{"id":5135,"date":"2026-05-04T14:49:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T19:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/?p=5135"},"modified":"2026-05-31T16:06:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T21:06:31","slug":"2026-wnba-draft-history-made-for-ucla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/5135\/sports\/2026-wnba-draft-history-made-for-ucla\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 WNBA Draft: History Made for UCLA!"},"content":{"rendered":"

On April 13th, 2026, the WNBA had their 30th annual draft since 1997, which brought major prospects from all of the country and the world, including 6 players from UCLA, breaking a historic record of having 5 first round selections for a single school in one draft. This record was previously held by UCONN in 2002, having four players in the first round to be drafted. Starting this new season of the WNBA, many changes have commenced such as the expansion\u00a0 to Toronto, Canada, and Portland Oregon, which created 54 additional spots for players, as well as the WNBA and WNBPA reached their bargaining deal, which guarantees a higher wage for all players as well as other benefits for veteran players.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Debate speculated of who would be the overall no. 1 pick for the WNBA draft, Lauren Betts from UCLA, Awa Fam Thiam from Spain, and the most speculated Azzi Fudd from UCONN. The first pick of the WNBA draft went to the Dallas Wings, which also had the No. 1 pick last year, drafting Paige Bueckers from UCONN. The first pick of the draft usually signifies the importance of the player, or the most anticipated player coming into the league. For this year’s number pick was Azzi Fudd, from UCONN, who averaged 17 points per game, field goal percentage of 48% and a 3 point shooting percentage of 48%. Fudd will also be reuniting with her former teammate Paige Beuckers, who was also the no. 1 pick. The No. 2 pick of the draft. Olivia Miles was drafted to the Minnesota Lynx, after the Lynx made a trade deal with the Chicago Sky in April of 2024. This season, Olivia Milles from TCU, averaged over 15 points per game and had 6 notable triple doubles this season. The third overall pick, was Awa Fam Thiam, a 6\u20196 19 year old from Spain, who was drafted to the Seattle Storm, she is known for her guard skills in the paint and played against Team USA in the <\/span>FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup<\/span><\/a> this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

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For UCLA\u2019s start to the historic night, 6\u20197 Lauren Betts was drafted fourth overall to the Washington Mystics. During Betts’ career she is not only known for her defensive skills and screens, she also has been an advocate for mental health, opening up about her own experiences. For the 5th overall pick, another UCLA player was drafted, Gaberialla Jaquez, drafted to the Chicago Sky. Her highlight of the season was during the NCAA Championship, where she had 21 points and 5% from 3. # in a row! The sixth player drafted was yet another star from UCLA, Kiki Rice, drafted to one of the new expansion teams, the Toronto Tempo. This season, Rice averaged 15 points per game, most of her stats this season were career highs. The next international player to be drafted was also from Spain, Itana Martin who was drafted to the other expansion team the Portland Fire. In Spain she averaged 41% from the field goal. The 8th player drafted overall was Flauje Johnson from LSU, who won a national championship in 20203, which was LSU\u2019s first national championship for the college. Originally she was drafted to the Golden State Valkyries, but a trade was made minutes after she would be drafted to the Seattle Storm. Johnson averaged 39% from the free throw line, 14 points per game and 47% from field goal range. The next player to be drafted was again from UCLA, the 9th overall pick being Angela Dugaluc drafted to the Washington Mystics along with Lauren Betts. This season she was known for her excellent defence and her three point shots. The tenth player drafted was Raven Johnson from South Carolina drafted to the Indiana Fever, she has won 2 national championships and is known for being one of the best defensive players in the country.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is clear, that with these rookies and new expansions and new deals that the WNBA has a very bright future ahead of them.<\/span><\/p>\n



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On April 13th, 2026, the WNBA had their 30th annual draft since 1997, which brought major prospects from all of the country and the world, including 6 players from UCLA, breaking a historic record of having 5 first round selections for a single school in one draft. This record was previously held by UCONN in…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":5136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[353],"staff_name":[362],"class_list":["post-5135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-may-26","staff_name-jojo-olson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5137,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5135\/revisions\/5137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5135"},{"taxonomy":"staff_name","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/memorialswordandshield.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/staff_name?post=5135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}