WNBA draft eligibility rules state that a player must be at least 22 years old during the draft year. The eligibility age for overseas players is 20.
The 28th edition of the WNBA Draft was held at Spring Studios in New York City on 10th April 2023. The event was aired exclusively on ESPN in the US and on TSN3/5 in Canada.
Unlike the NBA, which only consists of two rounds, WNBA features three-round picks. Indiana Fever had the first overall pick of the 2023 WNBA draft, and they selected the 6-foot-5 former South Carolina Gamecocks power forward Aliyah Boston.
Similarly, the Atlanta Dream recruit Laeticia Amihere, a 21-year-old power forward originally from Canada, was able to participate in the draft.
Typically, individuals born in the US who are below 22 are not eligible for the draft. However, for international players like Amihere, they can enter the draft once they turn twenty.
WNBA Draft Requirements
The following are the requirements to qualify for the WNBA Draft:
- Must be at least 22 years old for domestic players
- International players can enter the draft at 20 years of age
- Players have already graduated from a four-year college or university or graduated during the three-month period following the draft.
The criteria for entering the WNBA draft involve evaluating the age and educational history of the players to determine their eligibility.
The WNBA and its players’ union currently operate under the policies of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). There are three WNBA eligibility rules to be met for the draft entry in terms of education requirements,
A player must have completed their bachelor’s degree within three months of the draft date and be younger than the cutoff age.
Or the player must have finished playing college basketball and is no longer eligible to play in college. Due to a special rule by the NCAA in 2021, she is allowed an extra year of eligibility for college sports.
If partakers are still eligible to play college basketball but meet the age requirement for the draft, they have to inform the WNBA headquarters that they want to enter the draft at least ten days before the draft date.
However, in order to be eligible, she had to inform the WNBA in writing by March that she no longer wished to use her remaining eligibility to play college sports.
Besides, players participating in postseason tournaments, such as the NCAA Division I tournament, are given a particular notification schedule. These players are typically required to declare for the draft within 24 hours of their last match.
Additionally, If the player did not go to college or obtain a bachelor’s degree, they must be at least four years removed from their high school graduation. This means at least four years have passed since they finished high school.
When analyzing the 2023 draft, Diamond Miller, the second overall pick by Minnesota Lynx, had met all the draft eligibility standards. Miller turned 22 in February 2023 and had completed four years of study at the University of Maryland.
WNBA Draft Eligible Players
There are two categories of WNBA Draft age limit to be eligible players:
- If a player’s 22nd birthday falls within the same calendar year as the draft, they are eligible to be drafted.
- Players from foreign countries must be at least 20 years old to meet the eligibility requirements.
For example, any player born inside the United States must be 22 years old as of December 31 of the draft year. To meet the criteria, the individual’s 22nd birthday should occur on or before December 31st.
In the 2023 draft, to be eligible, the player must be born before December 31, 2001. Only then will they be twenty-two at the time of the draft.
However, for international players, the age requirement is slightly different. But first, to be considered an “international player,” the player must have been born in a country outside of the US.
In addition, they should not have participated in college basketball in the United States. If she has a record of playing in the US prior to the draft, she will not be granted a foreign player tag.
Is it Time to Revise the Eligibility for WNBA Draft?
The WNBA Draft regulations and prerequisites have been called into question many times in recent years.
Particularly during the 2023 event, when the top college basketball players of 2022-23, such as Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, were unable to enter this year’s draft, even though they had exceptional seasons.
The reason for their exclusion from the draft is straightforward, i.e., they did not meet the required age criteria. During the 2023 Draft in April, Reese was 20, and Clark was 21, below the 22-year-old age limit. Both of them will be qualified for the 2024 WNBA Draft.
Every year, an increasing number of fans are calling for changes to the rules, as they feel there is a significant disparity when compared to the NBA.
In the NBA, players can join the draft if they turn 19. Peddling back to the past, star players like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant were picked straight out of high school. Both were in their late teens when they got drafted into the league.
In contradistinction, in the WNBA, the players must be 22. Another way to be eligible is if they have already completed a four-year college or university program or if they will graduate within three months after the draft takes place.
This is the main reason there are barely any WNBA players who have been drafted out of high school. On average, females typically finish high school at the age of 17 or 18 in the United States.
Therefore, it is not possible for high school players to be chosen directly because they do not fulfill the age and academic requirements.
WNBA Top Draft Picks 2023
Here are the top WNBA draft picks for 2023 based on their overall rank:
- Aliyah Boston – Indiana Fever
- Diamond Miller – Minnesota Lynx
- Maddy Siegrist – Dallas Wings
- Stephanie Soares – Washington Mystics
- Lou Lopez Sénéchal – Dallas Wings
- Haley Jones – Atlanta Dream
- Grace Berger – Indiana Fever
- Laeticia Amihere – Atlanta Dream
- Jordan Horston – Seattle Storm
- Zia Cooke – Los Angeles Sparks
Aliyah Boston, a former power forward for South Carolina, was honored as the best player in college basketball and the top defensive player when her team, the Gamecocks, won the NCAA Tournament.
However, Boston could not join the professional draft that year. She decided to enter the 2023 WNBA Draft. At 21 years old, soon turning 22 in December, she became the first overall pick.
The 2021 WNBA champion Indiana Fever picked her in the first round. In June, Boston earned a spot in the 2023 ALL-Star Game after a remarkable beginning to her WNBA journey. She joined an elite group of only six rookies in the league’s history to start the game.
Similarly, the Minnesota Lynx won the second overall pick in the Lottery Draft held in November 2022. They chose the talented Maryland Terrapins shooting guard Diamond Miller.
Just like her name, she is sharp and resilient like a diamond, averaging 19.7 points, 2.9 assists and 6.6 REB per game in his senior season in the NCAA Women’s tournament.
On May 19, 2023, Miller played her first game in the WNBA against the Chicago Sky. She started the game and scored 9 points while also getting 7 rebounds.
Moreover, another top prospect, Maddy Siegrist, agreed to join the Dallas Wings. Wings get the third overall pick from the Atlanta Dream, which they used to select the former Villanova Wildcats player.
In the 2022-23 college season, Maddy achieved an impressive feat by becoming the top scorer in the women’s college division. She scored an outstanding 1,081 points, earning her the highest spot on the leaderboard for that season.
Additionally, Maddy’s 1,081 points secure the second position in the all-time list of highest points scored in a season, trailing only behind Kelsey Plum, who scored 1,109 points during the 2016-17 campaign.