Don't Ignore the 2nd Round of the Draft
The Seattle Storm select 14th overall in Monday's WNBA Draft.
The WNBA Draft is this upcoming Monday (4/15/24). The Seattle Storm will not have a first-round pick. That is because they were ultra-aggressive in Free Agency landing two star players in Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike. In order to sign both players, the team had to clear up salary cap space. They did so by packaging the 4th overall pick in the 2024 draft with Kia Nurse and traded them to the Los Angeles Sparks for the Sparks first-round pick in 2026.
That makes the upcoming draft much less exciting for those in Seattle. Instead of having a lottery selection, the Storm front office will have to patiently wait until the second round before they have an opportunity to make their pick. But despite that fact, I think it’s important to point out that the WNBA Draft can still play an important role for the Storm.
Almost every single year, at least one team finds a hidden gem in the second round of the draft. It comes down to which General Managers and front offices do the best scouting and research. Teams generally won’t find superstar players in the second round but there are several examples of teams finding starters or productive role players in the later rounds of the draft.
After going through the draft lists from the past handful of years, these are the players that stood out to me.
Dorka Juhász (2023) - 16th overall
Rookie Season: Started 27 games, 6.0 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 2.6 APG
Dorka was a pleasant surprise for the Minnesota Lynx who ended up starting the majority of her rookie season. She paired up well with Napheesa Collier in the front court. Juhász ended up being one of the best rookies last year despite being drafted midway through the 2nd round.
Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu (2023) - 21st overall
Rookie Season: Started 21 games, 4.1 PPG and 4.5 RPG
Dulcy was one of the final players to make the Storm’s roster and ended up being a pleasant surprise for the team. She ended up starting half of the games during her rookie season and provided some solid rebounding and defense for the team.
Naz Hillmon (2022) - 15th overall
Career Averages: 4.2 PPG and 4.2 RPG
Hillmon started roughly a third of her games during her rookie season in 2022. She’s been a solid bench player for the Atlanta Dream in her two years.
Olivia Nelson-Ododa (2022) - 19th overall
Career Averages: 4.3 PPG and 3.4 RPG
Nelson-Ododa has provided solid production off the bench along with good size. Her height of 6’5” allows her to be a presence in the middle.
Dana Evans (2021) - 13th overall
Career Averages: 5.8 PPG and 1.9 APG
Evans has arguably been the best player from the 2021 WNBA Draft. Dana has provided a strong scoring impact off the bench in Chicago. This upcoming season she may have the opportunity to take on a starting role for the Sky.
DiJonai Carrington (2021) - 20th overall
Career Averages: 6.3 PPG and 2.7 RPG
Carrington has been one of the better bench players in recent seasons being a candidate to win 6th Woman of the Year. She’s gotten consistently better since entering the league in 2021.
Crystal Dangerfield (2020) - 16th overall
Career Averages: Career Starts 88, 8.7 PPG, 3.0 APG, and 2.2 RPG
Dangerfield won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award in her first season in the league despite being drafted in the middle of the second round. She has been a consistent starter during the majority of her four seasons in the league despite playing for multiple teams.
Joyner Holmes (2020) - 19th overall
Career Averages: 2.8 PPG and 2.1 RPG
While Holmes has the least amount of stats, she’s been able to find a roster spot on multiple WNBA rosters over the past four years. Her versatility combines her size with her ability to dribble and shoot from outside has made her an asset to come off the bench.
Brianna Turner (2019)** - 11th overall (1st Round)
Career Averages: Career Starts 134, 5.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 1.3 BPG
Brianna Turner is one of two players on this list that was drafted in the first round. However, since the Seattle Storm have an early 2nd round pick, I felt it was fair to include Turner who was drafted at the end of the first round in 2019.
Turner has over 130 starts in her career and has been an excellent defender and rebounder since entering the WNBA. She’s had a very successful career despite being one of the last picks of the first round.
Ezi Magbegor (2019)** - 12th overall (1st Round) (ALL-STAR)
Career Averages: Career Starts 66, 9.7 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 1.4 BPG
Ezi Magbegor is the other player in this list who was selected in the first round. She was taken with the final pick in that opening round. Magbegor is the only player from this list to have been named to the WNBA All-Star team; earning that award this past season. She earned a starting role in 2022 and improved her scoring to nearly 14 PPG this past season. Ezi is one of the best young defensive posts in the league.
