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| 2025-2032 WNBA Draft: Potential No.1 Picks |
Written by: Prospect-Central
If people say "The Draft" isn't an exact science, I wonder what they would say about trying to predict No.1 picks 5-years into the future. If that wasn't bad enough, we're gonna try and prognosticate the future No.1 picks for all five North American sport's leagues (NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, WNBA). Better strap on your seatbelts, cuz this is about to be a bumpy ride. Lord help us! 🙏
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| Paige Bueckers: Uconn |
Here are a few tidbits about the WNBA Draft & No.1 picks:
Predicting potential No.1 picks for the WNBA Draft might be the "easiest" (along with the NBA) of all 5 North American sport's leagues. As I stated before, the NBA far and way has the best track record of former No.1 high school recruits becoming No.1 NBA Draft picks. While HS girls basketball rankings aren't as dialed in as the boys rankings, they certainly help showcase the potential talent on the horizon, and more likely than not those players eventually become very high WNBA Draft picks.
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| JuJu Watkins: USC |
A plethora of resources were used in pooling together the top prospects from each sport that have a realistic chance of being the No.1 selection in their draft (sources listed at bottom of article). From there I did my due diligence and learned as much about these players as I could, including watching as much film & video on each player I could find. Once I felt comfortable on whom the best players were for each draft, I made my selection for a potential No.1 pick followed by a few players who should be in the mix. With that being said, Prospect-Central proudly presents the 2025-2032 WNBA potential No.1 Draft picks!
If you think it feels like Paige Bueckers has been playing college basketball and in the public eye for a while now, you're not alone. Now even though she only had one extra year of college basketball due to tearing her ACL and redshirting the 2022-23 season, a lot of diehard basketball fans have been privy to Ms. Bueckers exciting & crafty style of play for almost a decade now. Back in 2017 Paige Bueckers first entered her path to stardom as a rising HS sophomore when ESPN HoopGurlz released their initial c/o 2020 Terrific 25 high school girls basketball player rankings. Bueckers made her debut as the 6th best HS sophomore in the country, behind then No.1 player Caitlin Clark 👀, No.3 Kamilla Cardosa, No.4 Cameron Brink, and No.5 Haley Van Lith. Fast forward three-years to ESPN's final HoopGurlz c/o 2020 rankings, Paige Beuckers was the No.1 player in the class.
Since Paige Bueckers had an extra year of eligibility due to her ACL injury, she made the smart decision in using it, because if she did enter the 2024 WNBA Draft, obviously she would not have been the No.1 pick due to the generational talent Caitlin Clark being far and away the best player in the draft. No need to rush the process, because not only has Paige Bueckers bounced back beautifully from her injury and is playing some of the best ball of her career, she's also built a nice little nest egg of $1.5 million from various NIL deals. It's safe to say she won't be playing basketball in Russia with vape cartridges of cannabis just to try and make ends meet.😳 If everything goes according to plan, Paige Bueckers will be able to get high on her own supply stateside! Ironically, if Paige Bueckers does become the No.1 pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft, she'll be the oldest player to do so since Brittney Griner was selected No.1 overall back in 2013. It's not a forgone conclusion Paige will be the top overall pick, but it's certainly more than likely. Her biggest competition at the moment is probably USC's KiKi Iriafen but the dark horse of the draft, France's 19-year old 6'6'' Dominique Malonga, could definitely end up giving Paige Bueckers a run for her $$$ as the No.1 pick of the 2025 WNBA Draft.
