WNBA Draft lacks star power, but has plenty of intriguing names
It’s no secret that the 2021 class of WNBA prospects doesn’t feature the same wow factor as last year. “It’s not as strong,” Rebecca Lobo, the Hall of Famer and an original member of the Liberty, said of the pool of 57 players teams can pick from on Thursday. “You know, I think people kind of understand that this class isn’t as strong as maybe last year’s class and it’s, you know, not as strong as the classes in the next couple of years.
“Of course there’s really good players in this draft and of course teams are going to be able to find players who can fit a need for them,” Lobo, the longtime ESPN women’s basketball analyst, added.
The list of intriguing prospects this year includes Arizona guard Aari McDonald. She mostly flew under the radar until the NCAA Tournament. The undersized McDonald lit up powerhouse UConn in the Final Four, stealing the show from freshman Paige Beuckers and propelling the Wildcats into the title game.
There’s also Syracuse guard Tiana Mangakahia, who was rising to the top of her game when she was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer back in 2019. She beat cancer and returned seemingly without missing a beat.
“First of all, the fact that Tiana came back and stuck with it, says a tremendous amount about her character and the kind of grit and fight she has inside her,” Fever head coach Marianne Stanley said of her. Despite her feel-good backstory, Mangakahia will have to fight for a roster spot if she gets drafted.
The difference between this draft class and last year’s, which was headlined by generational talent Sabrina Ionescu, is that this class is seemingly made up of players who won’t necessarily be starters off the bat, but will need to prove their worth in a back up capacity. The already saturated nature of all 12 team’s rosters will make any incoming WNBA hopeful’s shot at cracking a roster before the season starts difficult.
The Liberty now hold the No. 6 pick in the draft after trading their No. 1 in a three-team deal with the Storm and Mercury for Seattle’s Natasha Howard. The Liberty filled their roster with nine rookies last season in a complete rebuild.
But the Liberty accelerated their rebuild after a two-win pandemic bubble season and moved into win-now mode with their offseason moves — acquiring Howard, fellow Storm champion Sami Whitcomb and Atlanta Dream 2020 MIP Betnijah Laney, trading Kia Nurse and letting Amanda Zahui B walk in free agency. Most importantly, Ionescu returns after missing all but three games due to an ankle injury in her rookie campaign.
Trading down in this draft further signaled they know there isn’t another Ionescu-type star sitting atop the draft board in 2021. But they should be able to find a quality player in the first round to add depth as they continue to grow for the future.
There isn’t a clear-cut No. 1 this year. Some names that have been getting tossed around to be called early in Thursday’s draft include Texas center Charli Collier, Baylor guard DiJonai Carrington, Rutgers guard Arella Guirantes and Louisville guard Dana Evans.
The Dallas Wings hold three of the Top 5 picks (No. 1, 2 and 5) with the Dream and Indiana fever selecting at No. 3 and 4.