South Carolina guard Ta’Niya Latson never thought she’d be in rooms like the one she was in Saturday morning.
The projected first-round pick sat on one of the daises, with five other top WNBA draft prospects seated around the room on their own. It was the first stop on a busy day in the lead-up to Monday’s WNBA draft at The Shed at Hudson Yards.
Microphones, phones and recorders lined the table or were held up to their faces as they answered questions about their college careers, the pre-draft process, their individual games and the overall growth of the women’s game.
Latson and her high school and college teammate, Raven Johnson, who just so happened to be sitting only a few yards to her left during this media availability, had discussed their plans to one day make basketball their full-time careers. But they couldn’t have imagined coming into the WNBA at a time when it’s never been more lucrative and popular.
“It’s always been a dream of mine,” Latson said, “and especially to be here now, especially going into this WNBA season, it’s a historical moment.”
Lifelong goals are going to be achieved Monday night when players hear their names called. Unlike recent years, there isn’t a clear No. 1 overall pick. Former UConn star Azzi Fudd, 19-year-old Spanish center Awa Fam Thiam, former TCU guard Olivia Miles and reigning national champion Lauren Betts are all in the conversation.
And while the talent of this draft class is a major storyline heading into Monday, so too is the fact this is the first group of rookies who will greatly benefit from the new collective bargaining agreement.
The top six picks will make more in their first year than Paige Bueckers, last year’s No. 1 overall pick, would have made in the entire four years of her rookie contract under the previous collective bargaining agreement.
The magnitude of this moment isn’t lost on the soon-to-be draftees. Most did their best to follow along with CBA negotiations as they were happening. But learning how the details of this CBA will impact each other individually left the rookies motivated to help carry on the tradition of leaving the WNBA better than when they entered it.
On Friday, some of this year’s top draft prospects grabbed dinner with WNBA players, including Nneka Ogwumike, Alysha Clark, Monique Billings, Lexie Brown and Georgia Amoore, at a Midtown seafood and steakhouse.
The veterans talked about their own WNBA journeys, shared lessons and offered advice.
Johnson said Clark’s message about staying grounded and self-aware stuck with her.
“She said be a sponge. Don’t come in thinking you’re gonna score 30 points a game. Just be yourself and trust the process but also learn and grow from the moment,” Johnson recalled. “You got vets in front of you, All-Americans in front of you, so just be the person that they want, be the person that other people don’t do, which is probably dive on the floor, play defense.”
At some point, the conversation switched over to the CBA negotiations. They talked about the eight-day, 100-plus-hour marathon bargaining sessions in early March that resulted in the historic deal.
“It’s unreal to hear what they fought for,” Fudd said. “They really stood on business, they did not back down and so I think if anything, that shows us that we need to keep that same energy. They did that for us, and we need to continue fighting for what’s right, continue fighting for us and for the generations to come.”
“Just grateful for those who set that up and those who fought for that for so long and stayed in the right regardless of the circumstances,” Miles said. “It’s our responsibility to carry it forward.”
How this draft class will help the league capitalize off this momentum and continue to push it forward will be part of its legacy.
“I’m gonna make the most of it,” former LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson said. “I’m gonna turn up and then leave it better for the next generation of girls because that’s all we’re trying to do is make it better and better and better.”
This CBA was a monstrous step forward for the league, but the fight for more isn’t over.
“These negotiations, this talk doesn’t end here,” Fudd said.
