they turned professional before the draft and players born earlier who turned professional before the draft after starting in college in 2021.

While there will be plenty of automatic entrants, a number of the top prospects still have eligibility left and must officially declare to enter the draft. Players who have graduated, completed four full seasons in college, or were born in 2003 or earlier can renounce their remaining eligibility and declare. Many players who are set to complete at least four years of college have already indicated that they plan on entering the draft while many players who would only be finishing their third year, but could declare based on the criteria, have indicated that they do not plan to enter the draft and will remain in college. Either group still could change their minds by the official deadline even after indicators like participating in their college teams’ senior night honors.

The WNBA and WNBPA agreed to amend the rules for draft declaration for the past four drafts to handle the greater number of players making decisions because the 2020-21 season did not count towards college eligibility. Setting the deadline earlier for the vast majority of players made it easier to confirm the status of players even though the league occasionally let people declare for no obviously valid reason. It is unclear whether there will be special rules in place this season again now that there are fewer players who need to make decisions or if the later deadline from the CBA will be in use again. The league may or may not release a list of players who are declaring early as they did initial reporting last year, but never put out a final, definitive list for the public.

International Players

The international flavor of the player moves that the Valkyries have made so far also make international draft picks an important discussion point. With the team being built for the future and not just this season, these players can be even more likely to be picked because internationals, players who have not entered the American college system, are automatically eligible to be picked in the year that they turn 20. Being younger than the non-international prospects means that a player with greater upside can be taken, especially later in the draft when the best prospects have already been picked. International prospects are also generally picked below their prospect ranking due to concerns about their availability, providing additional value, especially in a world where rising salaries make the league more attractive.

I wrote about specific international prospects for another women’s basketball website now that we know which players will fall under that category and both articles are linked below. Golden State certainly has plenty of international experience within its front office and that is especially relevant for this group with Vice President of Basketball Operations Vanja Cernivec. As a Slovenian with NBA experience, she was the first person that Tony Parker reached out to when the former San Antonio Spurs star was trying to recruit Ajsa Sivka to his team Lyon and she is now one of the top prospects in this draft. There is one other Slovenian player who will be considered for selection later in the draft in Lea Bartelme so her knowledge could be useful there too. Tony Parker’s fingerprints will be clear throughout this draft as Dominique Malonga and Juste Jocyte, the two other players who should hear their names early, play for Lyon.

International draftees do not always sign in the league immediately as their youth does make them less likely to be able to contribute right away and they may also have other summer obligations this year. That possibility might be even more attractive for Valkyries fans who would be willing to wait for players to join when the roster is stronger and ready to compete for the playoffs. The WNBA has made it harder to take advantage of this compared to the NBA as the number of players not on the roster whose rights can be carried forward to a new league year is limited to four players. Given that Golden State will want to hold at least one of those spots for Maria Conde and with the status of a few players still not being decided yet for this season, they may not want to add too many players to that list through the draft, especially given that those rights would probably be in play in upcoming expansion drafts too.

International Prospects:
https://wbasketballblog.com/2025/02/05/international-names-to-know-for-2025-wnba-draft/
https://wbasketballblog.com/2025/02/15/the-juste-jocyte-ruling/