Today, the column opens up with a meme…

Yes, Jack Donaghy actually says Wednesday in the original 30 Rock dialogue but the principle remains the same. There has been so much news in the past 72 hours that Tyler, myself and the rest of the No Cap Space WBB team have been in our respective bunkers churning out reaction content, working phones, preparing travel schedules and trying to get ahead on features.

After months and months of uncertainty that loomed like a shadow over every women’s basketball fan, it feels like someone (the WNBA and WNBPA, in this case) turned off the lights and the party immediately started.

It’s WNBA Draft Night this evening and Rashard Hall unveiled his final mock draft of the cycle here on nocapspacewbb.com. If you’re subscribed to the newsletter, you’d have gotten it last night and a separate video where Tyler and I break down Rashard’s potential selections.

You can find the mock draft here….

And the video here…

Now, onto the column!

So who goes first overall?

I have a feeling that UConn’s Azzi Fudd will be heading to Dallas if for no other reason than feeling like Wings General Manager Curt Miller tipped his hand in free agency. Could you load up your frontcourt further with Lauren Betts and get her in a rotation with Alanna Smith, Jess Shephard, Li Yueru and Awak Kuier? Sure. On some level, it might be worth doing that when A’ja Wilson just proved last season that you need an army to stop her.

But it sure feels like they left some backcourt availability open specifically for Fudd. New Wings head coach Jose Fernandez likes playing with three guard lineups and found amazing success at South Florida doing it. In a perfect world, I could absolutely see a starting lineup that consists of Paige Bueckers - Arike Ogunbowale - Azzi Fudd - Alanna Smith and Li Yueru with Shephard and Awak coming off the bench. That seems like a pretty fun team, no?

It really hasn’t been since the 2019 draft that there’s been so much intrigue around the top selection. In that class you had Arike, Napheesa Collier, Jackie Young (who went number one overall that season), Teaira McCowan and AD Durr. Since then, most of the top overall picks have more or less been locks from the jump: Sabrina Ionescu in 2020, Rhyne Howard in 2022, Aliyah Boston in 2023, Caitlin Clarkin 2024 and Bueckers in 2025.

After that top pick it becomes extremely interesting. Does Minnesota choose to stay competitive and bring on a high floor/high ceiling defensive stopper like Lauren Betts? Do they tab Olivia Miles to help shore up the backcourt? Does Cheryl Reeve decide that two Napheesa Collier’s is better than one and go with Awa Fam? And how do these selections change things for Seattle, Washington and Chicago in the subsequent three selections?

In the past few years, we’ve mostly been tuning in to the draft to see the big moment of the superstar finally get their chance to walk across a stage and for fans of that team to believe their days of mediocrity are finally at an end. But for the first time with this new wave of enthusiasm in women’s basketball, we finally get to watch the draft for the unpredictability of it. Which makes it a perfect draft to tap in to our live show on YouTube later this evening!

My general rule of thumb as a reporter is this: it isn’t personal. The same way PR flacks, communications professionals, coaches, players and agents have no problem using us for their own ends, I have no real qualms about using my pen to try and explain the world as I see it. Sometimes people will disagree with what we in the press write, how we perceive certain things or why we analyze what we do.

But the important thing that keeps the symbiotic nature of teams/media afloat is the idea that we call it straight. Not the completely innate and ridiculous “Balls-And-Strikes” philosophy that takes away reporters agency and turns them into stenographers, but true “call it like we see it”.

Those that are longtime subscribers know that I’ve written critically about the Chicago Sky plenty of times before, from columns to full-on sourced reporting. I don’t think any of the writing at the time was wrong or inaccurate. Decades have data has shown us that this franchise has a reputation for cutting corners, not keeping superstars and generally being about the comfort of its owner than about winning championships. General Manager Jeff Pagliocca found himself in those crosshairs the last two seasons, as his moves felt incongruent with the roster he had at his disposal.

I’ve long said that a guy like him, who truly got his position out of the mud and earned his station, is likely the kind of person who looks in the mirror and believes in the validity of his worldview by virtue of his success in life. It doesn’t make him arrogant or blinded by hubris. It just makes him a confident competitor in a high stakes environment, not unlike many of us in our own professional lives.

So color me impressed that not only did he manage to do right by Angel Reese and her team on the way out, prioritizing Atlanta’s trade offer while sidestepping better ones from franchises like Dallas, but that he completely remade the Sky roster in a span of four days to turn them into a playoff-caliber unit.

