The 2023 WNBA draft is in the books, as the league welcomed its new talent on Monday night in New York City.
So which newly drafted players have a chance to be strong options in fantasy women's basketball this season?
Here's are the five rookies to keep a close eye on this season.
Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever
Boston is one of the best prospects to enter the WNBA this generation and was the de facto top pick in waiting all season. She will be the franchise player for the Fever, with last year's number two overall pick NaLyssa Smith joining her to form an intimidating front line. Standing 6-foot-5, Boston is dominant on the interior. She is a two-time NCAA Defensive Player of the Year and should be a nightly threat to grab double-digit boards with 3-plus combined blocks and steals.
On offense, Boston may be a better scorer at the WNBA level from both a volume and an efficiency perspective because defenses won't be allowed to zone and stack the paint against her the way they did in college. She was a mid-teens scorer on strong shooting percentages in college and has the upside to eventually exceed that at the pro level. She also dished a couple of assists and knocked down a few 3-pointers in college. While the latter isn't expected to be a big part of her game in the pros, it indicates Boston has comfortability handling the ball both inside and on the perimeter, which further speaks to her increased offensive potential for the Fever.
Diamond Miller, Minnesota Lynx
The Lynx step into their future with Miller as their new star-in-waiting next to incumbent franchise players Napheesa Collier. Miller has guard skills with the size and length of a frontcourt player. She developed into a high-volume scorer and do-everything player as a senior at Maryland, averaging around 20 PPG, 6 RPG and 3 APG. Miller's length and athletic ability allow her to be a strong finisher in the paint, which should be a benefit at the pro level where zone defenses and packing the paint isn't allowed.
She needs to work on her 3-point shot, but she did average 1.2 3PG on 33.9 3FG% her sophomore and junior years before stepping back as a senior, so she does have some upside as a shooter. For fantasy purposes, some of her best upside may come as a defender, where she averaged 2.1 SPG and 1.3 BPG as a senior and has the upside to average two combined "stocks" (steals + blocks) as a rookie.
Maddy Siegrist, Dallas Wings
Siegrist is a bonafide bucket-getter that increased her scoring average every season at Villanova, up to a nation-leading 29.2 PPG as a senior. The Wings lost their two best perimeter scorers this offseason, and Siegrist and fifth overall pick Lou Lopez Seneschal will both be tabbed to come in and fill that gap. Siegrist is 6-foot-2 with an inside/outside scoring game that gives her the versatility to take smaller wings to the block with the shooting ability to punish bigs that try to come out and defend her. She knocked down more than 36 percent of her 3-point shots last season, and for her college career made almost two treys per game.
Her best secondary categories for fantasy purposes came on defense, where she averaged more than nine boards, a steal and a block in each of her last three seasons at Villanova. Those numbers may not fully translate to the WNBA, where the level of athleticism is so much higher, but with playing time she should contribute enough in those areas to supplement her strong scoring.
Lou Lopez Senechal, Dallas Wings
Lopez Senechal is a pure shooter, likely the best to come out in this year's draft. She played four seasons for Fairfield, a smaller school, before transferring to UConn as a senior and knocking down career-best marks of 2.1 3PG and 44.0 3P% at the highest level. In fact, more than a third of her made field goals last season were from behind the arc. Lopez Senechal projects as a fantasy hoops specialist, with upside to be a double-digit scorer with multiple treys per game but not a lot of peripheral activity.
She will be a fringe fantasy hoops draft candidate as a rookie, but if undrafted her shooting and scoring should keep her on the fantasy radar as a potential free agent pickup/streamer if her role is big enough.
Haley Jones, Atlanta Dream
The Dream needed a playmaker on the wing to pair with last season's top pick and Rookie of the Year Rhyne Howard, and they got that in Jones. Jones is such a perfect fit for the Dream on paper that she was mocked to them with the third overall pick earlier this year before the Dream traded that pick, so it worked out perfectly for them to still get her at six. Jones has good size for a wing at 6-foot-1, but she played a lot of point for Stanford and will help Howard and 2021 No. 3 overall pick Aari McDonald with ball-handling and offense creation.
Jones struggles as a 3-point shooter, averaging only 0.2 3PG on 21.9 3P% in her collegiate career, but she's a strong enough finisher in the paint that she could still flirt with double-digit scoring as a rookie if she gets enough playing time. Jones averaged 9.0 RPG and 4.0 APG as a senior and brings that all-around production potential to the WNBA. Jones is also a strong on-ball defender that makes smart decisions and rarely gets beat, and she averaged almost a steal and block per game in college. The defensive stats are big fantasy points generators, so if she can translate that to the pro level it would round out her fantasy hoops value as a potential late round draft pick.