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The 2024 WNBA Draft is in the books, and now that the dust has settled, let’s take a moment to look at things team-by-team. Every WNBA team has its own strategy with respect to drafting, which is influenced by rosters, the salary cap and how competitive the team expects to be in the near future, among other factors. With that in mind, let’s go through each team in the Eastern Conference and pick apart how they fared on draft night.
Atlanta Dream
Atlanta was a popular destination for free agents to begin 2024, adding guards Jordin Canada and Aerial Powers and center Tina Charles, and based on the team’s draft selections, it seems like the Dream more or less have their core in place for the upcoming season.
The Dream went international with all three of their picks, drafting Australian forward Nyadiew Puoch at No. 12, Australian guard Isobel Borlase at No. 20 and Italian guard Matilde Villa at No. 32. According to The Next’s Hunter Cruse, all three of these players are expected to stay overseas for the time being; Puoch and Borlase, in particular, will be training with the Australian national team for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics, which begin in late July.
This “draft and stash” strategy is becoming more popular among WNBA teams as the league’s hard salary cap and limited number of roster spots makes it increasingly difficult for players to make teams. The Dream own the rights to each of their draftees, but do not have to sign them until they are ready to play in the WNBA, so it’s hard to project what kind of roles they will have when they do come to the United States.
That being said, it’s rare to see a team stash multiple international players, especially when several roster spots are still up for grabs. Atlanta currently has 12 players under contract—three below the limit of 15 allowed in training camp—so expect to see several more signings from the Dream in the coming days as they complete their training camp roster. Players like Puoch and Borlase have upside but are still developing, and it may be a while before we see what the Dream’s 2024 draft class can do in the WNBA.
Chicago Sky
The Sky did plenty of wheeling and dealing in free agency to further their draft capital, acquiring the No. 3 overall pick in a trade that sent Kahleah Copper to Phoenix and the No. 8 pick in a deal that sent the rights to Julie Allemand and Li Yueru to Los Angeles. Chicago then traded up with Minnesota for pick No. 7, hinting that the franchise had its eye on a particular player and wanted to ensure they’d land in the Windy City.
That player turned out to be LSU forward Angel Reese, who joined the No. 3 overall pick, South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso, as the main building blocks in Chicago’s frontcourt. Reese and Cardoso will be expected to breathe new life into a Sky franchise that has crumbled over the last year and a half due to a mass exodus of its top talent.
The Sky already have Elizabeth Williams, Isabelle Harrison and Brianna Turner—established veterans who have mostly played starter-level minutes during their respective WNBA careers—so it’s possible that both Cardoso and Reese will need to earn their time on the court as rookies. They can do that with their rebounding prowess; Reese regularly graded as one of the most prolific rebounders in the nation in during her collegiate career, while the 6-foot-7 Cardoso can go toe-to-toe with most of the league’s bigger centers. That’s something the Sky were lacking last season, when they ranked 11th in the WNBA in defensive rebounding rate (69.2 percent).
Chicago used its third and final draft pick (No. 13 overall) on guard Brynna Maxwell, who was among the top shooters in the 2024 draft class. In two seasons at Gonzaga, Maxwell shot 45.9 percent on 5.5 3-point attempts per game, and her marksmanship will go a long way in spacing the floor for the Sky’s new-look frontcourt. Chicago currently has four open roster spots and over $456,000 in salary cap space, per Her Hoop Stats, so it’s likely that all three draftees will make the team’s final roster.
Connecticut Sun
Like Atlanta, the Sun also went the “draft and stash” route in the first round, selecting French guard Leïla Lacan at No. 10 overall. The Sun already have 11 players (excluding those signed to training camp contracts) and won’t be able to carry another under the salary cap, so the uncertainty surrounding Lacan’s involvement with the French national team—which could severely limit how often she’s able to play in the United States, especially in years with international basketball competitions—isn’t as much of a concern as it would have been to other teams.
That’s not to say the Sun won’t have competition in training camp. Connecticut drafted Kansas center Taiyanna Jackson at No. 19 overall, Arizona guard Helena Pueyo at No. 22 and Columbia guard Abby Hsu at No. 34. Jackson, in particular, should get an extended look as the Sun evaluate their depth in the frontcourt, which will be a subject of discussion as Brionna Jones continues to work her way back from an Achilles injury suffered last year; Jackson averaged three blocks per game during her time at Kansas and was also one of Division I’s best offensive rebounders at 6-foot-6.
