WNBA Reveals 15 Draft Invitees, Including Betts, Fudd and Miles

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The WNBA named 15 prospects to attend its 2026 draft in person, with UCLA center Lauren Betts, UConn guard Azzi Fudd, Spain national team center Awa Fam Thiam and TCU guard Olivia Miles headlining a list that spotlights the collegiate and international talent expected to populate the early rounds.

The draft takes place Monday, April 13, at The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York City. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert will announce picks live on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. ET, preceded by the WNBA Orange Carpet Special on ESPN2 at 5:30 p.m. ET and WNBA Countdown presented by Google on ESPN at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Betts, a 6-foot-7 center, led UCLA to the national championship and was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament. In both 2025 and 2026, she earned AP All-America First Team honors, the Lisa Leslie Award as the nation's best center, and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. This season she also claimed Big Ten Player of the Year honors while averaging 17.1 points and 8.8 rebounds. Three Bruins teammates join her on the invite list: forward Angela Dugalic, guard Gabriela Jaquez and guard Gianna Kneepkens.

Fudd, a 5-foot-11 guard, helped UConn to four Final Fours and win the 2025 national championship, earning NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors that year. An AP All-America First Team pick this season, she averaged a career-high 17.3 points per game, led the nation with 117 made threes and shot 44.7 percent from beyond the arc. ESPN's current mock draft projects Fudd as the No. 1 overall selection, with her range and UConn pedigree seen as premium assets for a league that has long rewarded former Huskies.

Miles, a 5-foot-10 guard, was a three-time AP All-America Second Team pick and finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award as the nation's best point guard in 2023, 2025 and 2026. The Big 12 Player of the Year led the nation in triple-doubles with six and ranked seventh in assists at 6.6 per game, becoming the first NCAA player to average at least 19 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 1.5 steals in a single season.

The full list of attendees also includes forward Nell Angloma of France, guard Flau'jae Johnson of LSU, guard Raven Johnson of South Carolina, guard Ta'Niya Latson of South Carolina, forward Cotie McMahon of Ole Miss and center Madina Okot of South Carolina. Okot, a 6-foot-6 center from Mumias, Kenya, was a finalist for the Lisa Leslie Award while averaging 12.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game and ranking tied for third nationally in double-doubles with 22.

The international dimension of the invite list reflects how broadly the league scouts beyond American collegiate programs. Awa Fam, who is 19 years old and averaging 9.5 points and 4.7 rebounds for Valencia in Spain, is viewed as a high-upside prospect still early in her development.

This offseason has been anything but ordinary, with the WNBA and the players' association still negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement, leaving most players not under rookie contracts as free agents, while two expansion teams have yet to assemble rosters. That context gives Monday's proceedings unusual weight: franchises in various stages of construction will be leaning on April 13 more heavily than in recent memory, and a class this deep, with credible first-round options at guard, wing and center, gives virtually every team a legitimate path to addressing its most pressing needs.