Re-Drafting the 2024 WNBA Class Featuring Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese

The 2024 WNBA Draft was the most anticipated class in league history and helped change women's basketball forever. 

Iowa's Caitlin Clark entered the draft as the greatest point guard prospect the league had seen, while Stanford's Cameron Brink was viewed as a future Defensive Player of the Year.

Beyond the consensus top two, the class featured household names from college basketball's biggest programs and one of the strongest international groups of all time.

Two years later, it's time to look back. If every team knew exactly how each player's career would unfold through the first two-plus seasons, who would they select today?

Current production is only part of the evaluation. Age, health, long-term upside and future projection all matter, too. Additionally, every evaluator values traits differently. For us, we place a premium on the intersection of athleticism, processing speed and skill level. Scalability also matters.

With the benefit of hindsight, let's get into the re-draft.

1. Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark

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Original Pick: Caitlin Clark

Clark's Original Draft Position: No. 1

Clark entered the draft as the obvious choice for Indiana, and a few years later, that hasn't changed. She's one of the greatest passers the league has ever seen, combined with shooting gravity that creates advantages on nearly every possession, whether her pull-up jumper is falling or not.

Clark has already recorded 20 points and 10 assists in 14 career games—the most by any player in WNBA history. To put that in perspective, she's reached that mark in 20.6 percent of her games. No other player has done it in more than 2.8 percent of theirs.

However, despite entering the league as arguably the greatest shooting prospect in basketball history, that part of Clark's game hasn't fully translated—at least not yet. It's the biggest thing keeping her from reaching the MVP-caliber level almost everyone projected before the draft.

As a senior at Iowa, Clark shot 37.0 percent on pull-up 3s and 41.8 percent on 3s out of ball screens. In the WNBA, those numbers have dipped to 29.2 percent and 31.9 percent, respectively. 

At some point, if those numbers don't improve, defenses may adjust how they defend her off the dribble. For now, though, her gravity remains an incredibly important weapon, and it's hard to imagine she won't go down as an all-time great, regardless of whether her shooting ever fully lives up to the hype.

2. Los Angeles Sparks, Angel Reese

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Original Pick: Cameron Brink

Reese's Original Draft Position: No. 7

Reese is one of the biggest draft steals in recent memory after Chicago selected her where they did in 2024. In this re-draft, she moves up to No. 2.

She's also one of the most unconventional stars in WNBA history. Reese is a career 16.4 percent 3-point shooter and a below-average finisher with an unorthodox style, but it somehow just doesn't matter.

She's arguably the greatest rebounder in league history and one of the WNBA's best defenders. This season, Atlanta owns a 38.8 percent offensive rebound rate with Reese on the floor. If she could play every minute, that would be the highest mark in league history. 

Defensively, Reese is tough, physical and mobile enough to toggle between multiple responsibilities, and she's anchoring a top-two defense as the starting center with Bri Jones sidelined. She's on track to make an All-Star team in each of her first three seasons.

3. Chicago Sky, Leïla Lacan

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Original Pick: Kamilla Cardoso

Lacan's Original Draft Position: No. 10

It's been a rocky start to Lacan's second WNBA season in Connecticut. She's shooting just 38.6 percent from the field while averaging the second-most fouls per game (4.0) in the league. But make no mistake: she had no business falling to No. 10 in this draft and still projects as a future two-way star.

Last season, at just 20 years old, Lacan transformed the Sun from one of the worst teams in league history into a respectable group after arriving in June. Her steal rate (4.3%) was the highest by any rookie since 2020, while her two-point shooting (58.9%) was the best by a rookie in WNBA history.

Lacan is an explosive athlete with an advanced feel for the game out of ball screens. She changes speeds well, gets downhill with ease and can either finish at the rim or pry open passing windows for teammates. Defensively, Lacan's already an elite point-of-attack defender with exceptional lateral quickness, hand-eye coordination and recovery speed. 

The biggest issue has been adjusting to the WNBA's emphasis on freedom of movement, leading to even more foul trouble than 2025. Once she figures out how to defend without fouling, she's a perennial All-Defensive Team candidate.

The swing skill is her jumper. Lacan shot just 22.4 percent from three as a rookie and has improved only slightly to 24.2 percent this season. If the shot never develops, she's probably a 5'10" version of Jordin Canada—who is still probably an All-Star-caliber player, by the way. But if she can become a good shooter, that's when her All-WNBA ceiling comes into play.

