ESPN, which has presented the WNBA since the league’s inception in 1997, will once again exclusively broadcast the WNBA Draft as the league celebrates its 30th season. Ahead of the WNBA Draft 2026 Presented by State Street Investment Management SPY on Monday, April 13 (7 p.m. ET) from The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York City, ESPN’s Ryan Ruocco and Rebecca Lobo spoke with media to preview the network’s comprehensive, on-site coverage and key storylines surrounding the 2026 WNBA Draft.

RYAN RUOCCO: First of all, thanks, all, for being here. Even just the attendance and reception we get for these kind of things shows the growth of the sport, I think, compared to what it was like when we’d try and do these kind of things, let’s say, five, six, seven, eight years ago.

I just think this draft is going to have a lot of really good immediately useful players. I think about how far the draft classes have come over the last few years. Obviously two years ago the draft class was incredible. Last year there was a lot of impactful rookies.

I think this year, maybe you don’t have the same like tippy-top tier stars like you had a couple years ago or you’re going to have next year, but you have a lot of really good players that I think are going to make an impact right away.

I think it’s going to be an awesome night Monday night. I think the storyline of UCLA having four or five seniors probably going in the first round, six get drafted overall, is going to be special, and just excited to get to feel the atmosphere and the vibe at The Shed, which was an amazing host last year.

REBECCA LOBO: It’s certainly been an interesting draft to prepare for just in terms of in previous years we would talk about teams’ needs, and this year because free agency hasn’t even officially been announced, you don’t know what teams’ needs are. Free agency being this close to the draft has just made everything sort of interesting when you’re trying to dive into what teams are looking for.

In terms of the players, the biggest thing I’m looking at is that we have — this is probably the best year to be drafted since 1997 because there’s 54 new jobs. You have the two expansion teams, plus you have each team with two developmental roster spots.

The opportunities for players to stick on a roster this year are the best they’ve been since the inception of the league 30 years ago.

So that’s one of the things that the draftees should be really excited about, whether it’s first round, second round or third round. You are going to have greater opportunity than we’ve seen in a really long time, and I think that’s incredibly exciting for the young players who are going to get drafted on Monday.

1. Rebecca, on the CBA, one of the things I found fascinating about the CBA is that there is a one-time payment for retired players that’s listed here. Rebecca, you’re supposed to be under that threshold. I wanted to ask you what your reaction was when you found out that this was the case and that this is happening. Is it something that you’ve talked through with other players, and at the same time, have you even heard from the league or the union about the logistics of how this is going to happen?

REBECCA LOBO: I have not heard from the league or the union about the logistics. I haven’t really talked to the league about it either. I did not know that was one of the things the players were asking for in the CBA, and when I heard about it, it just reflects really well on the current players and their desire to take care of some of the players from the past because I’m sure there are certainly a number of them who it will make a real impact in their lives.

For the current players to kind of appreciate the history of the game and where they are now as a result of some of the women who came before them, I thought it was magnanimous and certainly a surprise. It was not something that any former player, at least that I knew, was part of any kind of the negotiation.

1. Question for Rebecca, I kind of like Hannah Stuelke, and I think if she goes to the right team and they give her time to develop, she could become a very solid WNBA player. I wanted to get your thoughts.

REBECCA LOBO: I agree with you. What we saw especially early in her career at Iowa when she was playing with Caitlin Clark is that she can be an elite rim-runner and get out and help teams in that way. She’s got a high motor. She’s got good size. She’s a good athlete. You would think that she has a nice upside to her game.

So yeah, we talk about this every year. It’s kind of like the fit for certain players and where they go in terms of getting the most out of them, but Hannah certainly is a player you look at and think, her best days are still to come, even though we saw her excel when she was playing alongside Caitlin in particular.

1. I wanted to ask about Flau’jae. I was trying to ask a nuanced way why she didn’t have a better season. You guys are around LSU. Did she talk about it? Did Kim talk about it? What was the sense for maybe why things didn’t click as much as in previous years?

