The 2020 WNBA Draft won’t happen in-person, but will be held virtually on April 17 due to the spread of Covid-19. ESPN will showcase the entirely online draft at 7 p.m. ET. The No. 1 pick is going to be Oregon and NCAA legend Sabrina Ionescu. Who follows the Ducks star isn’t as clear.
The 2020 WNBA season is on pause for now, and there is a chance those drafted won’t get to suit up until 2021. The league’s originally scheduled training camp on April 26 and season tip-off on May 15 have been postponed. We’re waiting on a decision for the future, but the draft has to go on if the season has hopes of being saved.
This year is an especially important one for women’s basketball. The 2020 season would be the first under the league’s and players association’s new collective bargaining agreement. Year-to-year, player salaries for the league’s elites have nearly doubled, the minimum pay scale increased, flight arrangements have improved, and revenue-sharing has the potential to reach a 50-50 split, just like the NBA. This is supposed to be year one of a long-term investment, and there’s starpower from this rookie class to drive it.
Here’s a mock draft of what April 17’s draft may look like:
1. New York Liberty – Sabrina Ionescu, PG, Oregon
What she does: The top pick in the draft is going to be Ionescu, Oregon’s do-it-all point guard who set an all-time NCAA record with 26 triple-doubles, and became the only NCAA player ever to record 3,000 career points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds. Ionescu can shoot from range (42 percent), create for others (eight assists per game), rebound (seven per game) and score (18 points per game.) She’s as close to a lock as one can get to be a star one day, if not right away. There are concerns about how well she can defend quicker point guards, but that criticism pales in comparison to the many pros that stack her resume.
How she’d fit with the Liberty: New York has a lot of young talent in Asia Durr, Kia Nurse, and Marine Johannes. Ionescu could be the superstar who unlocks their full potential while reaching her own.
2. Dallas Wings – Satou Sabally, F, Oregon
What she does: Sabally could’ve been the No. 1 pick in most other drafts. She won’t be this year because Ionescu is that good and plays a position so many teams need, but Sabally is no consolation prize. For her three-year career, she averaged 15 points on 39 percent three-point shooting, six rebounds and two assists. At 6’4, she’s a versatile wing who can ball-handle, find a cutter and protect the rim as a small-ball big.
How she’d fit with the Wings: In Dallas, Sabally should be prioritized, along with Arike Ogunbowale, as the heirs to Skylar Diggins-Smith’s throne. Sabally should get the second-most offensive touches behind Ogunbowale.
3. Indiana Fever – Lauren Cox, C, Baylor
What she does: Cox is a 6’4 defensive-minded big who averaged three blocks and a steal this season for Baylor. For her career, she averaged 12 points and eight rebounds with three-point potential, making 28-of-91 career attempts.
How she’d fit with the Fever: Cox won a championship last year next to 6’6 big Kalani Brown, and she’s used to running a high-low as a smaller big. She could do that again with 6’6 center Teaira McCowan for a rebuilding Indiana team that’s just a few pieces away from being playoff-competitive.
4. Atlanta Dream – Chennedy Carter, G, Texas A&M
What she does: Carter is a shot-taker with one of the quickest triggers in the game. She isn’t incredibly efficient, coming off a season where she averaged 21 points on 45 percent shooting including just 29 percent from distance, but Carter can create off-the-bounce. That skill is hard to come by and possible to improve once it exists.
How she’d fit with the Dream: Atlanta has a whole new cast including Courtney Williams, Shekinna Stricklen, Glory Johnson and Brown. Carter would likely come off the bench to start the year as Sixth Woman-type flamethrower.
5. Dallas Wings – Megan Walker, F, Connecticut
What she does: It was surprising that Walker left with a year of eligibility remaining at UConn, but she’s coming off the best season of her career. The 6’1 forward scored 20 points per game on 48 percent shooting (45 percent on five three-point attempts per game), with nine rebounds and three assists. She’s a floor-spacer who also ticked her assist numbers up to three per game this year.
How she’d fit with the Wings: Dallas won’t be a playoff contender this year with several rookie-scale contract players playing major minutes. It’ll play the weed-out game of who does and doesn’t fit, and Walker would get minutes to prove her place, but they won’t come easy.
