WNBA Draft April 10

mred

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Fifteen players have been invited to attend the draft in person, and Joens and Soares are two of them. Generally both players have been forecast to be drafted mid first round to early second round.

Draft will be televised on ESPN Monday Apr 10 at 6pm central.

ESPN's ranking of best players available has Soares #3 and Joens #7: https://www.espn.com/wnba/draft/bestavailable

ESPN's most recent mock draft: Soares #4 and Joens #10: https://www.espn.com/wnba/story/_/id/36100401/wnba-mock-draft-2023-picks-player-projections

The Athletic: Soares #5 and Joens not in first round (Madi Williams drafted before Joens?): https://theathletic.com/4385633/2023/04/06/2023-wnba-mock-draft-haley-jones/

Bleacher Report: Soares #4 and Joens #8: https://currently.att.yahoo.com/att/2023-wnba-mock-draft-analyzing-140000848.html

Winsidr: Joens #7 and Soares not in first round: https://winsidr.com/2023/03/first-on-the-clock-2023-winsidr-mock-gm-draft/

CBS Sports: Soares #5 and Joens #10: https://www.cbssports.com/wnba/news...1-to-fever-lynx-get-marylands-diamond-miller/

Just Women's Sports: Soares #4 and Joens #12: https://justwomenssports.com/reads/wnba-mock-draft-2023-first-round-ncaa-tournament/
 
Was looking to see if the WNBA at least covers expense if they invite someone to the draft. Could not find that but ran across this pretty sobering article. It's a year old but still relevant.

"In the last five years, an average of 13 newly drafted rookies were waived prior to the first game of the WNBA season. Last year [2021] was especially tough: 16 of 36 draftees were waived before the season began, and an additional six were waived or released shortly after the season started. Based on data from Basketball Reference, about half of each year’s draft class doesn’t play more than one season in the WNBA." - NBCsports


So far Bridget Carleton has beat these odds so hoping Soares and Joens can also. If Bridget keeps a roster spot with the Lynx it will be her 5th season.

Article did note that even being drafted by the WNBA was a resume point for overseas contracts, sort of a status bump and could actually help on salary negotiations.
 
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Was looking to see if the WNBA at least covers expense if they invite someone to the draft. Could not find that but ran across this pretty sobering article. It's a year old but still relevant.

"In the last five years, an average of 13 newly drafted rookies were waived prior to the first game of the WNBA season. Last year [2021] was especially tough: 16 of 36 draftees were waived before the season began, and an additional six were waived or released shortly after the season started. Based on data from Basketball Reference, about half of each year’s draft class doesn’t play more than one season in the WNBA." - NBCsports


So far Bridget Carleton has beat these odds so hoping Soares and Joens can also. If Bridget keeps a roster spot with the Lynx it will be her 5th season.

The number of prospective players for WNBA is about the same as for the NBA but the number of spots in the WNBA is so much less. Plus, the ratio of great players who play 10+ years is probably higher for the WNBA.

Thus, lots of great college players, even ones who get drafted, have an uphill battle to play.
 
The number of prospective players for WNBA is about the same as for the NBA but the number of spots in the WNBA is so much less. Plus, the ratio of great players who play 10+ years is probably higher for the WNBA.

Thus, lots of great college players, even ones who get drafted, have an uphill battle to play.
Specific numbers:
NBA: 30 teams x 15 per team = 450 rostered players (plus G league)
WNBA: 12 teams x 12 per team = 144 rostered players

The WNBA is looking to add two more teams (possibly starting in 2025) which would help a bit.
 
Specific numbers:
NBA: 30 teams x 15 per team = 450 rostered players (plus G league)
WNBA: 12 teams x 12 per team = 144 rostered players

The WNBA is looking to add two more teams (possibly starting in 2025) which would help a bit.

Do you have numbers of the average longevity of players in each league? Or perhaps more significant, the number of players in each league who stay for 8+ years?
 
Do you have numbers of the average longevity of players in each league? Or perhaps more significant, the number of players in each league who stay for 8+ years?

Not sure this answers your question but the Minnesota Lynx (the only team I currently care about) pre-draft roster average "experience", per their listing, is 5.5 years with the median not far off at 4.5 years. Not sure how that applies league wide.
 
Not sure this answers your question but the Minnesota Lynx (the only team I currently care about) pre-draft roster average "experience", per their listing, is 5.5 years with the median not far off at 4.5 years. Not sure how that applies league wide.


Wow. And that is the average. If that number is extended to the league, am I correct in calculating that the "normal" entry class would be only 32 players?

144 / 4.5 = 32

Again, this shows what a big deal the WNBA draft is.
 
In 2022, weighted by minutes played in that season, the average WNBA player played in 171 career games (including 2022), or about 4.75 full seasons' worth.

I'm working on calculating this for the NBA...
 
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In 2022, weighted by minutes played in that season, the average WNBA player played in 171 career games (including 2022), or about 4.75 full seasons' worth.

I'm working on calculating this for the NBA...
Weighted by minutes played in 22-23, the average NBA player played in 353 career games (including 22-23), or about 4.31 full seasons' worth.

Interesting (to me) breakdown:
Players who have played 0-2 full seasons' worth of games: NBA 45.1% of total, WNBA 31.3% of total
3-7 full seasons' worth of games: NBA 37.7% of total, WNBA 55.0% of total
8+ full seasons' worth of games: NBA 17.2% of total, WNBA 13.7% of total

So, compared to the NBA, a very high percentage of WNBA minutes go to players who have played 3-7 full season's worth of games as of the end of the season, which would be players with 2 to 8(ish) seasons of experience going into the season.
 
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Also interesting -- the WNBA has fewer extreme veterans compared to the NBA, which makes sense since it's hard to hang on as a vet when skills start to diminish. The NBA has 23 players with 11+ seasons worth of games (led by James, Iguodala, and Paul). The WNBA has 4: Bird, Taurasi, Bonner, Fowles. (This is as of the 2022 season -- Bird and Fowles have since retired.)

Long story short: small rosters and few teams mean more minutes in the WNBA for players in the prime of their careers.
 
Also interesting -- the WNBA has fewer extreme veterans compared to the NBA, which makes sense since it's hard to hang on as a vet when skills start to diminish. The NBA has 23 players with 11+ seasons worth of games (led by James, Iguodala, and Paul). The WNBA has 4: Bird, Taurasi, Bonner, Fowles. (This is as of the 2022 season -- Bird and Fowles have since retired.)

Long story short: small rosters and few teams mean more minutes in the WNBA for players in the prime of their careers.
In terms of veterans, I wonder how much of an impact pregnancy has - both in players taking time off and having skills diminish and also in players cutting careers shorter to have time to pursue having kids.
 
Bill started in 95 and the WNBA started in 96. Doesn’t leave much time for it to be under anyone else.
True, but in the first few drafts, you had players who had players who were not right out of college. Pam McGee who was the second pick in 1997 graduated from USC in 1984, Toni Foster who played at Iowa graduated in 1993, and Tia Jackson who also played at Iowa graduated in 1995. Heck, Dawn Staley graduated in 1992 and didn't go into the WNBA until 1999.
 
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Specific numbers:
NBA: 30 teams x 15 per team = 450 rostered players (plus G league)
WNBA: 12 teams x 12 per team = 144 rostered players

The WNBA is looking to add two more teams (possibly starting in 2025) which would help a bit.

I wonder what % of each league is foreign?

As an NBA fan it’s basically gotten to where only about 15-20 American born rookies actually get real nba playing team as a rookie.
 

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