Another WNBA Draft has come and gone. As virtually every person on the planet expected, the Dallas Wings drafted UConn guard Paige Bueckers with the No. 1 pick.
Then, as almost as many people predicted, the Storm took French big Dominique Malonga second.
Then, as...okay, we could do this all day, but largely, the point here is that the first round of this draft was very chalky. Of the 12 players I projected to go in the first round in my last mock, 11 went there. The only miss was Shyanne Sellers, who dropped to Pick 17 while Aziaha James was drafted with the final pick of the round.
So, who were the big winners and losers of the 2025 WNBA Draft?
Winner: Dallas Wings
I don't think it's possible to convey how well I think the Dallas Wings did on Monday night.
Even if the team hadn't drafted Bueckers No. 1 overall, the team's draft would be deemed a success because of how well they nailed their later picks.
Of course, we have to start with Bueckers. Despite some media chatter during the offseason that Bueckers wouldn't play for Dallas, Bueckers is heading to Dallas. She'll slide in beside Arike Ogunbowale in a backcourt that will have some growing pains, but will be a lot of fun to watch.
But that wasn't all! Dallas took Aziaha James at the end of the first. She's undersized, but has the scoring skill to carve out a role off the Wings' bench.
Then in Round 2, Dallas added Madison Scott from Ole Miss, a strong defender on the wing. She'll need to work on scoring consistently, but her length gives her a shot to make the league.
And then, because the Wings weren't done, they made two more great picks in the third. West Virginia wing JJ Quinerly had gotten some discussion as a late first-rounder, and I think every multi-round mock I saw had Quinerly penciled in as an early second. Efficiency is a concern, but if Quinerly were to find a way to make this roster, her defense would earn her minutes.
Just for good measure, Dallas also grabbed Baylor center Aaronette Vonleh. It's hard to imagine she makes the final roster, but the 6-foot-3 big took some major strides this past season.
Loser: Las Vegas Aces
The Aces were de facto losers already because the team had to forefeit its first-round pick, but Vegas had a shot to make up for that with its second-rounder. Instead, the team took Aaliyah Nye in what was by far the biggest reach of this year's draft.
Nothing against Nye, a knock-down shooter from deep who can definitely help the Aces out on the perimeter, but it just felt like a reach to take her there when someone like Te-Hina Paopao was still on the board.
But with Cheyenne Parker-Tyus set to miss much of the season while pregnant, it would have made more sense to add to the frontcourt somehow. Maddy Westbeld, Makayla Timpson and Sania Feagin were all still there as options.
Winner: Golden State Valkyries
As an expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries shouldn't be thinking about the playoffs in 2025. This is about setting the team up for the future.
That's why I loved the decision to draft Justė Jocytė. The Lithuanian teenager is a big guard who has already been playing pro so long in Europe that she has the court feel of a savvy veteran. Whether she comes over in 2025 or not is immaterial here. Just getting Jocytė into the Valkyries system is great news for the franchise's future.
Then in the second round, the team got the steal of the draft, taking Maryland point guard Shyanne Sellers, who was universally viewed among analysts as a first-rounder. Sellers is a playmaking point guard with size who shot over 40 percent from deep last season. The only explanation that seems to make sense here is that teams were concerned about her knee issues, but the Valkyries were the team that had to take on that risk. Their entire mission should be building for tomorrow, thus you draft the player who might end up as one of the top five players from this draft, even with injury concerns.
Winner: Georgia Amoore
The consensus for who the second point guard off the board after Bueckers seemed to be Sellers, but in reality that role went to Kentucky's Georgia Amoore, who lands on a Mystics team where should potentially start immediately.
The 5-foot-5 guard's size is a definite concern, especially defensively, but she brings enough to the know otherwise that it's easy to ignore that and focus on what she does well. Amoore is one of the best creators in this class, someone who can find her own shot but also is a top-notch distributor as well.
Heading into this draft, the only thing we knew about the one, two and three roles on this team was that Brittney Sykes would take one of them. Amoore and fellow first-round pick Sonia Citron can start at the other two spots from Day 1.
Loser: Serena Sundell
Many thought Kansas State guard Serena Sundell was one of the big sleepers of this draft, but WNBA teams didn't seem to agree as she last all the way until Pick 26, the first pick of the third round.
Sundell is a big point guard, someone who can fit well into any scheme and shows an innate understanding of the game. It's just going to be tough to make an impact in Seattle with Skylar Diggins-Smith and Erica Wheeler there, but she could potentially beat out Nika Muhl for a roster spot.
(I almost put Te-Hina Paopao here as a loser of the draft after her draft stock fell to the mid-second round, but I actually love where she landed. The Dream need a ball-handler who can shoot from deep and they landed that in Paopao, who might lead all second rounders in minutes this year because of her drop.)
Loser: Sedona Prince
There was no draft prospect more divisive than Sedona Prince. Some people thought her size and her ability to score at the rim made her a borderline first-round prospect. There were others who said her off-court issues — specifically, multiple allegations of abuse — would drive her value down.
But I'm not sure many people thought that Prince would go undrafted.
That's what ended up happening, though, as no team chose to select the controversial big, despite some anonymous GMs suggesting in a recent ESPN piece by Katie Barnes that they were still considering her.
Was the Elite Eight loss to Texas the last time we'll see Prince on a basketball court? If so, it was a rough way to go out as she fouled out while scoring just four points.