2026 WNBA Draft
The only thing average about UCLA's 6-foot-7 Lauren Betts, is her height. Of course that would only be the case if she played in the NBA, considering 6'7'' is the exact average height of an NBA player. Her future however resides in the WNBA, where the average height is only 6'0''. It turns out after all, Lauren Betts is anything but average. The most important trait a basketball player can posses is height, pure and simple. Now obviously it's much more important in the men's game, but size definitely matters in women's professional basketball as well. People say size doesn't grow on trees. I say it does if your family tree has 7-footers in it! Genes are incredibly important in basketball for the simple fact tall parents usually have tall children. Lauren Betts father, Andrew Betts, is a 7-foot-1 former 2nd round NBA Draft pick and he's done very well for himself when it comes to creating future stars in the game of basketball. Besides Lauren, there are a few more Betts on the horizon. Lauren's younger sister, 6-foot-4 Siena Betts, is currently the No.2 ranked high school senior in c/o 2025, thus making her a viable candidate for the No.1 pick of the 2029 WNBA Draft. Then there's her younger brother, 9th grader 7-foot-2 Dylan Betts, who's currently Prospect-Central's No.3 ranked center in c/o 2028, and one of the few people in the world who make Hakeem Olajuwon look tiny. Of course Lauren's mother, Michelle Betts, needs mentioning as well. Even though she's only 5-foot-9, Michelle won a NCAA volleyball championship with Long Beach State back in 1998, plus she's a very successful realtor and I think that's pretty cool! 😎 So like I said before, genes are very important in basketball. 🧬
Lauren Betts first began to make headlines back in June of 2019, when she was selected to the prestigious U.S. U16 National team. A few weeks later she would become the No.1 rising HS sophomore in the country, when ESPN released their initial HoopGurlz c/o 2022 Terrific 25 rankings. She would end her high school career the same way she started it, as the No.1 recruit in the country. Lauren Betts was so dominant in high school, 5-years ago Prospect-Central ranked her as one of the best No.1 high school girls basketball recruits of all-time. While she had a rocky start to her college career at Stanford, once she transferred to UCLA her game has really rounded into form. It will be interesting to see if she can ever develop a 3-pt shot, because I don't think she's ever attempted one in her entire career. Be that as it may, she's old enough to enter the 2025 WNBA Draft and if she did, she'd certainly be in contention for the top overall selection. As of right now, all bets are on Lauren Betts as the early favorite for the No.1 pick of the 2026 WNBA Draft.
2027 WNBA Draft
Of all the potential WNBA future No.1 draft picks featured in this article, USC's sophomore sensation JuJu Watkins is not only the best player, but she's also probably the second biggest star in all of college basketball right now, behind only Duke freshman Cooper Flagg. JuJu on that beat! 😎 It does help to have a cool name btw. Do you really think someone with a boring name like "Joe Smith" would ever be a No.1 draft pick? 😜 It's not just JuJu's "juju" that makes her such an exciting prospect for the next level either. She's a terrific athlete with an extremely polished game, displaying excellent ball handling abilities & court awareness, but above all she's an instant bucket capable of scoring on all three-levels with ease. Don't take my word for it though. At the time this article is being written, JuJu Watkins is currently the 3rd leading scorer in the entire country, averaging 25 ppg while shooting 46% from the field and a respectable 36% from three. With numbers like these, coupled with her size, athleticism and skill, you can see why JuJu Watkins is the presumptive favorite for the No.1 pick of the 2027 WNBA Draft. To truly find out what the future has in store for someone however, you first must analyze the past.
Just as both potential WNBA No.1 draft picks Paige Bueckers & Lauren Betts were at the top of their high school class years before they graduated, JuJu Watkins is no different. In May of 2020, Judea "JuJu" Watkins entered ESPN HoopGurlz c/o 2023 Terrific 25 rankings as the No.1 rising high school sophomore in the county. After earning MVP's of both FIBA's U16 America's Cup & U17 World Cup, JuJu ended her high school career the same way it started, as the No.1 ranked player in her class. While it's basically a lock 🔒 JuJu Watkins will be the No.1 pick of the 2027 WNBA Draft, a player that could potentially surpass her once the time comes has to be Notre Dame's sophomore 5'6'' Hannah Hidalgo. Her size will ultimately be the reason she probably won't be the No.1 pick over JuJu, but in any other draft Hannah Hidalgo could certainly be WNBA's top overall selection. Until then, the only thing left to do is wait patiently while JuJu Watkins runs through women's college basketball, all the way to the potential No.1 pick of the 2027 WNBA Draft.
2028 WNBA Draft
Just as the potential No.1 pick for the 2025 WNBA Draft Paige Bueckers entered her high school career as the 6th best rising HS sophomore in the country, her current Uconn teammate & star freshman Sarah Strong was no different. Back in June of 2021 Sarah Strong was just outside the Top 5 of ESPN's HoopGurlz initial HS c/o 2024 player rankings. And once again, just as the three previously mentioned potential No.1 WNBA Draft picks ended their high school careers at the top of their class, Sarah Strong was in the same predicament, eventually finishing her high school career as the No.1 recruit in c/o 2024 once it was all said and done. In the process she would win a plethora of awards including being a 2-time Gatorade North Carolina POY, North Carolina Miss Basketball, Naismith High School POY, and she won three consecutive NCISAA state tittles. Moving to international basketball, Sarah Strong is a 3-time FIBA gold medalist with more hardware to come in her future no doubt. So, how did Sarah Strong get to where she's at? Like most elite basketball players, before they become high lottery draft picks, they hit the genetic lottery first & foremost. 🧬
Both Sarah Strong's parents were excellent basketball players in their own right. Sarah's father, 6-foot-6 Danny Strong had a very solid collegiate career at N.C. State, but her mother, 5-foot-11 Allison Feaster was definitely the strongest 💪🏾 (pun intended) player in their household. The current vice president of team operations for the Boston Celtics, Allison Feaster was a Top 5 pick in the 1998 WNBA Draft, plus she has a degree from Harvard University so to say she's had a successful life, would be an understatement. Uconn doesn't have the same academic stature as Harvard, but they're a basketball powerhouse despite not winning an NCAA championship in nearly a decade. No school has produced more No.1 overall picks in the WNBA Draft than Uconn with five players, and if Paige Bueckers is selected No.1 overall in 2025, then Sarah Strong certainly has a chance to become the 7th once the 2028 WNBA Draft rolls around almost 4-yrs from now.
