Now that we have officially closed the book on the 2023 WNBA Draft, let’s look ahead to what is in store for the 2024 edition.
The best players on each of last year’s national finalists will be seniors, and the three other top-five recruits from their high school class — Paige Bueckers, Cameron Brink and Kamilla Cardoso — have all lived up to the hype in their own ways. A trio of ACC guards have put themselves in contention for first-round selections (yes, Hailey Van Lith is an ACC guard until further notice), and there are also a handful of super seniors who returned to college for a fifth season. Put them all together, and this could be one of the greatest draft classes in league history.
The obvious caveat to that possibility is the COVID-19 bonus year. Every player who was in college during the 2020-21 season was given an extra year of eligibility, an oddity that removed several top prospects from this year’s class and could cause the same sort of havoc in 2024. Multiple players have already entertained the prospect of using their fifth years, including Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, whom LSU actually listed as a sophomore in 2022-23 — so expecting them to leave for the WNBA is probably foolhardy.
For the purposes of this exercise — which is only a big board…