RYAN RUOCCO: Well, I think she had a really good season. I don’t know what her shooting percentages finished at, but they were all tracking to be career highs. There was definitely some peaks and valleys within games that could be extreme for her. Like we saw even their South Carolina loss at home where she was very quiet through the first three quarters, then basically single-handedly led their run back into that game where they almost won.

I just think LSU as a whole — it’s interesting because all year long, Rebecca can attest to this, too, Kim would tell us how much she loved this group.

Sometimes coaches give you a feel like, oh, this group isn’t connected or we’re talented but we have these issues. That wasn’t the case with Kim. All year long she would say to us, I love my team, I love this group, whether we win or lose, I love this group.

I just think for whatever reason, as a team, they just did not live up to their potential because I think if you look at the talent on their roster, they absolutely should have been better than they were this year. What are the reasons for that? I’m not exactly sure. It just felt like they were never completely disciplined or connected on the floor for long stretches of time against the best competition.

But I don’t think that was a Flau’jae issue. I think that was a team issue. I also think Flau’jae is going to be a really, really good pro, and I think the pros are going to help Flau’jae and maybe kind of some of the disconnected play that we saw at LSU this year, maybe some of that just gets cleaned up playing with a little bit more cohesion at the pro level, and a player like Flau’jae might benefit from that.

REBECCA LOBO: I would just add sometimes I think we can get lost in just looking at a player’s points per game and not necessarily at the role that they were asked to have this year. Especially when you look at LSU and their non-conference schedule and the minutes distribution, because they were beating teams by such a great amount, what was Flau’jae playing, maybe around 20 minutes her game? As Ryan mentioned, her efficiency was at a career-high level.

Those things matter. I think another example of that would be Ta’Niya Latson, going from leading the nation in scoring to South Carolina where her scoring is way down, her usage is way down, but she’s showing all the other areas of her game that have improved. She’s showing she can play with elite talent around her. She’s a better distributor. She’s a better defender.

I think sometimes from the outside people can get lost just in the points per game or certain numbers being down, not understanding that the role for that player and what she needs to do to help her team win has changed because of the personnel around her.

I do think that was part of the case with Flau’jae this season.

1. What’s one storyline about this draft class that you feel isn’t told enough right now? And for Rebecca, looking back at your playing days, what part of your journey do you think the players can resonate with the most, even though the game has changed tremendously? And what’s one piece of advice you would give them about having a career in the WNBA beyond basketball?

REBECCA LOBO: I’ll start, if that’s okay. In terms of the storyline, it’s what I mentioned before with the 54 extra jobs this year. Like, again, this is a great year to be drafted. Sometimes the draft comes and you might see a player who’s a little bit disappointed that they’re not taken higher or they were hopeful for the first round but they end up in the second round. We’ve always talked about the fit being the most important thing.

Again, this year there shouldn’t be any frustration whatsoever. The opportunity is greater than it has been in a couple of decades now for players to make teams, for players to find a spot on a roster, and we haven’t even talked about the increased salaries that come along with it.

I think that’s the biggest thing, and then the piece of advice, again, would just be it’s all about fit. Again, you might be disappointed that you’ve gone 15th instead of eighth. That doesn’t matter. If you fit in better and go to a place where they can really use your skill set and where you can play to your strengths, that is always more important than exactly where you are slotted by the time you’re taken.

RYAN RUOCCO: I would just say the one storyline that I think probably is, like, not getting quite enough attention – it’s not a subliminal storyline but not being stamped in the way it could, is not knowing who’s going No. 1. Most drafts, we know who’s going first, right? I can’t think of many years, and I’ve hosted this for a long time now, that we went into the draft and we were wondering who was going to go first.

This year, there is legitimate intrigue as to who is going to go first. I think that — obviously there’s always something interesting and fun and exciting about when there’s an obvious star going first, like last year with Paige or the year before with Caitlin, but I think there’s something fun about just not knowing who’s going first.

1. My question is for either one of you. With regards to Lauren Betts, she’s kind of showcased her passing ability, really improved over the years, as well as her defensive mobility. How much do you think that’s going to help her at the next level, especially in today’s modern game where there is so much emphasis on versatility?