2029 WNBA Draft
I love Mexico. It really is a beautiful country, but it’s not exactly known for producing elite basketball players. For most American's Mexico is known for its beautiful beaches, delicious cuisine, infamous drug cartel's, superb boxers, and tequila! 🥃 Honestly, I couldn't even begin to tell you who the greatest female Mexican basketball player of all-time is. I guess Diana Taurasi is considered the greatest Hispanic female basketball player ever, but that's only because of her Argentinian heritage not Mexican. Plus the fact Taurasi won 6-gold medals with Team U.S.A. should automatically disqualify her from being anything but American. Moving to the men's game, 2000 NBA 2nd-round draft pick Eduardo Nájera is probably the greatest Mexican basketball player of all-time. (¡Ay, Caramba! 🤦🏽♂️) There is another young promising Mexican hooper in 6-foot-8 Karim Lopez who is projected as a lottery pick for the 2026 NBA Draft, but outside of that the cupboards are pretty bare for Mexican basketball players. That is until the No.1 high school girls basketball player in c/o 2025, Texas native Aaliyah Chavez, makes her way to basketball stardom, if she hasn't already.
Before she even entered high school, Aaliyah Chavez earned her 1st scholarship offer as an 8th grader from Texas Tech. Then in May of 2022, Aaliyah Chavez entered ESPN's HoopGurlz initial c/o 2025 high school basketball player rankings as the No.3 rising HS sophomore in the country. Water always finds its level though, so after four-years of balling her a** off, Aaliyah Chavez is not only ESPN's HoopGurlz No.1 recruit, but she's also the No.1 recruit for both 247Sports & ProspectsNation c/o 2025 HS girls basketball player rankings as well. Labeled the next "Caitlin Clark", Aaliyah Chavez has unlimited range, terrific playmaking abilities, but above all she's an absolute scoring machine. She scored 1,001 pts as a HS freshman, followed by 1,020 pts as a sophomore & 1,324 pts as a junior. As of right now she's roughly 800 pts shy of the coveted 5,000 pt mark with 10 games to go before the Texas HS girls basketball state playoffs begin. She's currently averaging 31.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 3.9 steals for her high school career. With numbers like these, it's no wonder she leads the Top 25 Latino athletes to watch for in 2025. Currently unsigned, there are rumors she's asking for a cool $1 million to secure her services, and NO, she doesn't want to be paid in pesos! As of right now Oklahoma & Texas are the favorites to land her, so they better start to pony up some of that oil money if they're really serious. Clearly there's a lot of time between now and the 2029 WNBA Draft, so she's certainly no lock to be the No.1 pick, but if the draft were held today, Aaliyah Chavez would definitely be at the top of all draft boards. And on that note; Adios Muchachos! ✌🏽
2030 WNBA Draft
If you made it this far in the article congratulations, because now it's about to get a little bit wacky. If you think the year 2030 is way too far away to start projecting No.1 picks for the WNBA Draft, you're probably right. But of all the 5 major North American sports leagues that Prospect-Central featured for potential No.1 picks, the WNBA was the only league that had an extra 3-years worth of draft's (2030-32). The reasoning behind this is pretty simple. If these potential No.1 picks for the 2030 WNBA Draft were men, then it would be the 2027 draft they would be getting ready for, not 2030. That's a difference of 3-years worth of draft's, for the same aged player (high school junior). Now even though a lot can happen in 5-years such as the WNBA potentially lowering the age limit for the draft, which in turn would make most of these predictions obsolete, that doesn't seem likely, so until further notice most if not all potential No.1 WNBA Draft picks will more than likely be players 4-years removed from being former No.1 high school recruits. This is where the current Top 3 high school juniors in c/o 2026, Jerzy Robinson, Saniyah Hall, and Kate Harpring come into the equation.