I don’t necessarily subscribe to the idea that “Chicago made all of these moves now that Angel is gone because it reflects poorly on Angel”. If that were the case, there wouldn’t be the robust trade market for her that existed. The Sky’s ability to also sign stars like Skylar Diggins and bring back former talent like Azura Stevens, to me, also has to do with a couple of key components, chief among them that the practice facility in Bedford Park is nearing completion. But additionally, the new salary cap also opens up a lot of possibilities.

Ask yourself this: Would you have been willing to take maybe 40 or 60 thousand dollars more for a company you knew was toxic and might not last more than two years?

Probably not, right?

Would you still say no if they offered 400 to 600 thousand more than what you were making a year ago?

Suddenly it becomes a totally different risk calculus.

Time will tell if Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter and his Vizier-like Operating Chairman Nadia Rawlinson actually learned something from the Reese debacle and are ready to get out of their own way. But at the very least, Pagliocca has made some expert moves to trade for Rickea Jackson, devalue the pick swaps that left the franchise in prior deals, and build a playoff roster.

If it doesn’t work, he may be gone. But the guy put his cards on the table, if nothing else. I gotta respect a paisan who is willing to bet on himself. Godspeed.

I mentioned in The Ringer WNBA Show with Seerat Sohi last week that we’d find out in pretty short order what the differences of opinion were in the Washington Mystics front office and what factions those opinions belonged to. It seems that many initially believed that General Manager Jamila Wideman was the brains behind a longer rebuild in the nation’s capital and that the Wizards contingent, helmed by team President Michael Winger, were the ones pushing to speed up a timeline yet again.

But it appears now, given Washington’s moves of the last handful of days, that Wideman may have been the one wanting to accelerate the rebuild, among other things that have come across our NCS desk that explain why she was let go.

The Mystics so far haven’t traded out of any of their first round draft picks, traded with Chicago to get two more, saw Stef Dolson go to Seattle and don’t look like they’re planning on matching Shakira Austin’s offer sheet from Toronto. With Kiki Iriafen, Sonia Citron and Georgia Amoore (back from injury this year) leading the way and more picks on the horizon, it appears that Michael Winger wants to put this franchise together the same way that his mentor, Sam Presti, did in Oklahoma City with the Thunder.

How quickly they’re able to build that core is dependent on what they do with this fourth overall draft pick on Monday night, and who might be available for selection at that point. But we’ve certainly learned that the commitment with the Mystics is to make something with a little bit of staying power.

Megan Hustwaite wrote a great story in ESPN this weekend (link is below in our new-daily ‘Good Reads and Watches’ section) about how the first million dollar women’s basketball players isn’t just a landmark phenomenon for American basketball players. For decades, starting with LSU’s Julie Gross and Maree Jackson in the late 1970’s, Australian women have been substantial contributors to the growth of the sport here in the states.

The years of tireless work put in by players like them, Lauren Jackson, Sami Whitcomb and others has built a proud culture of women’s hoops that persists even to this day. This new WNBA CBA isn’t just a nationally significant moment, it’s a pretty big one globally as well.

Over in the men’s college game, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood discussed this new wave of international basketball development during March Madness. His team, mind you, looks like a vignette of the United Nations General Assembly and credited the rise of NIL and revenue sharing as a means to give those talented young players a chance to come to the states and make more money playing basketball. While the cash being thrown around in the men’s game dwarfs the women’s, the new CBA (and the rumors of NCAA transfer portal spending) is proving that there is a legitimate career to be made by playing hoops.

Already the WNBA is seeing the fruits of that development. All of a sudden, many international players that have occupied ghost spots on rosters are activated and coming to play this summer. At the college level, international players are highly sought after and are helping seed dominant programs and change the calculus for coaches in recruiting. There is a real revolution happening, particularly in the women’s game, and we’re still in the earliest stages of that growth. What does all this look like in 5-10 years?

Hundreds upon hundreds of NCAA women’s basketball players entered the transfer portal this last month and we are just starting to see commitments come in. Most coaches would tell you that they wait until the portal opens to start their recruiting and visits. Others…well, they do it a different way.

Ultimately, tampering is sort of baked into the calculus of college sports until we get some real-deal sanction level guardrails in place to combat against it. And seeing as how the NCAA is about as effective as our current United States congress at checking runaway corruption, I don’t live under the illusion that help is on the way.