REBECCA LOBO: I can start. I think it’s going to help her a ton. You don’t see a lot of teams who just play with their big player going rim to rim. There’s a lot more five-out face-up, and with Lauren, not only her defensive versatility, which was on full display during the Final Four, especially in the semifinal game, the number of times she switched out on to Madison Booker and was able to impact Maddie’s efficiency, but also offensively and you give Cori Close a lot of credit for the way she used her.

You would see Lauren in sets, you would think, okay, she’s 6’7″ she’s just going to go to the block and post-up and that wasn’t necessarily the case. She’s setting off-ball screens, on-ball screens, she is on the move to get into the post, showing that she can set a screen, roll, catch the ball, finish around the rim.

She showed a lot of versatility, and yeah, an outstanding passer, especially when she would draw extra attention.

I thought this season in particular, especially as the season went on and her showcased in the Final Four, she showed that she was a different, more versatile player, I think, than a lot of people had been giving her credit for.

1. Rebecca, I’m going to be doing some stuff on the Toronto Tempo. From your perspective, what will you be looking at in terms of them as an expansion team? What for you would be the markers of success for the first year, and what would you just be looking at broadly in terms of organizationally as to do they have these things in place which would lead them to long-term success?

REBECCA LOBO: Well, I think they certainly have a great GM and a great coach in place. With Sandy Brondello, that was handled well. I thought they did an exceptional job in the expansion draft with the players that they were able to get. Marina Mabrey, Nyara Sabally in particular, Aaliyah Nye, kind of fit what Sandy Brondello is trying to do.

They know they’re not going to be contending for a championship this year. Trying to build culture early on, and I think, again, you’ve got the leadership in place to do that. You’ve got some nice pieces already to do that.

It’s interesting to me to see what they’re able to do in free agency and the attention or the players that they’re going to be able to get even to visit the city or to take meetings with them.

But I think it’s all about establishing culture. It’s interesting because Golden State set such a high bar a year ago, selling out all of their games, making it to the Playoffs, the first expansion team to do that in their first season.

But it feels to me like Toronto certainly has the building blocks in place, the right leadership in place. We’ll see what they’re able to do with the draft again and in free agency.

But I’m excited for what they’re going to be trying to build there.

1. Ryan and Rebecca, first off, who do you think would be a good fit for the Wings? And second question is how much should teams consider a player’s star power when they decide who they’re picking?

RYAN RUOCCO: I mean, I think for the Wings, I think they really have to look at their roster still as a blank slate, right. You’re not one piece away from winning a championship.

Paige, anybody can play with her. She can play point. She can play on the wing. We’ve seen her have success running a ton of pick-and-rolls. We’ve seen her having success not with the ball in her hands a lot, cutting off ball, the way she moves.

I could see a situation where if you had someone who was only going to be at their highest efficacy if they have the ball in their hands and 80 percent of possessions being like, okay, maybe Olivia Miles isn’t the right fit, but that’s not the case with Paige. They still need so much in Dallas that they should only be thinking about who’s the best player.

There’s cases to be made, I think, for many different players. I think you could make that case for Azzi Fudd, I think you could make it Olivia Miles, I think you could make it for Awa Fam, I think you could make it for Lauren Betts. So I think if you are Dallas, you just make the decision based on that.

I can see star power being a tiebreaker for an organization where if they believe two players — kind of they value equally on the floor and they say, but this one is going to put more people in the seats, bring more marketing dollars to our organization, bring more attention to our organization, okay, but that’s really the only time I would let that come into play. Otherwise the No. 1 criteria has to be who’s the best basketball player, period, the end.

Generally the best basketball players are going to garner the most attention because when you win, people come, regardless of whether that person was a star before or not.

1. The Sparks are one of several teams who do not have first-round picks. I believe they have two second rounds and a third round at this point. What should a team like that do in a draft like this when we’ve talked about the expansion of rosters, the developmental spots and things like that? But they’re also trying to win.