There's probably a clear-cut No.1 recruit for every current high school graduating class in both boy's & girl's basketball, except of course girl's c/o 2026, where the No.1 pick for the 2030 WNBA Draft will more than likely come from. It appears to be a very strong class overall, because there are a few more players besides "The Big 3" who certainly have the potential to be the top overall WNBA Draft pick come 2030, including Max Preps National Sophomore of the Year McKenna Woliczko & Sophomore 1st Team All-America 6-foot-4 Olivia Vukosa, as well as others of course. When it comes to the Big 3 however, it's certainly up for debate who the best overall player is. Arizona native Jerzy Robinson is without question the most popular & well known player of the three, and that's probably why she gets the initial nod as the potential No.1 pick.
Back in July of 2023 all three players would make their debut in ESPN's Terrific 25 HoopGurlz c/o 2026 player rankings. After winning a gold medal with U.S.A.'s U16 National Team at the FIBA Americas Championships, as well as being the youngest MVP of the tournament at the time at only 14-years old, Jerzy Robinson was the easy selection for the No.1 player in her class. Ohio native Saniyah Hall would make her debut as the 7th best player in the country, followed by Kate Harpring, daughter of former NBA player Matt Harpring (genes 🧬) rounding out the bottom as the 25th best rising sophomore in the nation. As the saying goes though, "out of sight, out of mind", so if you're not playing in events scouts watch, it's hard to maintain your No.1 status. Even though Jerzy Robinson is the only player of the three to make both U.S.A.'s U16 & U17 National Team, she didn't play any AAU ball with her club team over the summer, thus she slid in the rankings in most national recruiting publications. Saniyah Hall did play for her club team over the summer however, and after continuing her stellar play, especially at the high profiled Overtime Select League, she's not only the No.1 recruit for ESPN HoopGurlz c/o 2026 rankings, but she's also the top ranked player for ProspectsNation as well. Saniyah Hall also transferred to national powerhouse Montverde Academy in Florida and has been playing such good basketball during her junior year of high school, it's hard to argue with her ranking.
Of all three players though, it was definitely Georgia native Kate Harpring who made the biggest leap in the national rankings over the summer. She absolutely killed it in every event she played in, including being named inaugural MVP of the Overtime Select League. The NBA offspring Kate Harpring is now 247Sports No.1 recruit for c/o 2026, and No.2 in both ESPN's HoopGurlz & ProspectsNation rankings. She really is a fabulous player, and could certainly hold her own with any point guard in the country, regardless of class. That should not be taken lightly, considering PG is the deepest position in all of high school girl's basketball. The once crown jewel for c/o 2026 Jerzy Robinson, is now the 3rd ranked recruit in all three publications. After being named MaxPrep's Arizona High School Freshman of the Year, Jerzy Robinson transferred to prestigious Sierra Canyon in California as a sophomore and filled in beautifully for the departed JuJu Watkins. She averaged 22.5 ppg & 10.8 rpg, on her way to being a MaxPreps 1st Team Sophomore All-America selection. Once again, she's having an excellent junior year of HS basketball and along with both Saniyah Hall & Kate Harpring, is worthy of being the No.1 recruit in c/o 2026. Fair or not, Jerzy Robinson is the only player with an NIL deal from Nike, plus she already has her own Wikipedia page, so as far as I'm concerned as of right now, Jerzy Robinson is Prospect-Central's ridiculously early favorite for the No.1 pick of the 2030 WNBA Draft.
