The brand new WNBA season begins on Friday, Might 16, and listed below are the highest Rookie of the Yr candidates to observe all through the season.
Final season, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark received the Rookie of the Yr award after receiving 66 out of 67 first place votes from a panel of sports activities media.
Paige Bueckers
Guard Paige Bueckers has had a formidable 12 months in 2025, main the UConn Huskies to their first Nationwide Championship since 2016, the 12 months Breanna Stewart was drafted first total by the Seattle Storm.
Identified for her flashy performs as a degree guard, Bueckers brings versatility, effectivity, and a powerful team-oriented strategy to the Dallas Wings, who missed the playoffs final season.
Bueckers is predicted to be the highest contender for this 12 months’s Rookie of the Yr award, primarily based on her accolades coming in.
“I feel Paige Bueckers is the favourite for Rookie of the Yr,” ESPN lead analyst Rebecca Lobo stated Wednesday.
French Rookies Dominique Malonga, Monique Akoa Makani
A 19-year-old French phenom, Dominique Malonga, was chosen at second total on this 12 months’s draft by the Seattle Storm. She is understood for bringing versatility and excelling on the pick-and-roll and was part of the French Girls’s nationwide crew that received silver on the Paris Olympics final summer time.
Malonga will get a chance to study from frontcourt gamers resembling Nneka Ogwumike and Ezi Magbegor in Seattle.
“A lot typically might be depending on the minutes that you just’re going to get,” Lobo stated. “Dominique Malonga clearly is an unbelievable expertise out in Seattle. She’s not going to go away the crew for the European championship. She’s going to be there your complete season. What sort of minutes will she get? How prepared is she going to be straight away as a result of, after all, she has elite put up gamers forward of her with Ezi and Nneka.”
Though she is probably not the Rookie of the Yr favourite, it’s value mentioning, French guard Monique Akoa Makani has made the roster for the Phoenix Mercury. She has began within the crew’s first preseason recreation as a degree guard and head coach Nate Tibbetts has confidence in her means.
With the expansion of basketball in France, Malonga and Akoa Makani can be two of the gamers to make notable impression on their respective groups.
Sonia Citron
Guard Sonia Citron, who was chosen third total out of Notre Dame on this 12 months’s draft, can be one of many key gamers because the Washington Mystics head into rebuild mode. Particularly with guard Georgia Amoore out for the season as a result of a torn ACL harm, Citron will get her alternatives.
“Sonia Citron in Washington I feel goes to have quite a lot of alternative and definitely appears able to be an impactful professional straight away,” Lobo stated. “I feel she might have actually good numbers her rookie 12 months due to what Washington will need her to do.”
Darkish Horse Candidate: Te-hina Paopao
Through the 2025 WNBA Draft, Te-Hina Paopao was not chosen within the first spherical and was in the end picked 18th total by the Atlanta Dream within the second spherical. Since then, Paopao has demonstrated her confidence on the court docket and has expressed her love for town of Atlanta.
Veteran guard Shatori Walker Kimbrough spoke extremely of Paopao’s efficiency towards the Indiana Fever within the Dream’s ultimate recreation of the preseason on Saturday. Paopao scored 14 factors and had a discipline purpose proportion of 83.3 from the sector.
“She’s not a rookie,” Walker Kimbrough stated. “Her poise and her confidence — she doesn’t give rookie in any respect. She’s been very constant in coaching camp. So, I’m not shocked as a result of I’ve seen it each single day.”
Smesko is impressed with the defensive depth Paopao delivered to the Dream all through the offseason regardless of the loss to the Indiana Fever on Might 10.
“She actually competed on the defensive finish,” Smesko stated. “We problem her on that aspect, and he or she rose to the event. Like I stated, she’s fearless. She goes in there, she’s prepared, and he or she’s performed in massive as video games as there are within the school recreation, so this does not hassle her. She’s enthusiastic about this chance, and he or she’s profiting from it.”
