20 Draft Picks Made WNBA Rosters, Highest Number in Years

More than half of the players taken in the 2025 WNBA draft made an opening night roster. 

In the cutthroat WNBA, where more drafted players usually get cut than make a team, the 20 rookies on 2025 rosters before Friday night’s tip-off represents a major increase. Only 13 draftees made the cut last year.

WNBA training camp has historically been a gauntlet for rookies and veterans alike. The current collective bargaining agreement expiring at the end of this season only allows a maximum of 12 active players on a roster, compared to 15 full-timers plus three two-way deals in the NBA, which also has more than double the number of teams and an entire developmental league in which to stash players. 

WNBA teams are allowed to roster as few as 11 players, although there are occasional exceptions to go over 12, like injury or pregnancy.

The limited number of teams combined with small roster sizes creates a very narrow funnel from college to the pros. Of the 36 players drafted across three rounds, only 15 of them made a roster in 2023, and just 17 did in 2022. (The draft expanded from 36 picks to 38 this year.) It only gets harder after players’ first year out of college; in the 2023 class more than half of its first round picks are not on a 2025 opening day roster.

While 20 rookies is a big number for the WNBA, it’s still difficult to break into the league. Maryland standout Shyanne Sellers is a prime example: After falling in the draft to No. 17, she was waived by Golden State and later Atlanta.

Though Sellers and others are on the outside looking in, the league is making more room for rookie talent. This year, the WNBA welcomes the Golden State Valkyries, its first expansion team since 2008. The Valkyries helped ease the talent bottleneck by increasing the league’s maximum amount of roster spots from 144 to 156, although the new window of opportunity wasn’t reflected on Golden State’s roster. Their top pick, 19-year-old Lithuanian player Justė Jocytė, opted to focus on June’s EuroBasket tournament, and the team waived its other selections, Sellers and Kaitlyn Chen. The team will instead lean on the 12 veterans it plucked from other teams in December’s expansion draft.

What the addition of the Valkyries did do was open up spots for rookies in other markets. In Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, D.C., Connecticut, and Chicago, multiple draftees found their way onto the team; title contenders Minnesota, Las Vegas, and Indiana each have just one. 

On top of more jobs offered by future expansion teams, another potential release valve next season could be additional roster spots won through CBA negotiations. WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike told ESPN she thinks going to 13 spots would be “incredibly reasonable,” even if that falls under some kind of injured reserve list. That will be part of a negotiation with the league, as more roster slots would mean lower pay for each player. But with salaries set to explode on the back of a $2.2 billion media rights deal beginning next season, players could be able to get both more jobs and higher-paying ones.

Jocytė and another international player drafted by Chicago were the only two first round picks who didn’t make a roster. (No. 6 pick Georgia Amoore is listed on the Mystics roster, but will miss the season due to an ACL tear.) Notably, eight players from the second round made a roster, up from four last year, as did two third-rounders.

The Valkyries aren’t the only reason so many rookies made a squad this year. Certain teams like Washington and Connecticut—whose entire starting five departed after last season—are ripe for new faces. And some of the most talent-heavy teams in the league traded away their draft picks; Phoenix didn’t have any, and New York secured the rights to a younger international player with their sole pick.

The Toronto Tempo and a still unnamed Portland franchise will join the league next year, expanding it to at least 180 players. And while commissioner Cathy Engelbert had previously said she wanted a 16th team by 2028, the league is considering adding even more. Around 10 cities have submitted expansion bids for a team.

More teams, more chances

The 36 additional jobs on expansion teams between the 2024 and 2026 seasons, and perhaps even more in the coming years, will be a welcome sign for WNBA hopefuls.

Second round pick Sellers and undrafted rookie Deja Kelly are two players whose releases had fans up in arms, and are each a prime example of the talent bottleneck from women’s college hoops to the pros.

Sellers and Chen received a warm welcome Warriors game before both being waived (the first of two releases for Sellers). Kelly, who spent four years at North Carolina and a final one at Oregon, didn’t hear her name called on draft night, but signed a training camp deal with the Aces. She had nine points in one preseason game and 15 in the other, even hitting the game-winner against Phoenix, but the Aces still waived her.

For players like Sellers and Kelly, going overseas for a bit might make the most sense. Sedona Prince, who went undrafted in part because of allegations of intimate partner violence, is already playing in Lebanon. But going from college to overseas wouldn’t mean the end of their WNBA dreams.

It might also be financially advantageous for unsigned players if they don’t get on a WNBA roster this year. Thanks to next season’s media deal and fresh CBA, salaries are set to shoot up. (Players in the league are well aware of this–a staggering 80% of them will be free agents next season.) Rookie scale contracts are expected to start at a higher level in 2026 than they do in 2025, where No. 1 pick Bueckers will get a base salary of just $78,831.

Under the current CBA, “rookie” means anyone who hasn’t signed a contract to play in the league, so if players like Sellers, Kelly, and Chen remain unsigned, they could find a more lucrative deal next year.

Rostered rookies