Sophie Cunningham (2019) - 13th overall
Career Averages: Career Starts 71, 7.6 PPG, 2.4 RPG, and 1.3 APG
Cunningham was selected immediately after Magbegor as the first pick of the second round in 2019. She has been another impact player for the Phoenix Mercury starting over 70 games in her career. She’s been a strong three-point shooter and has the tenacity to be a feisty player. She’s also versatile being able to play the two, three, or four in a small-ball lineup for the Mercury.
Natisha Hiedeman (2019) - 18th overall
Career Averages: Career Starts 80, 7.4 PPG, 1.9 RPG, and 2.4 APG
Hiedeman has developed into a starting point since being drafted midway through the 2nd round. She has started more than half the games in her career. Hiedeman has also developed into one of the better three-point shooters with a career average of 39% from beyond the arc.
Marina Mabrey (2019) - 19th overall
Career Averages: Career Starts 91, 11.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 2.8 APG
Of this entire list, Marina Mabrey has had the highest scoring average at nearly 12 PPG. Mabrey has over 90 career starts since entering the league in 2019. She was the Chicago Sky’s second-leading scorer behind Kahleah Copper last season and with Copper traded to Phoenix, she may become her team’s top scorer this upcoming season.
Monique Billings (2018) - 15th overall
Career Averages: Career Stats 44, 5.9 PPG and 5.8 RPG
Billings has been a spot starter with the Atlanta Dream since being drafted in the second round of 2018. She’s provided good balance in scoring and rebounding. Monique has played her first six seasons in Atlanta and will now return to Los Angeles with the chance to potentially develop even more with a younger roster.
Myisha Hines-Allen (2018) - 19th overall
Career Averages: Career Starts 73, 7.8 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.7 APG
Hines-Allen had her standout season during the 2020 COVID “Wubble” season averaging 17.0 PPG and 8.9 RPG. She was named All-WNBA second-team that season. With Elena Delle Donne sitting out this upcoming season Hines-Allen will have a chance to play more and can play a larger role for the Mystics.
Mercedes Russell (2018) - 22nd overall
Career Averages: Career Starts 73, 5.2 PPG and 4.3 RPG
Mercedes has played the majority of her career in Seattle after being drafted by the New York Liberty. She has started nearly half of her career. Cedes can do a bit of everything. She’s able to score in the low post, rebound, and defend. Russell has also significantly improved her defense since entering the league in 2018.
Overall, on average, WNBA teams have found around two quality players (out of 12) in the second round per year when reviewing the drafts between 2018-2023. That’s roughly a 17% chance to find a serviceable player in the second round of the WNBA Draft. Seattle has the 2nd overall pick of the second round which may increase their odds a little bit.
The majority of these players from this list turned into starters. Some have had a larger impact than others but each of these players has been able to play multiple seasons in the WNBA.
Creating the above list of players wasn’t to provide a significant in-depth analysis of each player but to just provide examples of what type of players WNBA teams have been able to find in the second round in recent seasons.
Draft and Stash
This season may be a good time for Seattle to use the draft and stash strategy. There are multiple foreign prospects and a couple of injured players coming out of college. They all could be options for Seattle to take in 2024 and wait until 2025 to add to the roster. The Storm currently have just two guaranteed contracts on the roster next year (Jewell Loyd, Skylar Diggins-Smith) along with the team’s three non-guaranteed rookie contracts from a year ago (Jordan, Dulcy, and Jade).
With that in mind, here are the top International prospects this season.
Nyadiew Puoch - Australia - 6’3” Forward
WNBL Stats: 18.7 MPG, 6.1 PPG, and 3.6 RPG
Isobel Borlase - Australia - 5’11” Guard
WNBL Stats: 31.6 MPG, 15.6 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 1.8 SPG
Leila Lacan - France - 5’11” Guard
France LFB Stats: 28.5 MPG, 12.7 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 3.0 APG, and 3.2 SPG
Carla Leite - France - 5’9” Guard
France LFB Stats: 36.6 MPG, 15.6 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 5.5 APG, and 1.3 SPG
On top of the four International prospects, there are a couple of other collegiate players who have been projected to go after the first round and will not be healthy enough to play during the 2024 season but could be stashed and ready to go in 2025.
