The 2024 WNBA draft is set to take place on Monday night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Here are five can’t-miss prospects expected to hear their names called early.
Caitlin Clark
Caitlin Clark, who led the Iowa Hawkeyes program to back-to-back national championship appearances will be the No. 1 overall pick by the Indiana Fever.
Clark’s rise to prominence has done wonders for the women’s game, in fact last Sunday’s title game between Clark’s Hawkeyes and the now champion South Carolina Gamecocks for the first time had more viewers than Monday’s men’s title game between the Purdue Boilermakers and Connecticut Huskies.
The dynamic guard will be teamed with 2023 No. 1 overall pick Aliyah Boston (South Carolina), giving the Fever a dynamic inside-out punch they’ve lacked since Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas led the Fever to its only WNBA title in 2012.
Clark led all of college basketball (men’s and women’s) in scoring (31.6), assists (8.9) and three-pointers made per game. The newly crowned NCAA’s all-time leading scorer was praised by Dawn Staley in the aftermath of the title game loss to the Gamecocks.
“She’s one of the GOATs of our game. I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport.”
Kamilla Cardoso
South Carolina star Kamilla Cardoso stands 6 feet 7, and that type of size just isn’t something you see often in the women’s game.
The 2020 No. 4 overall recruit just led the Gamecocks to an undefeated 38-0 season and coach Dawn Staley’s third title. Cardoso waited her turn and learned behind the aforementioned Boston, finally taking the reins this past season.
The belief is Cardoso will be taken third overall by the Chicago Sky, a spot higher than originally believed in most previous mocks. Her ability to finish around the basket is a coveted skill that all teams crave.
Angel Reese
The aforementioned Staley also raved to ESPN about Angel Reese following a huge in-season matchup between her team and the LSU Tigers.
“Angel is a talent. She’s aggressive. She’s poised. She’s very unselfish.”
Cameron Brink
Two-way star Cameron Brink will very likely be staying close to where she played her college ball (Stanford). The 6-foot-4 rim-running big is just what the Los Angeles Sparks ordered as they look to replace franchise stalwart Nneka Ogwumike who left for Seattle in free agency. Brink would follow in the lineage of one Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker and the aforementioned Ogwumike.
Rickea Jackson
The best scorer in this draft not named Caitlin Clark is Rickea Jackson, the former Tennessee Volunteers star. Jackson is likely to go fourth to the Sparks, forming a pretty dynamic duo with the aforementioned Brink.
Jackson displayed her three-level scoring ability this past season by adding a three-point shot to her repertoire. That should bode well with Brink’s ability in and around the paint area.
In the end Jackson’s name may not resonate like those of Clark, Cardoso, Reese or Brink, but her scoring prowess speaks for itself.
