Focus Shifts to the 2025 WNBA Draft

Now that the college season has concluded, the WNBA takes center stage with their season. As always, the transition between the two is the entry draft, which will be on April 14th this year starting at 4:30 on ESPN. After needing special rules to handle the number of players declaring early for the past three drafts, the league returned to the rules specified in the CBA this year. That means that the deadline for most players has just recently passed and the rest have to decide within 48 hours of their seasons ending. The league may or may not officially announce which players who could return to college have entered the draft instead.

We will cover the draft as it happens on our Bluesky account here: https://bsky.app/profile/valhalla.basketball

Valkyries Strategy

Golden State has likely been waiting for the major college announcements to be made as the level of talent available at their first pick is heavily dependent on which players opt to return. The team was ultimately disappointed at being slotted into the fifth pick as, even with early declarations, it is no guarantee to get a star player at that point in the draft. With the team working on building a team for years to come and with so many free agency decisions in the near future, it makes sense for the team to pick a player who they feel is talented and fits the desired team culture without focusing too much on position.

College Players

This is the first draft since 2020 where there will be college players who did not have the option to remain in college for five seasons as players who started in 2021 and successfully played their four years are automatically in the draft. That still leaves a large number of prospects who redshirted a year and could still play in college next season. While no serious prospects were known to be able to enter the draft after three years in college by virtue of being set to graduate no later than July 14th, there are a number of players who would have been able to enter early since they were born in 2003 whose decisions were also being anticipated.

International Players

The group of prospects that has been fixed in place for a while is the international players, who do not declare for the draft, but are instead automatically selectable in the year that they turn 20 under current rules. Given that the Valkyries have already created a roster with heavy international presence, it would be no surprise if they went in that direction with at least one of the picks. Since the players are younger than their college counterparts, there is a lot of upside in taking an international later in the draft.