January is one of the busiest months on the women’s basketball calendar. Conference play ramps up in college basketball while WNBA free agency talks begin in a few weeks. Unrivaled, the 3×3 league co-founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, debuts this month.
Readers submitted so many great questions about all three buckets, so considering all the happenings around women’s basketball, I tried to hit all aspects of the sport in our first mailbag of 2025.
What does the staff think players like Paige Bueckers or Kiki Iriafen will do about the draft this year? Would it be possible to see the talent at the top of the draft forgo the draft to come in during the 2026 WNBA season to take advantage of the new CBA? — N’namdi G.
My colleague Sabreena Merchant made a bold prediction on our podcast this week that Bueckers will not declare for the 2025 WNBA Draft. She made the case that, among other factors, Bueckers would be locking herself into a lower rookie-scale deal than she would otherwise sign under a new CBA in 2026 if she turned pro then.
Even so, I still think Bueckers will enter the 2025 WNBA Draft, no matter how UConn fares in the NCAA Tournament. Part of the reason is how competitively fulfilling college basketball still is and understanding that…