2031 WNBA Draft
Before you lose your 💩 that we're about to talk about a potential No.1 pick for a WNBA draft that's over 6-years away (lol), then I'm going to remind you not to be sexist. Because if you didn't have a problem with 6-foot-10 Baba Oladotun being selected as Prospect-Central's 2028 NBA Draft's Potential No.1 pick, you shouldn't have a problem with 5-foot-6 Kaleena Smith being a potential No.1 pick for the 2031 WNBA Draft. After all, both players are 16-year old sophomore's in high school. Just because age shouldn't be an issue though, I certainly understand if the discrepancy of height is. I mean not only is Kaleena Smith nearly a foot & a half shorter than Baba Oladotun, if she does ever manage to become the top player selected in the WNBA Draft, she'll become the shortest player ever drafted No.1 overall in any sport, ever! Of course that would mean she's done growing now and maybe she is, but you know what? It doesn't even bleeping matter 🙊, because she's just that good at basketball. And here's a hot take for ya. As of right now, Kaleena Smith could very well be the best 5-foot-6 basketball player in the world, regardless of gender! 🔥 I hate to keep going with the status quo of having the high school girls basketball No.1 recruit eventually becoming the WNBA's No.1 draft pick, but what can I say, Kaleena Smith is indeed a basketball prodigy and has all the skill in the world to eventually make her dreams a reality. She's currently the No.1 recruit in both ESPN's HoopGurlz Terrific 25 & 247Sports c/o 2027 player rankings, and she's the only 5-star recruit in her class at the moment according to ProspectsNation. Clearly she's pretty good at basketball. ⛹🏽♀️
Honestly, I'm glad Kaleena Smith is a girl because let’s face it, if she was a boy at 5-foot-6, she wouldn't even be able to sniff the NBA. But thankfully she not only identifies as a woman, she is a woman 😀, so playing in the WNBA is not only a realistic goal, it's basically a forgone conclusion. Kaleena Smith might be the most exciting player in all of high school basketball at the moment. To say she's shifty with the ball in her hands would be an understatement. She clearly sees the game at another level and her basketball IQ is through the roof. With her speed, handles and unlimited shooting range, there's no girl in high school basketball that can contain her one-on-one. She might have eyes in the back of her head too the way she passes the ball and sees the floor. She's not a liability on the defensive side of the ball either, constantly creating steals with intense ball pressure as well as playing the passing lanes beautifully. It's clear Kaleena Smith has earned her nickname; "Special K!" Some accolades for the California native include being selected to U.S.A.'s Women's U17 National Team and she was named MaxPreps HS Girl's Freshman of the Year after demolishing all her competition as a 9th grader. Currently averaging 30.4 ppg, 7.1 apg, 3.3 rpg, and 4.4 spg for her career, Kaleena Smith is well on her way to becoming a HS basketball legend. Adidas thinks so too, considering she's the first high school girl to sign an NIL deal with the company. So there you go, heart over height (unless your a boy) 😢 are truly words to live by. Time to see if Kaleena "Special K" Smith can continue making history once the 2031 WNBA Draft rolls around, when she tries to become the shortest No.1 draft pick in the history of sports! 🏀
2032 WNBA Draft
Height? ✅ Skill? ✅ Genes? ✅ Potential No.1 pick of the 2032 WNBA Draft? ✅ When it comes to elite prospects for the next level in women's basketball, California native 6-foot-6 Sydney Douglas has all the boxes checked. Born September 16th, 2008, the 16-year old might be slightly older for a freshman in HS, but don't get it twisted; Sydney Douglas has as much future potential as any HS girls basketball player in the country, regardless of class. If the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, then Sydney Douglas' future of becoming a professional athlete is already set in stone. She already has the size of her father, former USC & NFL's 6-foot-7 Rome Douglas, but more importantly she has the skill of her mother, 6-foot-2 UCLA Hall-of-Famer Maylana Martin-Douglas, who was a Top 10 draft pick in the 2000 WNBA Draft. The best of both worlds and truly a product of her environment, Sydney Douglas has all the makings of a future star in women's basketball. Whether she can parlay her stardom into becoming the No.1 pick of the 2032 WNBA Draft is obviously yet to be determined, but if the gambling guru's in Vegas ever decided to handicap the draft, Sydney Douglas would definitely be the odds on favorite to be the first player off the board.
There are no HS girl's basketball rankings for freshman, but Sydney Douglas obviously cracked ESPN's HoopGurlz c/o 2028 Watchlist, and she's currently the only 5-star recruit in her class according to ProspectsNation. She's coordinated, she's athletic, she can put the ball on the floor, she can hit a jumper; Sydney Douglas certainly seems like the real deal and like all tall teenage girl basketball players, she's not even close to being a finished product yet. She's already been invited to U.S.A.'s U17 National Team trials and as of right now she's having an excellent freshman year of high school basketball for Ontario Christian (CA), averaging 15.6 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 1.8 bpg, & 1.4 spg. She'll more than likely be selected to one of MaxPreps c/o 2028 Freshman All-America teams once her season has ended and as far as scholarship's are concerned, Sydney Douglas is essentially being recruited by every major women's college program in the country. Needless to say, her future is brighter than a fluorescent light and even if she's not the No.1 pick of the 2032 WNBA Draft, Sydney Douglas will eventually make a living for herself playing women's pro basketball. So there you go. Now you know the potential No.1 picks for the next 8-years worth of WNBA Draft's. (lol) 🤦🏽♂️ And don't worry, we won't discuss the potential No.1 pick for the 2033 WNBA Draft just yet. The current Top 3 8th grade girls basketball recruits in c/o 2029; 6-foot-6 Jayden McClain, 5-foot-10 Kristen Winston, and 5-foot-7 Anyla Parker, will have to wait their turn.....for the time being anyways. 😜
WNBA Draft Resources
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