WNBA Dynamic Draft

By: Via Schuetz

The 2024 Women’s Basketball Association draft will be written into the history books, with amazing athletes with extraordinary college records. Held in the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the twelve teams chose the new faces of the league.

Most notably, the first pick, made by lottery winner, the Indiana Fever, was Iowa star Caitlin Clark. She made it to the national championship during her final college season. The second pick was done by the Los Angeles Sparks, who decided on Cameron Brink. Brink is a Stanford player and scored 17.4 points on average, per game, during her final college season. The Sparks also had the number four pick of Rickea Jackson, a player from Tennessee and Mississippi State Universities. During her college basketball career, she’s managed to score forty points in a single game, as well as nineteen rebounds, fourteen free throws, and eighteen field goals, as stated by utsports.com. In total, she scored two thousand two hundred sixty-one points overall.

The newest players aren’t the only changes to the WNBA as is known in the media. Recently, designer clothing brands are now sponsoring these young athletes, allowing them to wear their high-end fashion pieces to the draft, similar to how celebrities adorn the red carpet. According to nbsnews.com, Caitlin Clark commented on Monday night, “The first time Prada has ever dressed a male or female for WNBA or NBA draft so pretty cool.” Clark herself wore a white suit jacket, shimmering top, and a matching skirt, as well as black sunglasses and heels. Other designers like Bronx and Banco, Simon Miller, Christian Louboutin, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and much more.

Unfortunately, not all drafted players will get the chance to fill out the regular season roster. According to nbcchicago.com, “Only 19 of the 2023 picks played at least one game in the WNBA last season. Since 2018, 142 of 216 draft picks (65.7%) have played in a WNBA game at some point in their career.” This is because of the reality that many spots in the regular roster will be taken by returning players. Star players like Clark, Brink, and Jackson have most likely earned themselves a spot, but more average players won’t end up playing in very many games throughout the season. Still, these women have worked extremely hard to get to this point and hopefully will blossom and continue to have all-star careers within the WNBA.

Caitlin Clark: the newest WNBA all-star!

Photo from: weareiowa.com