Pueyo is a versatile defensive player on the wing, and she has a chance to make the Sun roster, though she’ll have to beat out Leigha Brown, Rennia Davis and Jocelyn Willoughby. Similarly, Hsu will face stiff competition in training camp from Sydney Wiese, Shey Peddy and Kianna Smith. Though she’s an excellent shooter, Hsu seems like a longshot to make the team at point guard.
Indiana Fever
It didn’t take very much basketball expertise to predict that the Fever would draft Iowa guard Caitlin Clark at No. 1 overall, nor is much analysis required to predict what she’ll bring to Indiana. The NCAA’s all-time leading scorer is one of the best players in college basketball history at driving efficient team offense, and her fit next to last year’s top draft pick and reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year, center Aliyah Boston, will be a season-long storyline as Indiana develops perhaps the most talented young duo in the league.
The Fever then shored up their wing rotation by drafting Ohio State’s Celeste Taylor at No. 15 and Florida’s Leilani Correa at No. 27. While Taylor did plenty of initiating and distributing in college, a roster with Clark, Kelsey Mitchell, Erica Wheeler and Grace Berger likely will demand that she focus more on the defensive end of the court, where she excels. Indiana has been lacking in perimeter defense for several years, and Taylor, who won Defensive Player of the Year honors in two separate conferences (the Big Ten and the ACC, when she played for Duke) will be a good bet to make the Fever’s roster based on that merit alone.
Correa, meanwhile, will need to beat out one of Lexie Hull and Maya Caldwell for a spot on the team. The SEC Sixth Player of the Year would still be playing behind the newly-acquired Katie Lou Samuelson and Kristy Wallace, in theory, though she could steal some minutes here and there thanks to her outside shooting ability.
New York Liberty
It’s easy to look at the amount of star power on the Liberty and say they didn’t need much in the draft, but they were exposed on the defensive side of the ball by the Aces in last year’s WNBA Finals, and it’s an area in which they’ve been trying to improve ever since.
In drafting Ole Miss wing Marquesha Davis at No. 11 and Arizona forward Esmery Martinez at No. 17, New York continued to get more athletic and versatile defensively. Davis has an extra gear when attacking the basket that will make her a great fit for the Liberty’s transition game, and she’ll team up with recent signee Kennedy Burke to form a duo of long-limbed and explosive perimeter players that will help New York match up better against off-dribble threats. Martinez, whose activity on defense made her one of the nation’s more prolific defensive playmakers while at West Virginia and Arizona, will bring similar benefits if she makes the roster, though she’d more likely round out the team’s frontcourt rotation than its backcourt.
Though 6-foot-5 center Jessika Carter, who the Liberty drafted out of Mississippi State with the No. 23 pick, may have a tougher time making the final roster, it’s not out of the question entirely. According to Her Hoop Stats, New York has only nine players under contract (excluding training camp contracts and draftees) and the team could choose Carter’s size over Martinez’ mobility. Finally, USC forward Kaitlyn Davis, who the Liberty selected with the No. 35 pick, will not be suiting up this season; New York will essentially be stashing her rights for 2025.
Washington Mystics
The Mystics are in full-on rebuild mode, with longtime point guard Natasha Cloud now in Phoenix and superstar forward Elena Delle Donne sitting out the season. It’s presumed that Delle Donne has played her last game for Washington, leaving the Mystics little choice but to get younger for 2024.
UConn forward Aaliyah Edwards, who the Mystics drafted at No. 6 overall, has a WNBA-friendly game, and while she won’t replace what Delle Donne did on offense, her physicality and defensive versatility make her a league-ready player. Edwards has the lateral movement and instincts to defend ball screens at a high level; Washington already has one of the best young centers in the game in Shakira Austin and an elite defensive playmaker in guard Brittney Sykes, and adding Edwards into the mix will, at the very least, establish a defense-first identity that the Mystics can lean on as they develop in other areas.
One such area is at point guard, where the Mystics, as they often do, are taking an unorthodox route. Washington drafted Gonzaga guard Kaylynne Truong, who averaged 5.8 assists per game and shot 42.1 percent on 3-pointers in her fifth collegiate season, at No. 21 overall; she’ll join Belgian rookie Julie Vanloo, who the team signed to a training camp contract, as Washington’s primary ball handlers. The Mystics used their final pick (No. 30) on another Belgian player, 6-foot-1 forward Nastja Claessens, but it’s not yet known if she’ll report to the team immediately or be stashed for 2025.