The 2024 WNBA Draft has produced two All-Stars so far: Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. For Clark, being selected as an All-Star early on in her career was what she had to do to meet expectations. Everyone expected her to be a star immediately and take the league by storm, no matter how difficult that is to accomplish as a rookie fresh off a long college season.
Reese, on the other hand, was not a top-five draft pick. She went seventh, suggesting at least four teams didn't think she was ready to play like a star in the WNBA despite helping to lead LSU to a national championship. The only big-time star to be drafted seventh overall before Reese is Kahleah Copper, although five other players drafted at that spot have earned one or two All-Star nods. Two years later, Reese is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and was the missing piece for a finals team.
The Los Angeles Sparks passed on Reese twice, drafting Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson ahead of her. The Dallas Wings went with Jacy Sheldon for the fifth pick, and the Washington Mystics selected Aaliyah Edwards. The Chicago Sky were able to draft Reese seventh overall because the Minnesota Lynx were willing to trade down.
The Lynx still won out with that trade, as it landed them Olivia Miles in this year’s draft, and the Mystics may have drafted a less productive player, whom they eventually traded, but they are still very well off with their star frontcourt of Shakira Austin and Kiki Iriafen. The Sparks and Wings, on the other hand, shouldn't feel great about their choices, as Reese and the Atlanta Dream head to the WNBA finals.
Reese has outperformed players drafted ahead of her
Reese is the first player from the 2024 draft to win a major award and the first to make the finals as a starter and key contributor. The Dream probably would not have gotten this far without Reese. While the Indiana Fever have not gone to the finals yet, they should still be very happy with their pick, as Clark is an All-WNBA-level player and a fan magnet.
But Reese has easily outperformed all other players picked ahead of her—and obviously GMs’ draft-day expectations for her. She needed a new team to make it to the finals and have her best season yet, but she was already an All-Star and walking double-double with the Sky.
Cameron Brink, meanwhile, has been injured for much of her career, and the Sparks traded Rickea Jackson for Ariel Atkins only to miss the playoffs again and lose Kelsey Plum and Nneka Ogwumike. Brink can still live up to the expectations that come with being the number-two pick. Nevertheless, having a young star, who is much further along in her development, would ease fans’ worries that the franchise is headed for a bleak future after losing two veteran stars and giving up on the one young player who looked ready for an All-Star-level breakout.
If the Wings had picked Reese instead of Sheldon, they could now have a young core of Reese, Paige Bueckers, and Azzi Fudd. Sheldon has been a fine role player, but she isn’t close to being a star. Teams have regularly viewed her as expandable. The Wings, Connecticut Sun, and Washington Mystics all traded her. While the Wings made the playoffs this year, their frontcourt wasn’t super trustworthy due to Alanna Smith’s injuries and Jessica Shepard’s defensive limitations. The latter also struggled mightily offensively against the Golden State Valkyries in the first round of the playoffs.
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