Sky<\/a> are picking at No. 5!<\/p>\nNot to worry, though, Sky fans. With the splashy moves they\u2019ve already made in free agency (hello, Skylar Diggins; hi, Rickea Jackson; welcome, Azura Stevens), there\u2019s less pressure riding on this pick. The Sky don\u2019t need a franchise-changer (though landing one would be nice!). This draft is about adding a piece to what\u2019s already shaping up to be a playoff-caliber roster.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the Sun-Times\u2019 take on how it could play out.<\/p>\n
If the front office wants to shoot for the moon\u2026<\/p>\n
Then Flau\u2019jae Johnson (LSU) is the move. Johnson is a great athlete with the potential to become a true three-level scorer. Her breakout performance helped LSU to a national championship as a sophomore, and she averaged 18.6 points per game as a junior on 38.3% three-point shooting. Pairing Johnson with the talent and veteran experience the Sky have already assembled is enticing.<\/p>\n
The one cautionary note: Johnson\u2019s growth flattened in her senior season, with some inconsistency in big games. The Sun-Times asked analysts Rebecca Lobo and Ryan Ruocco about it, and neither was concerned. Ruocco thinks pro competition will elevate Johnson\u2019s game; Lobo said the dip in scoring average simply reflected her playing a role on a stacked LSU team.<\/p>\n
If they want to take another swing at a point guard of the future\u2026<\/p>\n
Then it\u2019s Kiki Rice (UCLA). She\u2019s smart, explosive and makes the right plays on both sides of the ball. She has some developing to do \u2014 adding a floater and a more consistent mid-range, for starters \u2014 but who better to mentor her than Skylar Diggins and Courtney Vandersloot?<\/p>\n
The Sky have struggled to nail the position the past three years, cycling through Courtney Williams, Dana Evans and Lindsay Allen. Even Rachel Banham had to play the point last season.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve since signed Diggins to a two-year deal and traded a 2028 first-round pick for 25-year-old point guard Jacy Sheldon. Does that push Rice out of the picture, or could Sheldon play the two?<\/p>\n
If they get lucky\u2026<\/p>\n
As is often the case in the WNBA draft, the juiciest talent sits in the top four picks. Fam, Fudd, Miles and Betts are all expected to be gone before the Sky\u2019s name is called, but what if one slips?<\/p>\n
The Wings, Lynx, Storm or Mystics might surprise us, and suddenly a top prospect lands in the Sky\u2019s lap. Imagine Fudd added to a lineup with Diggins, Jackson, Stevens and Kamilla Cardoso.<\/p>\n
Probably not going to happen! But if the last few days have taught us anything, it\u2019s that holding onto a little hope pays off once in a while.<\/p>\n
If they get trigger happy\u2026<\/p>\n
This analysis assumes the Sky hold onto their pick, but general manager Jeff Pagliocca loves a pre-draft move. In 2024, he traded with the Lynx to move up one spot and draft Angel Reese. In 2025, he traded with the Lynx again to add a late first-rounder, which became Hailey Van Lith.<\/p>\n
The Sun-Times isn\u2019t expecting it this time around, but with Pagliocca, you have to keep your eyes peeled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forget Paige Bueckers. Forget Caitlin Clark. This year\u2019s WNBA draft arrives without a generational headliner to set the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[7,217,231,772,1544],"class_list":{"0":"post-709740","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-basketball","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-basketball","12":"tag-ncaab"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116398392851295658","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}