NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA is set to welcome its new rookie class, headlined by Paige Bueckers when the league holds its annual draft Monday night.
The UConn star, who is fresh off leading the Huskies to their 12th national championship, is projected to go No. 1 to the Dallas Wings. Bueckers will be a big piece on and off the court for the Wings.
Seattle has the second pick and potentially could take France's Dominique Malonga. The 19-year-old helped France win the silver medal at the Paris Olympics this past summer. If she's drafted second, she'd be only the fifth foreign player to go in the first two picks in the history of the league. Margo Dydek went first in 1998 and Lauren Jackson was the No. 1 pick three years later. Liz Cambage was drafted second in 2011 and Awak Kuier went No. 2 in 2021.
The Washington Mystics will control the direction of the draft after the top two picks, having the third, fourth and sixth picks. Washington has a new coach and general manager.
“This is a year where Washington is a team that you want to be drafted by because they have so many roster spots available,” ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo said. “This is a team that if you go there, you’re going to have a chance to, one, make the roster, and two, become a part of their rotation.”
Five teams don’t have picks in the opening round as New York, Indiana, Phoenix and Atlanta all traded away their picks. Las Vegas forfeited its pick following an investigation by the league in 2023 that found the franchise violated league rules regarding impermissible player benefits and workplace policies.
Bueckers is among 16 prospects who will be at the draft. The group includes Malonga and TCU guard Hailey Van Lith. Before they head over for the WNBA’s “Orange Carpet”, the prospects will visit the Empire State Building for a lighting ceremony celebrating the league’s draft.
Here are some other tidbits for Monday night's draft:
The 6-foot-6 Malonga isn’t the only foreign player in the draft who has honed her skills in France. Juste Jocyte, Malonga’s Lyon teammate in the French basketball league, is also expected to be taken in the first round.
Jocyte is a versatile player who can play any of the guard positions and is really effective in the pick and roll. The Lithuanian, who is also 19 years old, scored 22 points against Belgium in EuroBasket qualifying a few months ago. She has a toughness about her and is fundamentally sound.
“She’s left-handed and knows how to play with or without the ball in her hands,” former Mystics coach Mike Thibault said. “Not a true point guard, but can handle the ball. She’s a smart player who knows how to use screens.”
Ajsa Sivka of Slovenia also could be a first round choice. She's a multilevel scoring forward with efficient shot-making ability. She made over 42% from the 3-point line. At 6-foot-4, she is a difficult matchup to defend.
“She has all the skills to be a good player in the WNBA,” Thibault said.
The Golden State Valkyries are entering the league as an expansion franchise and have the fifth pick in the draft. The Valkyries had their expansion player draft and will now look to potentially find a cornerstone player to go with them. Potential candidates for the Valkyries include Southern California's Kiki Iriafen and LSU's Aneesah Morrow.
“I do think a rookie could come in and contribute because this is — it’s a new team,” ESPN analyst Andraya Carter said. “It’s a new team that is developing, and I think this pick will be chosen specifically to try and fit what the Valkyries are trying to build. They’re starting their franchise, so I expect the Valkyries to be very intentional with this pick, as someone that fans will be excited about, that will fit the culture, fit the system.”
The draft will be held in New York at The Shed and will have fans in attendance for the second consecutive year. The league will hold an Orange Carpet for the arrival of the draftees.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
FILE - France's Dominique Malonga, right, shoots as Nigeria's Amy Elizabeth Balogun defends in a women's basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Aug. 1, 2024, in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, Pool File)
Glenn Hall, a Hockey Hall of Famer whose ironman streak of 502 starts as a goaltender remains an NHL record, has died. He was 94.
Nicknamed “Mr. Goalie,” Hall worked to stop pucks at a time when players at his position were bare-faced, before masks of any kind became commonplace. He did it as well as just about anyone of his generation, which stretched from the days of the Original Six into the expansion era.
A spokesperson for the Chicago Blackhawks confirmed the team received word of Hall’s death from his family. A league historian in touch with Hall’s son, Pat, said Hall died at a hospital in Stony Plain, Alberta, on Wednesday.
A pioneer of the butterfly style of goaltending of dropping to his knees, Hall backstopped Chicago to the Stanley Cup in 1961. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs in 1968 with St. Louis when the Blues reached the final before losing to Montreal. He was the second of just six Conn Smythe winners from a team that did not hoist the Cup.
His run of more than 500 games in net is one of the most untouchable records in sports, given how the position has changed in the decades since. Second in history is Alec Connell with 257 from 1924-30.
“Glenn was sturdy, dependable and a spectacular talent in net,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “That record, set from 1955-56 to 1962-63, still stands, probably always will, and is almost unfathomable — especially when you consider he did it all without a mask.”
Counting the postseason, Hall started 552 games in a row.
Hall won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1956 when playing for the Detroit Red Wings. After two seasons, he was sent to the Black Hawks along with legendary forward Ted Lindsay.
Hall earned two of his three Vezina Trophy honors as the league's top goalie with Chicago, in 1963 and '67. The Blues took him in the expansion draft when the NHL doubled from six teams to 12, and he helped them reach the final in each of their first three years of existence, while winning the Vezina again at age 37.
Hall was in net when Boston's Bobby Orr scored in overtime to win the Cup for the Bruins in 1970, a goal that's among the most famous in hockey history because of the flying through the air celebration that followed. He played one more season with St. Louis before retiring in 1971.
“His influence extended far beyond the crease," Blues chairman Tom Stillman said. “From the very beginning, he brought credibility, excellence, and heart to a new team and a new NHL market.”
A native of Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Hall was a seven-time first-team NHL All-Star who had 407 wins and 84 shutouts in 906 regular-season games. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1975, and his No. 1 was retired by Chicago in 1988.
Hall was chosen as one of the top 100 players in the league's first 100 years.
Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz called Hall an innovator and “one of the greatest and most influential goaltenders in the history of our sport and a cornerstone of our franchise.”
“We are grateful for his extraordinary contributions to hockey and to our club, and we will honor his memory today and always,” Wirtz said.
The Blackhawks paid tribute to Hall and former coach and general manager Bob Pulford with a moment of silence before Wednesday night’s game against St. Louis. Pulford died Monday.
A Hall highlight video was shown on the center-ice videoboard. The lights were turned off for the moment of silence, except for a spotlight on the No. 1 banner for Hall that hangs in the rafters at the United Center.
Fellow Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, the league's leader in wins with 691 and games played with 1,266, posted a photo of the last time he saw Hall along with a remembrance of him.
“Glenn Hall was a legend, and I was a big fan of his,” Brodeur said on social media. “He set the standard for every goaltender who followed. His toughness and consistency defined what it meant to play.”
AP Sports Writer Jay Cohen in Chicago contributed to this report.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Glenn Hall, second from left, stands with fellow former Chicago Blackhawks players Stan Mikita, former general manager Tommy Ivan, Bobby Hull, Bill Wirtz and Tony Esposito during a pre-game ceremony at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Ill., April 14, 1994. (AP Photo/Fred Jewell, File)
FILE - St. Louis Blues goalie Glenn Hall, top right, is pinned to his net waiting to make a save on a Montreal Canadians shot as Blues' Noel Picard (4) tries to block the puck while Canadiens' John Ferguson (22) and Ralph Backstorm wait for a rebound in the third period of their NHL hockey Stanley Cup game, May 5, 1968. (AP Photo/Fred Waters, File)
