Valkyries see Buecker's chance fading as WNBA sets draft slot

The WNBA announced Thursday that the Golden State Valkyries will receive the No. 5 overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, setting an operational precedent for the expansion teams that will join the league this decade.

Toronto and Portland, scheduled to join the WNBA in 2026, can now expect to pick just outside the lottery in their first draft as well. The WNBA hasn't had an expansion team since the Atlanta Dream began play in 2008 after being awarded the No. 8 seed, and it was uncertain how the process would work.

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Based on Thursday's announcement, Golden State fans who have been longing for UConn's projected top pick Paige Bueckers will be disappointed unless a highly unlikely trade involving the Valkyries' selection from the separate expansion draft occurs, where they will bring in veterans from existing franchises to fill out their roster. It's almost certain that Bueckers will be off the list long before Golden State gets to No. 5.

In another top U.S. women's sports league, the NWSL, the San Diego Wave received first place when they joined in 2022, allowing the soccer club to acquire rising talent Naomi Girma from Stanford.

Bueckers, who qualified for this year's WNBA draft but decided to return to UConn, is widely considered a top 2025 prospect, but also includes Stanford's Kiki Iriafen – a breakout star from the last NCAA Tournament – and LSU's Aneesah Morrow Players eligible for this group are considered high-level potential professionals.

The Los Angeles Sparks have the best chance of picking first overall, followed by the Dallas Wings and Washington Mystics. It is impossible for the Chicago Sky to pick first despite entering the lottery because they owe Dallas a pick swap.

The Valkyries entered the final stages of assembling their staff this week and announced that Natalie Nakase will take over as their first female head coach. The expansion draft is now scheduled for November 17th – a month earlier than the league originally announced.

In the expansion draft, Golden State will select from a specific pool of players not protected by the twelve other teams, each of which can make a maximum of six players inaccessible to the Valkyries. Then, with the bulk of its roster assembled, Golden State will enter the standard entry draft next April for WNBA first-year rookies like Bueckers.

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