REBECCA LOBO: They should sign Nneka Ogwumike in free agency. (Laughing). That’s the thing, right? You’re looking at a team like LA, and we’ve seen this in the past, like championship — teams are building to contend for a championship often are trying to do that through free agency, and especially when they don’t have a pick in the first round, LA one of them, New York is another one that doesn’t have a first-round pick. They’re trying to do some of their damage in free agency, and we’ve certainly seen that from LA.

When you get into the second round or third round then it’s just trying to fill out your roster with pieces who might be able to stick or pieces that might be able to be on your developmental roster. But yeah, certainly the teams that don’t have first-round picks, we’re just starting to hear what they’re going to be doing and the impact they’re making in free agency.

1. Ryan and Rebecca, you guys talk a lot about the volatility of this year’s draft with there being no clear No. 1 pick. Kind of going off of that, a lot of big performances in the Final Four, whether that be good or bad, how do you guys see the Final Four impacting the draft stock of some of these players in the draft?

RYAN RUOCCO: I think it helped a lot of players. I think they’re probably, even for myself, you probably have to put your own kind of governor on overinflating a Final Four performance because there is something about seeing most recently what players did and in a big game what players did that can make you put more value in that than maybe a front office would or should.

But I also think there’s something to being able to perform against the best when it means the most, and I think there’s also something to some players’ numbers maybe not standing out, but then you really watch them and how they impact a game, and you appreciate it.

I think that some players who stood out in great ways, I think Lauren Betts, her ability to switch out, guard players on the perimeter, some players who are really dynamic offensively, what she did defensively to Madison Booker in the semifinal, that should stand out to WNBA front offices, and I think it helps her.

Obviously she can score with incredible efficiency, and that was on display, as well, but I think the Final Four helps her draft stock, or at least helps the conviction for teams that were already considering her.

I think Gabriela Jaquez did a ton for her draft stock in how she performed in the National Championship game. You see her ability to affect the game in so many different ways, her relentless nature, her ability to shoot, how she defends, the way she tracks loose balls, the way she rose to the moment. I think all of those UCLA players — one player for me whose stock jumped up a ton in this tournament and I know I’m speaking on UCLA a lot, but Angela Dugalic. I think Angela Dugalic is going to be a really effective stretch 4 in the WNBA and I think could impact a contender right away this season.

Then one player who she may not have had the best championship game but she certainly had a strong phenomenal he final and a terrific season, Raven Johnson. I thought players this year who really impacted their draft stock in a positive way, I thought Raven was towards the top of the list. Her coming back for this extra year at South Carolina I thought was instrumental in growing her draft stock.

We saw her ability to hit threes with regularity at a high mark, without hesitation, saw the way she can defend, which we always knew that, but then also her get-ahead passing, her ability to be the floor general for a very new group and still guide them to success, I thought Raven’s season did a lot for her draft stock.

1. For both of you, Rebecca, you already touched on Ta’Niya Latson, the difference in her play from last year to this year really focused on scoring last year. How do you think that transferring to South Carolina maybe made her a more well-rounded player, and how do you think that helped her draft stock?

REBECCA LOBO: Yeah, certainly. She showed what her game looks like when she’s surrounded by a different level of talent while she was at South Carolina. She showed that she can play with other great players. She’s not somebody who’s going to go to the WNBA and have the usage rate that she had at Florida State.

She showed that she can be a better defender than she had to be when she was at Florida State, that she can be a facilitator while still playing to her strengths, while still being outstanding out in transition and scoring and creating off the bounce and getting in the paint and distributing to others.

I think she was just able to illustrate over the course of a season some of the things that she wasn’t asked to do at Florida State that she’s going to need to be able to do to be a good WNBA player. I certainly think that it did help her draft stock to show all of those things.

1. Rebecca, now that we know that Madina Okat did not get an extra year of eligibility and will be in the draft, I wonder what you think her prospects are and where she fits in this really talented draft class?

REBECCA LOBO: Yeah, it’s going to be interesting to see where she goes in terms of — I would expect somewhere maybe late first round, early second round. This is a draft that is deep in the point guard and wing position and not so much in the post position, so that might help her, as well.

But she’s been playing basketball for, what, like five or six years? She is relatively new to the game, and I think for a lot of people, they know that this young woman is not even close to touching what she can be as a professional player.

