The WNBA announced Thursday that the Golden State Valkyries will receive the No. 5 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, setting an operational precedent for the expansion teams that will enter the league this decade.
Toronto and Portland, who will join the WNBA in 2026, can now expect to select just outside the lottery in their first draft as well. The WNBA hasn’t had an expansion team since the Atlanta Dream began play in 2008 after receiving the No. 8 pick, and it was uncertain how the process would work.
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As a result of Thursday’s announcement, Golden State fans pining for expected top pick Paige Bueckers from UConn will be disappointed, barring an extremely unlikely trade involving the Valkyries selections from the separate expansion draft, where they will grab veterans from existing franchises . to fill out their schedule. It’s almost certain that Bueckers will be off the board well before Golden State gets to No. 5.
In another top American women’s sports league, the NWSL, the San Diego Wave received the No. 1 pick when they joined in 2022, allowing the soccer club to acquire generational talent Naomi Girma from Stanford.
Bueckers, who was eligible for this year’s WNBA Draft but opted to return to UConn, is widely considered the top prospect for 2025. But Stanford’s Kiki Iriafen — a breakout star of the last NCAA Tournament — and LSU’s Aneesah Morrow also belong to the group of eligible players who are seen as potential high-level professionals.
The Los Angeles Sparks have the best odds for the No. 1 overall pick, followed by the Dallas Wings and Washington Mystics. It’s impossible for the Chicago Sky to select first despite being in the lottery because they owe Dallas a pick swap.
The Valkyries entered the final stages of building their staff this week, announcing that Natalie Nakase would take over as their first head coach. The expansion draft is now scheduled for November 17, a month earlier than the league originally announced.
In the expansion draft, Golden State will select from a designated group of players left unprotected by the twelve other teams, each of which can make up to six players unavailable to the Valkyries. Next, with most of its roster now in place, Golden State will participate in April’s standard entry draft for first-year WNBA players like Bueckers.
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