Does it suck that coaches seem to be poisoning the wells of their opponents throughout the season now? Yes. And I can understand coaches that get wind of it in the middle of the year and are less than enthused when they see their opp in the handshake line. I’m just not sure what the solution is, unfortunately. More than tampering, the guiding light for a lot of these players seems to be what the market dictates they might be worth financially. Bench players are asking for six figure sums and some coaches are willing to shell out the money for it.

All it takes is one spoke in the wheel to break to stop the entire vehicle, but this is still competitive sports at the end of the day. No coach is going to not pay a player if they truly believe it can help them stay gainfully employed. So until there is some kind of regulation we’re going to be stuck in the same situation every April until something changes.

Unregulated capitalism is grand, huh?

My favorite under the radar draft selections are…

Taina Mair (Duke) - Everyone says point guards are disappearing. Well here’s one of the best in the country, at your service…

Latasha Lattimore (Ole Miss) - Cotie McMahon is getting all the play here but Lattimore is a long and steady defender who can make a career in the W.

Angela Dugalic (UCLA) - A player in the spotlight now on the back of UCLA’s title run. But if she develops that three point shooting a bit more she could be a Leonie Fiebich type.

Bill Simmons is wrong on WNBA expansion…

The Podfather called the newest wave of WNBA expansion stupid over the weekend, pulling on past W experiences as evidence for why rapidly adding teams can set you up for failure. I hear Simmons, I really do. But the circumstances just aren’t remotely close to being the same. For starters, the talent floor is rapidly catching up to expansion. You can add 40 or so more players to the women’s game and it really isn’t going to dilute the on-court product in a substantial way. Additionally, Major League Soccer showed that quick-rising expansion fees can actually be a boon to help augment your rapid-scale phase before TV money is able to sustain you. And finally, in a world in which large-scale investment properties are looking for high-growth industries without a ton of downside risk (*cough* AI), sport properties are now one of the best bets you can make if you’re able to get in. So while Bill is right to be a bit nervous, I think (with all due respect to the God himself), he’s an analog girl living in a digital world on this one.

The UPSHOT League announces its first team…

From the WPBA, which held their first ever draft combine in Phoenix during Final Four weekend, to EXALT and now UPSHOT, there is a real groundswell of lower-level investment into a potential developmental pro league for women’s basketball. Everyone has correctly identified that a G-League or USL Championship equivalent would be a boon for the game, and we’re starting to see the market decide who wins. Former WNBA Commissioner Donna Orender is one of the brains behind UPSHOT, who just announced their first franchise in Nashville, set to begin play in 2031. Keep an eye on the space because as the NBA continues to prioritize their owners in W expansion, these leagues will step in as places with lower cap-tables, barriers of entry and an openness to take on all the big cities without NBA markets.

Tyler has been a man on a mission this week on YouTube. From Jada Williams and Aaliyah Crump revealing their transfer destinations…

A special for the Ball-Knowers here. I talked with Secretariat Managing Director and former NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio to do a postmortem on WNBA CBA negotiations and where private equity fits into the long term sports ownership equation…

If you want to upgrade to the Ball-Knowers tier for access to this and other exclusive content, click below!

Chauny throws down the Hater gauntlet as the New York Liberty sign Satou Sabally. Fear not, NY fans. I, and the calvary, are arriving to do some good old school First Take style combat here soon!

And I take you behind the scenes of how Angel Reese got to Atlanta and what it says about how the relationship between the Dream star and the Chicago Sky ended…

You can subscribe to our channel on YouTube below. Help us reach our goal of 10,000 subscribers! (Currently at 7,530 and counting!)

Quita Loves Sports is one of my favorite YouTube creators/WBB media members and, as a Chicago Sky fan herself, she has some great thoughts on Jeff Pagliocca’s offseason…

Megan Hustwaite wrote this awesome piece for ESPN that inspired point number two in the column this morning…

This is an older piece from Natalie Heavren but I became aware of it after seeing it place in the USBWA Best Writing Contest. It’s a great piece of history that’s worth your time…

Whoever it was at the Portland Fire that found my tweet last night, thank you. I fully expect PDX Pancake content all year long.

And a shoutout to everyone from Annie to Alexa Phillipou, Khristina Williams to Roberta Rodrigues, Talia Goodman, Mitch Northam and every other reporter that has tirelessly been breaking news all week.