I think that excites people. She showed that she has range out to three and even though low volume can consistently hit it. She’s a rim protector. She can finish inside, certainly brings great size.

I think a lot of teams are really intrigued by her, especially because of her story and how new she is to the game and what that means about her future potential.

1. This question is for you both. You have players who have been invited to the draft and they take the lion’s share of media coverage. Who do you feel could be potential surprises, whether that be early in the draft or late?

RYAN RUOCCO: That’s a good question. I’ve got to look again at who was — who are the 15 that were invited. Is there anyone that comes to mind for you, Rebecca, as like a surprise?

REBECCA LOBO: One of the players who I wouldn’t be surprised if she was taken relatively high without having been invited is Teonni Key from Kentucky. I think she is another post player who has incredible potential, who is going to be a better pro player than she was a college player, who I was a little bit surprised actually that she was not invited — was Cotie McMahon invited to the draft? She was, okay. Because she’d be another one you could see going a little higher than projected.

But for the players not invited, Teonni Key would be the one that I would hone in on a little bit.

RYAN RUOCCO: One I’m interested in, I don’t know where she’s going to go in the draft, but she was such a star and transcendent player in college is Rori Harmon. Rori is Texas basketball, then getting to back-to-back Final Fours for the first time in almost 40 years, she’s the heart and soul of that.

I do think, while obviously she’s small and that comes with certain limitations when people are projecting at the pro level, I do think this year seeing her burst back, seeing how efficiently she shot from three, even though she was not at a high volume, and then just knowing all the other things she brings as a leader, as a defender, I’m curious to see which team takes her because I feel like she’s the kind of person who immediately has a positive impact on your program.

1. Curious, with Seattle it looks like they’re maybe entering a rebuild with Nneka not re-signing with them. Who are some of the players that would stand out the most to pair with like a young Dominique Malonga?

RYAN RUOCCO: I think Olivia Miles is the obvious one. I don’t know that Miles will be there for them at 3, but if I was them, I would love the idea of Olivia Miles with Dominique Malonga and the potential of that point guard/big pairing and what they might be able to do in this league growing together.

That certainly would be a target for me if I was Seattle. Otherwise if it is Azzi — I think Azzi is going to be an excellent pro, and I think Azzi is a way better defender than maybe gets highlighted because she’s such an outstanding shooter. That’s usually the thing that stands out to people.

I also think, remember, Seattle also has a pick later in the first round, as well, and they’re going to get a useful player there, too, for their rebuild. I like the Storm going this way. I think it’s smart for them to go this way rather than being stuck in mediocrity. I think they’re laying the foundation to actually be able to build a contender in the years to come.

1. As far as the expansion Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, what do you think about them having the opportunity to add more pieces to an already established roster going to their very first season, and secondly, how do you think Azzi Fudd will impact any team that drafts her?

RYAN RUOCCO: Well, I think with Azzi, there’s certain teams where she could slide in right away and make an incredible impact. I’d say those teams are teams that have an established ball handler. Like if Azzi went to Dallas, I think right away you’re going to see her playing in a borderline All-Star level. If she goes to Seattle and doesn’t have a point guard next to her, it might take a little longer, right?

But no matter what, that shot is going to translate right away.

For the other teams, I think like last year, we didn’t get to see the Valkyries’ first-round pick even play for them. So I’m curious, Rebecca, I don’t know how you feel, but I’m curious to see a mid first-round pick being selected by an expansion team the way that fan base rallies around them as like their first pick and the kind of playing time they get and the kind of ownership of the organization they may have.

REBECCA LOBO: I think that’s a big thing. Every player who comes out of college and goes to the WNBA wants to play. So if you’re going to an expansion team, you would think that that would be one of your opportunities where you would really have a chance to get minutes and show people what you can do, and while the road might be bumpy in terms of wins and losses, it could be a great experience for you both on the court and off the court.

This is a great year, though, to be an expansion team just because of the number of free agents that are available and the way that those teams could potentially get good a little bit faster than teams have been able to in the past just because of the depth of the free agent talent that they might have the opportunity to sign.