2025 WNBA Draft grades: Eastern Conference

The 2025 WNBA Draft is in the books.

It was an odd draft, especially for the Eastern Conference, with three teams owning multiple first-round picks. For those squads, the Washington Mystics, Connecticut Sun and Chicago Sky, the draft assumed outsized importance, with their premium picks coming with the pressure to select players who will elevate the organization. In contrast, the New York Liberty can bask in the luxury of being a veteran-laden, championship team, mostly unconcerned with whether or not their single selection becomes a solid player, much less a future star. Other teams looking to round out playoff-aspiring rosters will hope their mid-draft selections surprise, not only making the final roster but also offering positive minutes as first-year players.

So, how did the East’s six teams do? Here’s Swish Appeal’s evaluations:

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Washington Mystics: B

Picks: Sonia Citron (3), Kiki Iriafen (4), Georgia Amoore (6), Lucy Olsen (23), Zaay Green (32)

As Beckett Harrison wrote before the draft, the Mystics needed a star to replace the recently-departed Ariel Atkins.

Even with two lottery picks and another first-round selection, Washington was not in position to draft such a player. So, with their first pick, they went with one of the draft’s safest bets in Notre Dame’s Sonia Citron, a plug-and-play “3-and-D” player who will fit with whatever shape the Mystics take in seasons to come.

Their two other first rounders hold the glimmer of All-Star upside, although their paths to reaching that level are not smooth.

USC’s Kiki Iriafen could blossom as into an elite scoring forward, although she may be blocked from exploring her full potential as the Mystics have promising frontcourt partners Shakira Austin and Aaliyah Edwards, both of whom are more solid and versatile defensively than Iriafen. Kentucky’s Georgia Amoore, who addresses Washington’s need for a primary ball handler, is a boom-or-bust bet. If she finds a way to thrive as a 5-foot-6 guard, draining setbacks, finishing crafty drives and converting tough midrangers, she could be a star. However, the realities of her size could prevent her from reaching her ceiling.

The Mystics may have found a couple of late draft contributors as well, grabbing a scorer in Iowa’s Lucy Olsen in the second round and a bigger point guard in Alabama’s Zaay Green in the third round.

Connecticut Sun: B+

Picks: Aneesah Morrow (7), Saniya Rivers (8), Rayah Marshall (25)

For a team in search of a new identity, the Sun used their back-to-back first-round picks on two players who can help define the next era of Connecticut basketball, even if neither becomes the centripetal star that the Sun need. LSU’s Aneesah Morrow and NC State’s Saniya Rivers are two-way players with elite traits, albeit in different ways.

Morrow is an unparalleled worker who just produces in whatever area her team needs. Across her four years of college, she got a ton buckets, grabbed bunches of boards and collected a cache of steals. Expect her to find a way to make an impact at the next level. Rivers might be the draft’s best athlete, and she knows how to apply her gifts to be a difference-making defensive playmaker. If her shooting improves and passing sharpens, she has star upside in the do-it-all Alyssa Thomas mold.

Chicago Sky: B

Picks: Ajša Sivka (10), Hailey Van Lith (11), Maddy Westbeld (16), Aicha Coulilbaly (22)

The Sky addressed the team’s glaring weaknesses with their back-to-back first-round picks, although their choices do not come without risk.

With Ajša Sivka, a 19-year-old Slovenian, they scored a potentially elite shooter with size. An admitted admirer of the Liberty’s Leonie Fiebich, Sivka can hopefully help the Sky fans forget that they once held Fiebich’s rights. However, it might take more than a few seasons to reach that upside.

Chicago also hopefully grabbed their point guard of the future with TCU’s Hailey Van Lith. An improved playmaker during her final college season, she now will hone those skills under the tutelage of one the W’s greatest offensive operators in Courtney Vandersloot. But at just 5-foot-7, Van Lith likely will need to improve her shooting efficiency to succeed as a starting-level guard.

If she makes the final roster, Notre Dame’s Maddy Westbeld would diversify the Sky’s frontcourt rotation, presenting a pick-and-pop skill set that contrasts with the strengths of Angel Reese, Kamilla Cardoso and Elizabeth Williams.

Atlanta Dream: B+

Picks: Te-Hina Paopao (18), Taylor Thierry (36)

After one of the WNBA’s worst 3-point shooting teams in 2024 hired a new head coach who prioritizes 3-pointers, improving the team’s long-distance shooting had to be an offseason priority for Atlanta.

Despite not having a first-round selection, the Dream may have ended up with the draft’s best shooter: South Carolina’s Te-Hina Paopao. She led the nation in 3-point shooting as junior, with proven proficiency as a pull-up or catch-and-shoot threat. Albeit on lower volume, Ohio State’s Taylor Thierry also sports an excellent 3-point percentage, in addition to disruptive defensive abilities.

Indiana Fever: A

Picks: Makayla Timpson (19), Bree Hall (20), Yvonne Ejim (33)

While owning no picks until the mid-second round, the Fever did well to grab two players who profile as near-perfect roster fits. Indiana’s star core is set; they just need players who are willing to fill roles alongside Caitlin Clark, Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell.

And they got that in Florida State’s Makayla Timpson, a bouncy, athletic and high-activity forward who could turn out to be a better version of Brianna Turner, one of Indiana’s offseason additions, and South Carolina’s Bree Hall, a two-time national champion who knows how to contribute to winning teams as a no-nonsense “3-and-D” piece.

New York Liberty: D

Pick: Adja Kane (38)

To be blunt, this draft didn’t matter to the Liberty. Their grade is reflective of that, rather than of the quality of their decision.

After trading away the No. 9 overall pick to the Connecticut Sun for Natasha Cloud, New York was left with a single selection—the very last pick. The 20-year-old Adja Kane, a 6-foot-3 center who plays professionally in France, may eventually have a future in Brooklyn, but don’t expect to see her anytime soon.