6. Minnesota Lynx – Crystal Dangerfield, G, Connecticut
What she does: Dangerfield is a lightning-quick point guard who can run an offense, and shoot the lights out. She’s small, listed at just 5’5, which will make her a target on the other end of the floor. But this season, she averaged 15 points and four assists at Connecticut, shooting 42 percent from distance on six tries per game.
How she’d fit with the Lynx: Minnesota’s lost loads of talent this offseason and needs a floor general next to Napheesa Collier and Sylvia Fowles badly. Dangerfield could start immediately to fill that role.
7. Dallas Wings – Tyasha Harris, G, South Carolina
What she does: Ty Harris made USC’s engine go, even if her stats aren’t superstar-like. She only averaged 12 points per game this season, with six assists and three rebounds, but the 5’10 guard has grown steadily as a shooter each season. She shot nine percent better from three this year (38) than her freshman season (29), improving her free throw numbers by 16 percent as well. But above all, she’s a playmaking guard who gets everyone else involved.
How she’d fit with the Wings: Dallas has four first-round picks, as well as Ogunbowale, Katie Lou Samuelson, Moriah Jefferson, Allisha Gray and Kaela Davis. There are a lot of mouths to feed, and Harris won’t mind serving them up. Harris would be the ultimate passer.
8. Chicago Sky – Beatrice Mompremier, C, Miami
What she does: The lone true big likely to be taken in the first round, Mompremier is a strong 6’6 with good low-post tools. She can work spin moves down low and hit a jumper, too. In just 16 games this year due to a foot injury, she averaged 16 points on 51 percent shooting and 10 rebounds. She’s also starting to stretch her game out to the three-point arc. After not attempting a shot from distance in her first two years, she made 1-of-3 her junior year and 4-of-13 this year. She has soft touch, improving her free throw shooting by 16 percent from her junior year to 73 percent this year.
How she’d fit with the Sky: The Sky’s roster is playoff-ready with or without this pick, and that’s a good thing for Mompremier. Like any big entering the league, she’ll need time to develop, and she can do that in Chicago. There’s no better way for her to acclimate to WNBA conditioning than practicing next to Diamond DeShields and Courtney Vandersloot.
9. Dallas Wings – Bella Alarie, F, Princeton
What she does: Alarie is a big who can space the floor. A 6’4 forward from Princeton, she averaged 18 points on 47 percent shooting (36 from distance on three tries per night), and nine rebounds. If given time to develop, maybe she can become a knockdown stretch-four teams want so badly.
How she’d fit with the Wings: Dallas has a lot of young pieces, and whoever’s taken here is unlikely to play much. Alarie would be a long-term piece, if the Wings keep this pick.
10. Phoenix Mercury – Te’a Cooper, G, Baylor
What she does: Shoot the damn ball. Cooper shot 42 percent from range on five shots this season with Baylor, her third team in five years. She averaged 14 points, five assists and two rebounds as an undersized but speedy guard.
How she’d fit with the Mercury: The Mercury havetheir stars in Skylar Diggins-Smith, Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner. Cooper doesn’t need to be a go-to, but she can be a complimentary shooter to keep the paint open, and a distributor off the break. The Mercury need bench pieces who can play now.
11. Seattle Storm – Ruthy Hebard, F, Oregon
What she does: Hebard did the physical work down low for Oregon, setting screens and blocking out bigs from boards under the rim. She stands just 6’4, but Hebard is useful without needing the ball, and should be a rotation player somewhere. She averaged 18 points on 68 percent shooting (no threes) and 10 rebounds this season for the Ducks.
How she’d fit with the Storm: Hebard wouldn’t get much time if she made the Storm’s roster, but she’d be a long-term building piece.
12. Washington Mystics – Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, F, South Carolina
What she does: Herbert Harrigan was one of the best players on the best team in college basketball. At 6’2, she has good size for a wing, and can shoot and slash. She scored 13 points per game this year on 51 percent shooting from the field (44 percent from three on 1.4 attempts) and six rebounds.
How she’d fit with the Mystics: Herbert Harrigan wouldn’t get many minutes on a championship-ready Mystics team, but they’d work to develop her for the future. D.C. knows how to make shooters produce.
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