4. Los Angeles Sparks, Carla Leite

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Original Pick: Rickea Jackson

Leite's Original Draft Position: No. 9

Leite was left unprotected by Dallas and Golden State in the expansion draft in each of the last two years. Now, she's averaging 14.1 points and 5.6 assists as the offensive engine behind a Portland team that sits at 8-9 after being projected to finish last.

Leite is currently generating more points per game out of pick-and-roll than any player in WNBA history (19.5). Her angles out of ball screens are superb and burst puts constant pressure on the rim, forcing defenses into rotation and creating easy looks for everyone else. 

She's also started knocking down 3s at a more consistent rate, even if the volume is still fairly low. Leite has nearly hit as many catch-and-shoot jumpers in 15 games (7) as she did all of last season (9).

What gives Leite the edge over Brink is both her availability and the level of impact she's already providing at such a young age. Leite turned 22 in April, while Brink played most of her senior season at Stanford as a 22-year-old.

5. Dallas Wings, Cameron Brink

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Original Pick: Jacy Sheldon

Brink's Original Draft Position: No. 2

When Brink is healthy and out of foul trouble, she looks like one of the best defenders on the planet and a skilled offensive big who is a nightmare for most centers. The problem is that neither has consistently been the case. She's missed significant time with injuries and continues to foul at an astonishing rate.

Brink was the consensus No. 2 prospect in the 2024 draft, and now there's a legitimate argument she shouldn't even be this high in a re-draft. But these players aren't finished products, and projection still matters. Brink's combination of ground coverage and rim protection is special, and she's already shown meaningful improvements as both a finisher and a spot-up shooter this season.

At the very least, if Brink can simply stay on the floor, she projects to provide 2025 Alanna Smith-level defensive impact (or better) while offering considerably more offensive upside.

6. Washington Mystics, Rickea Jackson

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Original Pick: Aaliyah Edwards

Jackson's Original Draft Position: No. 4

Jackson was playing the best basketball of her WNBA career before suffering a torn ACL just four games into the 2026 season. She was averaging 18.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in Chicago.

She had taken a noticeable step defensively, paired with some mid-range creation, downhill driving and cutting.

There's little doubt Jackson will be a productive player for a long time. What keeps Lacan, Brink and Leite ahead of her, however, are questions about how Jackson's game scales on a championship contender. 

She lives off a tough shot diet, isn't a great shooter and still has lapses as an off-ball defender. It's difficult to envision her as the second- or third-best player on a contender, even though she likely needs that level of usage to be most impactful.

7. Chicago Sky, Sydney Taylor

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Original Pick: Angel Reese

Taylor's Original Draft Position: Undrafted

Taylor has been one of the best stories of the 2026 WNBA season. After going undrafted in 2024, she spent two seasons dominating overseas before Chicago signed her to a training camp contract this spring. With Jackson out for the season, she's quickly become the Sky's best creator.

Over her last two games against Indiana and Connecticut, Taylor combined for 54 points—the most by an undrafted player over a two-game stretch since Becky Hammon in 2011, according to Across The Timeline.

You might wonder how a player this good went undrafted (and unsigned) for so long. Some have suggested it was a massive scouting failure, but the evaluation wasn't unreasonable.

As a senior at Louisville, Taylor posted just a 46.0 percent true shooting percentage against Top-50 competition. I still would've taken her in the third round, but she wasn't some sure-fire WNBA prospect at the time.

The player Taylor is today is a product of the improvements she made overseas. She's now a dynamic downhill scorer with explosive burst and uses bumps well to create separation at the rim. When she gets hot, she can also drill tough shots from three.

All in all, it's still important to consider the sample size here. Taylor played more than 20 minutes in just five games, and she's long been a streaky scorer. Though, if this level of production continues, there's an argument she belongs even higher on this board.

8. Minnesota Lynx, Aaliyah Edwards

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Original Pick: Alissa Pili

Edwards' Original Draft Position: No. 7

Edwards isn't a bad player, but it's hard to see her reaching the All-Star ceiling many envisioned when she entered the league. Through her first 80 career games, she's averaged 6.9 points and 4.5 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game.

