Last year, all college players needed to declare for the 2021 WNBA Draft since all of them had the ability to play one more season in college. While there are still players with the option for a fifth season of eligibility, there will be the need to confirm that players are entering the draft after their fourth or earlier season of eligibility. The league did release a list of players who had contacted them prior to the applicable deadlines, but the league has included players who have exhausted their eligibility on their published list, muddying the waters on which players actually declared for the draft in accordance with the league’s instructions. Last season, 53 players ended up being on the final list and at first glance, this year’s list of 108 names seems larger, but it includes a number of players who did not need to publicly declare. Our look at the college careers of these players suggests that only 32 of the listed players needed to declare and that should have been the length of the list. Given the possibility of players completely incorrectly being put on the list, the league should really expend more effort on confirming that players should be on the list each year before releasing it. Our breakdown of the players based on information available from their college careers is below.
Players who needed to declare:
The 32 players below definitely had the ability to play at least another season in college and would not have been able to be picked in the draft or play this season without going through this declaration process.
Joanne Allen-Taylor | Texas |
Shakira Austin | Ole Miss |
Ty Battle | Delaware |
Kierstan Bell | Florida Gulf Coast |
Rae Burrell | Tennessee |
Veronica Burton | Northwestern |
Nia Clouden | Michigan State |
Jennifer Coleman | Navy |
Elissa Cunane | NC State |
Jasmine Dickey | Delaware |
Queen Egbo | Baylor |
Jayden Eggleston | CSU Bakersfield |
Emily Engstler | Louisville |
Miela Goodchild | Duke |
Aleksa Gulbe | Indiana |
Lexi Held | DePaul |
Destanni Henderson | South Carolina |
Naz Hillmon | Michigan |
Chantel Horvat | UCLA |
Rhyne Howard | Kentucky |
Lexie Hull | Stanford |
Rosy Johnson | Ohio |
Lotta-Maj Lahtinen | Georgia Tech |
Christina Morra | Wake Forest |
Olivia Nelson-Ododa | Connecticut |
Nyara Sabally | Oregon |
Akila Smith | Longwood |
Kianna Smith | Louisville |
NaLyssa Smith | Baylor |
Amandine Toi | Virginia |
Evina Westbrook | Connecticut |
Christyn Williams | Connecticut |
Players who appear to have already gone through a draft:
A pair of players on the list did not need to declare because both had theoretically already been through a draft and were already free agents in WNBA terms. Arbrie Benson finished her college career at Ball State in 2020 after starting it at Northwest Missouri State in 2015 and was a part of the draft class that year. Bethy Mununga is in a slightly different position. She started her college career in 2017 at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, but she was not born in or a resident of the United States so she was eligible to be picked as an international in the 2017 WNBA Draft since that was the year in which she turned 20. Given that situation, she would have been a WNBA free agent throughout the course of her college career and would have been able to sign at any time, including after the conclusion of her eligibility this season instead of needing to go through the draft process. This site’s league sources have been asked for a long time for confirmation or clarification of her current status given that Mununga is listed on various mock drafts. There is another player who has been in this situation as Tiana Mangakahia was listed on the league’s draft entry list last year despite having a similar college trajectory that would have made her an undrafted free agent after the 2015 WNBA Draft. There are other potential WNBA caliber players who might want clarification of their status ahead of future seasons.
Bethy Mununga | South Florida |
Arbrie Benson | Ball State |
Players who did not need to declare:
The following 74 players appear to have exhausted all remaining college eligibility at the end of this season, making them automatically available for selection in this draft regardless of whether they submitted their names for consideration.
Faustine Aifuwa | LSU |
Amy Atwell | Hawaii |
Katie Benzan | Maryland |
Michelle Berry | TCU |
Chloe Bibby | Maryland |
Jazz Bond | North Florida |
Araion Bradshaw | Dayton |
Osh Brown | Rutgers |
Brice Calip | Missouri State |
Nicole Cardaño-Hillary | Indiana |
Jailin Cherry | LSU |
Natalie Chou | UCLA |
Deja Church | DePaul |
Lorela Cubaj | Georgia Tech |
Alana Davis | Memphis |
Mia Davis | Temple |
Jordyn Dawson | Akron |
Shug Dickson | Rutgers |
Maya Dodson | Notre Dame |
Alexus Dye | Tennessee |
Amaya Finklea | Duke |
N’Dea Flye | Rocky Mountain |
Krystal Freeman | Tulane |
Jenna Giacone | Dayton |
Lexi Gordon | Duke |
Vivian Gray | Texas Tech |
Chelsie Hall | Louisville |
Sara Hamson | BYU |
Paisley Harding | BYU |
Lauren Heard | TCU |
Mya Hollingshed | Colorado |
CeCe Hooks | Ohio |
Qadashah Hoppie | Texas A&M |
Gadiva Hubbard | Minnesota |
Aahliyah Jackson | TCU |
Kayla Jones | NC State |
Masseny Kaba | UCF |
Chloe Lamb | South Dakota |
Jordan Lewis | Baylor |
Kiara Lewis | Clemson |
Kelsey Marshall | Miami |
LaShonda Monk | Ole Miss |
Que Morrison | Georgia |
Nancy Mulkey | Washington |
Ali Patberg | Indiana |
Jaelynn Penn | UCLA |
Raina Perez | NC State |
Destiny Pitts | Texas A&M |
Khayla Pointer | LSU |
Amber Ramirez | Arkansas |
Taya Robinson | VCU |
Dor Saar | Middle Tennessee |
Tay Sanders | UCF |
Chanin Scott | North Carolina A&T |
Aisha Sheppard | Virginia Tech |
Hannah Sjerven | South Dakota |
Alisia Smith | Michigan State |
Tra’Dayja Smith | Longwood |
Jenna Staiti | Georgia |
Iimar’i Thomas | UCLA |
Sam Thomas | Arizona |
Taylah Thomas | Texas Tech |
Lianna Tillman | Sacramento State |
Moon Ursin | Tulane |
Lauren Van Kleunen | Marquette |
Cierra Walker | Gonzaga |
Kayla Wells | Texas A&M |
Erin Whalen | Dayton |
Sydne Wiggins | SMU |
Jade Williams | Duke |
Macee Williams | IUPUI |
Ameshya Williams-Holiday | Jackson State |
Anna Wilson | Stanford |
Deja Winters | Minnesota |