Last season, Lauren Betts and the UCLA Bruins reached the Final Four for the first time in the NCAA era. Now, Betts seeks to repeat the feat. However, the senior player has ambitious individual goals, including being number 1 in the 2026 WNBA draft.
The path to that goal is full of challenges. The WNBA is negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the union, an issue that has dominated the league throughout the year. In addition, the lottery draft, expansion drafts for Toronto and Portland, and a massive free agency that will involve most players without rookie contracts, are crucial factors before the 2026 draft. This scenario, currently hypothetical, will become clearer in the next seven months.
Below, we present the top five teams according to their lottery odds, along with the expansion teams.
Five of the first six picks in this mock draft were eligible for the 2025 draft, but chose to return for another college season.
Draft Analysis: The Teams and Their Aspirations
Dallas Wings: Lauren Betts (UCLA, center, 6-7, senior)
The Wings, who selected Paige Bueckers as number 1 in 2025, won the Rookie of the Year award, but only achieved 10 victories and finished tied for last place with Chicago. Betts, a first-team All-American last season, averaged 20.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game, with a 64.8% field goal percentage. WNBA teams will need to assess whether her lack of three-point shooting is a disadvantage or if it can complement her low-post game.
Minnesota Lynx: Olivia Miles (TCU, guard, 5-10, senior)
Miles, who missed the 2023-24 season due to a knee injury, averaged 15.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 5.8 assists last season. The Lynx, WNBA finalists in 2024, enter the lottery thanks to a 2024 trade with Chicago.
After injury problems in her first three years at UConn, Fudd had a mostly healthy 2024-25 season, playing in 34 of the Huskies’ 40 games. She averaged 13.6 points per game and 43.6% efficiency from the three-point line for the national champions. Fudd’s talent has never been in doubt: she is an elite player when healthy, especially as a perimeter scorer.
Washington Mystics: Awa Fam (Spain, center, 6-4)
Fam, who will turn 20 in June, seems to be the main international prospect of this draft. He started playing with a Spanish professional club at 15 years old and helped Spain reach the EuroBasket final against Belgium this summer, averaging 8.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. His potential is high, and he could rise to number 1 by the time of the draft.
Chicago Sky: Flau’Jae Johnson (LSU, guard, 5-10, senior)
Johnson aspires to be number 1, a confidence that makes her attractive. National champion as a freshman, last season she had her best numbers with 18.6 points and 38.3% three-point shooting. She also averaged 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists.Flau’Jae Johnson, on the right, is a projected lottery pick. Janiah Barker, on the left, is projected as the number 10 pick for Indiana.
Toronto Tempo: Ta’Niya Latson (South Carolina, guard, 5-8, senior)
Latson, who led Division I with 25.2 points per game last season with Florida State, is seeking a higher profile with a program that regularly competes for the national championship. She is a career 32.6% shooter from the three-point line, which she will look to improve.
McMahon will spend her final season in the SEC after three years at Ohio State, where she was one of the best players in the Big Ten. Her averages of 16.5 points and 37.4% three-point shooting in 2024-25 were the highest of her career. Although she is a bit short for the forward position, she should improve defensively at Ole Miss and can improve her value to play at the next level.
Golden State Valkyries: Yarden Garzon (Maryland, guard, 6-3, senior)
Garzon, who played her first three years at Indiana, where she averaged 14.4 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.2 assists last season, her best numbers of her career. She stands out as an excellent 3-point shooter with great size, with a 42.6% effectiveness in three-point shots during her career at the Hoosiers, including 88 last season.
Washington Mystics: Serah Williams (UConn, power forward, 6-4, senior)
Williams averaged 19.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game for Wisconsin last season. Now she joins the Huskies, 12-time national champions, a program that prepares players for success in the WNBA.
Indiana Fever: Janiah Barker (Tennessee, power forward, 6-4, senior)
Barker, after two seasons at Texas A&M and one at UCLA, will finish her college career at Tennessee. She has averaged 10.3 points and 6.4 rebounds in three college seasons and possesses a skill set that attracts WNBA evaluators.
Washington Mystics: Gianna Kneepkens (UCLA, guard, 5-11, senior)
Kneepkens will play his final college season for the Bruins after a standout career at Utah, where he averaged 19.3 points per game in 2024-25. His greatest strength is three-point shooting, with 94 three-pointers last season with 44.8% accuracy.
Connecticut Sun: Iyana Martin Carrion (Spain, guard, 5-8)
She was named MVP of the FIBA U19 World Cup in 2023 and was part of the Spanish runner-up team at the EuroBasket this summer. She will turn 20 in January and could be ready to make the jump to the WNBA.
Atlanta Dream: Ashlon Jackson (Duke, guard, 6-0, senior)
The Dream had a good season under WNBA coach Karl Smesko, who emphasizes three-point shooting. Jackson made 87 three-pointers last season with 37.2% effectiveness.
Rice was the second-leading scorer (12.8 points per game) for the Bruins team that reached the Final Four last season, in addition to averaging 5.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds. It remains to be seen if Rice will impress WNBA evaluators with her game management skills.
Connecticut Sun: Madina Okot (South Carolina, center, 6-6, senior)
Okot, from Kenya, played there for two years at Zetech University before spending last season at Mississippi State, where he averaged 11.3 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game, shooting 64.9% from the field. Now at South Carolina, his role could be even bigger.