Edwards is a reliable finisher around the rim and she holds her own defensively thanks to her mobility at 6'3". The problem is that, once you go through her scouting report, there's a lot of "good," a lot of "okay," and very little that's truly elite. 

Edwards hasn't developed a reliable jumper from either the mid-range or beyond the arc, and she's not quite big enough to play the five. Still, there's enough here to slot her somewhere in the 7-to-10 range in this re-draft.

9. Dallas Wings, Emma Čechová

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Original Pick: Carla Leite

Čechová's Original Draft Position: Undrafted

Most WNBA fans probably aren't familiar with Čechová, a 21-year-old, 6'4" center with incredible movement skills. She wasn't on any draft radars in 2024, but playing for EuroLeague powerhouse USK Praha got more WNBA eyes on her this year. 

Čechová signed with Minnesota this year, looked very impressive in preseason and in her first three regular season games before she tore her ACL on May 14. She scored 12 points on opening night against Atlanta, followed by 11 points against Phoenix a few days later.

6'4" players aren't supposed to move like Čechová's does. Assuming the knee injury doesn't diminish her athleticism, she might be a long-term piece for the Lynx. She has elite rim-running ability, can play out of pick-and-roll and has the lateral athleticism and hip flexibility to defend in multiple coverages. That's exactly the type of center you'd want next to Olivia Miles in Cheryl Reeve's system.

If it wasn't for her playing just three games and the injury, Čechová's likely ranked even higher.

10. Connecticut Sun, Kamilla Cardoso

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Original Pick: Leïla Lacan

Cardoso's Original Draft Position: No. 3

Cardoso is the toughest player to rank in this re-draft. On the surface, her production has been solid (11.9 points, 8.3 rebounds), which is why she still lands at No. 10. But just how valuable is a 6'7" center who is a bad defender and doesn't take shots outside of three feet?

The margin for error with players of Cardoso's archetype is incredibly small. When you build around a traditional center, your offensive and defensive schemes naturally revolve around them. If that player isn't providing star-level impact, how good can you really be making them the focal point of your system?

Coming out of South Carolina, there was much more optimism about Cardoso's viability on defense. In the WNBA, she plays too upright, frequently loses positioning in drop coverage and doesn't have the recovery speed or consistent motor to overcome those issues.

Cardoso is an outstanding passer for a center, but her offensive profile still has major limitations. It's one thing to be a non-shooter, but you can't also be an inefficient finisher. This season, she's shooting just 52.1 percent on half-court rim attempts.

11. New York Liberty, Jacy Sheldon

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Original Pick: Marquesha Davis

Sheldon's Original Draft Position: No. 5

Sheldon is a perfectly fine backup guard, averaging 6.4 points on respectable efficiency to begin her WNBA career. But she's now played for four teams in three years and her strength and aggressiveness limitations make it unlikely for her to live up to where she was drafted.

Sheldon is a good example of how not every college skill set translates to the WNBA. At Ohio State, she relentlessly attacked the rim, taking 37.4 percent of her shots there while posting a 29.0 percent free-throw rate. This season in Chicago, those numbers are at 28.5 percent and 18.4 percent, respectively.

Sheldon moves well without the ball, shoots catch-and-shoot jumpers at a solid clip and consistently competes defensively. The problem is that her lack of strength shows up on both ends of the floor. Offensively, she struggles to play through contact and will turn down shots consistently (see: her career 13.4% usage). Defensively, she tries, but even routine screens on the ball often take her out of the play.

12. Atlanta Dream, Isobel Borlase

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Original Pick: Nyadiew Puoch

Borlase's Original Draft Position: No. 20

Atlanta selected both Australian prospects, Borlase and Puoch, in the 2024 draft, and either would be a reasonable choice here. We're giving Borlase the slight edge because the Dream prioritized her over Puoch in this year's expansion draft.

Borlase isn't an exceptional athlete, but she's strong, highly skilled and simply knows how to play. Over her last five games, she's averaged 7.8 points while shooting 61.9 percent from the field off the bench.

The biggest questions with Borlase center around her defense and shooting. She's a solid team defender, but her lack of foot speed makes it difficult to stay in front of plus-athletes. As a shooter, the early signs have been encouraging (6-15 from three), but it's still a small sample compared to her 26.4 percent mark over the last two WNBL seasons.