Injured College prospects:
Elizabeth Kitley - Virginia Tech - 6’6” Center
Career Stats: 32.7 MPG, 17.9 PPG, 10 RPG, and 2.2 BPG
Mackenzie Holmes - Indiana - 6’3” Forward
Career Stats: 27.2 MPG, 17.2 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 1.7 BPG
Other Potential Options
We have a general idea of how the top seven or eight picks will go in tomorrow’s WNBA Draft. It may not be this exact order but we’ll likely see these players come off the board around the time we get to pick eight or nine.
Caitlin Clark - Iowa
Cameron Brink - Stanford
Kamilla Cardoso - South Carolina
Rickea Jackson - Tennessee
Aaliyah Edwards - UConn
Jacy Sheldon - Ohio State
Angel Reese - LSU
Leading up to the Storm’s selection at 14th overall, we may see those four International prospects I’ve listed above. Plus we’re likely to see some of these players.
Alissa Pili - Utah - 6’2” Forward
Career Stats: 26.5 MPG, 16.9 PPG, 6.1 RPG, and 1.7 APG
Charisma Osbourne - UCLA - 5’9” Guard
Career Stats: 32.9 MPG, 14.9 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 3.1 APG, and 1.5 SPG
Nika Muhl - UConn - 5’11” Guard
Career Stats: 29.4 MPG, 5.8 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 5.2 APG, and 1.4 SPG
Celeste Taylor - Ohio State - 5’11” Guard
Career Stats: 29.3 MPG, 10.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 2.3 RPG, and 2.0 SPG
Marquesha Davis - Ole Miss - 6’0” Guard/Forward
Career Stats: 18.7 MPG, 8.7 PPG, 3.6 RPG, and 1.0 SPG
Between the top prospects, the International and injured players, and the other collegiate players, I’ve listed 18 players in total. That means at least five of the players listed will be available when the Storm are on the clock with the 14th overall pick.
Storm Needs
It depends on how Seattle’s front office wants to approach this draft. Are they looking to just take the best player available, will they draft specifically for need, or look to draft and stash a player for the 2025 season where the team may have more roster spots available?
We know the Storm are projected to keep just 11 players on the roster. Seattle has six players with guaranteed contracts: Jewell Loyd, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Nneka Ogwumike, Ezi Magbegor, Mercedes Russell, and Sami Whitcomb. That leaves five open spots to choose from.
It would be smart to keep the team’s three rookies from last season, Jordan Horston, Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, and Jade Melbourne as they all showed promise and are all under inexpensive rookie-scale contracts through the 2026 WNBA season. If they do keep those three, that puts the roster at nine players with two remaining openings for all the remaining training camp contracts and the 2024 rookies.
Looking over the roster, the team’s biggest needs appear to be a backup wing and a backup point guard. Jordan Horston is projected to start at Small Forward. Right now, Kaela Davis or Victoria Vivians would likely be her backup but as of right now neither is guaranteed to make the final roster.
Skylar Diggins-Smith will be the team’s starting Point Guard. Does the team trust Jade Melbourne to be the full-time backup PG this season? Do they rely on veteran Sami Whitcomb to play that role? Or do they draft a player like Nika Muhl or one of the International guards to try and fill that void?
We will find out soon as training camp gets underway at the end of this month and the draft is tomorrow at 4:30 PM PDT on ESPN/ESPN+.
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Thanks for this enlightening article. Go Storm!!
Jeff: I'm curious as to if/how the Storm (and also the Aces) are able to support draft-and-stash types who are injured and obviously won't play this year (i.e. Holmes, Kitley)? I would assume they're not signed to any type of contract (for cap reasons), but it seems clearly in a team's best interest to help them with the rehab process and the development process. I'll guess there's no formal mechanism, and they're left on the their own, which would be yet another way that the WNBA gets in its own way. I'd love for you to tell me I'm wrong...
I love the Nika Muhl pick!