The Athletic has live coverage of the 2024 WNBA draft.
Last year’s WNBA season featured a historic MVP race between frontcourt players. Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson and Alyssa Thomas were separated by only 13 points, with Stewart winning despite not having the most first-place votes. A frontcourt player has won the award every year since 2014, with bigs playing significant importance in the modern WNBA. The frontcourt class in the upcoming 2024 WNBA Draft has the potential to impact the league immediately, with plenty of eyeballs watching to see who goes where.
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The draft is less than three weeks away on April 15 in Brooklyn, just eight days after the national championship. In anticipation of the event, eight general managers shared their thoughts with The Athletic before the NCAA Tournament about the upcoming class. They were granted anonymity to allow them to speak openly. On Wednesday, we published their assessments on eligible guards, such as Caitlin Clark, Georgia Amoore and Jacy Sheldon. Now, they’re sharing their unvarnished takes on forwards such as Cameron Brink, Rickea Jackson and Angel Reese.
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Anonymous WNBA GMs scout guard prospects: Caitlin Clark will be 'backbone of a franchise'
Following the tournament, we’ll release our final mock draft as well as a story scouting the potential picks in the 2025 WNBA Draft.
Players are listed in alphabetical order.
Cameron Brink | 6-4 forward | Stanford
17.5 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 3.6 bpg, 51.2 fg%
“A high-ceiling player. One of the better frontcourt prospects we’ve seen, especially at that size, in the last decade or so.”
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“Very talented. Her toughness is underrated. She’s got a lot of fight, a lot of toughness, a lot of skills. Can block shots, can shoot 3s. I think she’ll be a very, very good pro in the W.”
“Just had a tremendous career. Versatile. I’m real curious about what her position is going to be at the next level. Is she going to be a four-five or is she going to be a four-three? Her rebounding, her scoring. I think the challenge for her may be her physical strength, getting hit by 30-year-olds.”
Kamilla Cardoso | 6-7 center | South Carolina
13.9 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 2.6 bpg, 58.4 fg%
“Has the most size in this draft and size is always coveted by teams in our league. Question will be, as the WNBA evolves, where is Cardoso’s fit?”
“She’s 6-7. There’s not a lot of 6-7 going around. … I think her best days are ahead of her as a pro.”
“She may be the best true five in the draft. Cardoso seems to be the most mobile for her size, around the rim. If I had to rank the top bigs in the draft, she’d probably be one.”
“Clearly, she has what you can’t teach, but I think she’s also been taught really well. She needs to continue to learn how to leverage her strength so that it becomes a little bit easier to get some just higher quality shots when she’s back to the basket and there’s a defender behind her. But she’s smart in when she lets the ball work for her and she’s also smart when she needs to work for the ball.”
Aaliyah Edwards | 6-3 forward | UConn
17.6 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 2.1 apg, 59.3 fg%
“May have one of the highest floors in the draft but an unclear ceiling. Fundamentally sound but what is her position in the WNBA?”
“Great skill in the paint, plays bigger than her 6-3 frame. Quintessential UConn player, smart well-prepared, competitive; needs to show more consistency shooting from beyond 15 feet. Some question about what her position in the W will be.”
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“Really, really solid. She’s good at a lot of things. She can facilitate on offense, she has a good midrange. She can rebound. She has toughness. She has durability. Just glue, one of those blue-collar workers. I think her best offensive days are ahead of her in terms of extending her game out and really just showing what she can do offensively.”
We're so glad Aaliyah Edwards is back! pic.twitter.com/onYv3TwrwM
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) March 23, 2024
Rickea Jackson | 6-2 forward | Tennessee
20.2 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 2.3 apg, 48.5 fg%
“She has, probably, the most pro-ready build and physically is pro-ready at this point. It’s just understanding if she’s gonna come night in, night out, ready to win”
“She’s like a microwave. She can put them up in bunches. She can score in different ways. Driving midrange. Shooting 3s. Somebody in that three-four position, I think she’s probably one of the best out there.”
“I think Rickea Jackson is the number two player in the country right now. Her staying an extra year, she’s gotten stronger. She’s improved her skill set. She’s able to come off of the dribble and knock down shots. She has great post moves. She can knock down 3s, she can battle inside with her size. To me, Rickea Jackson is someone who can play the one through four. I think she’s the No. 2 pick in the country for me personally.”
“I would love to learn if another gear for her makes her play better or starts to expose her. She has one gear, one tempo she plays at. And if she played faster, whether a defender got into her and pressured her consistently, or even the 94-feet up-and-down, does she make more mistakes or does she get even better?”
Elizabeth Kitley | 6-6 center | Virginia Tech
22.8 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 2.1 bpg, 55.6 fg%
(Conversations involving Kitley came both before and after her season-ending ACL tear versus Virginia on March 3. All conversations, however, came prior to her official diagnosis being shared publicly.)
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“Question her ability to take the hits at the next level. No doubt she’s skilled and she’s got a little bit more range than some of the other bigs. She potentially could be a four, maybe with her face-up game. I just don’t know if she can take the physicality of this league.”
“Liz has really good footwork. She also has a great motor. I think she’s definitely benefited playing with a point guard like Georgia Amoore and some shooters around her because she needs space. She’s a nice passer out of double-teams.”
Elizabeth Kitley received a standing ovation from Hokies fans 🧡 pic.twitter.com/iuUzw594OQ
— espnW (@espnW) March 22, 2024
Ayoka Lee | 6-6 center | Kansas State
19.7 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 2.8 bpg, 61.9 fg%
“Banger, but I don’t know if she can run like we’re playing the game now. I guess you could compare her to Teaira McCowan. Can McCowan run? Yeah, she’s gotten where she can. So Lee might kind of end up being kind of like her. You’re seeing more and more people also want their five player to be able to go out on the perimeter, where everybody is inside and everybody is outside.”
“I think her size helps, obviously her length and her ability to block shots or alter shots. She definitely is another one that’s gotta get physically stronger, and she’s got to come up with a few more moves. But I think definitely she has a spot in this league.
Alissa Pili | 6-2 forward | Utah
21.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.4 apg, 55.0 fg%
“I think it will be interesting for Pili because she certainly has the skill set that is unmatched in terms of the way she shoots the ball from the post position. She’s used to playing against bigger players, so her craftiness around the rim, being able to use the goal, being able to use her footwork and her body to her advantage.”
“The bigger question I have on Alissa, because she’s so without a position on the offensive end, it begs the question, who is she gonna guard on the defensive end? And there’s so much switching that happens in the W — is that to her advantage or is it to her detriment? And again, I just think she’s super unique. You have to account for her the same way you’d have to account for a really small point guard. So I think it’s gonna be about the players that get built around her, as much as it is about her in isolation.”
“I think she’s a pro-ready offensive player. My question is what do you do with her defensively? She’s 6 feet and she’s a center at 6 feet. Can she defend at our level? Can she make her body more prepared? Offensively, she can play in our league. It’s the other end of the floor that’s the question mark.
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Nyadiew Puoch | 6-3 forward | Southside Flyers (WNBL)
6.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.0 apg, 18.3 mpg
“She’s probably a year away from really having an impact in the W, but obviously she’s a talent teams are going to be looking to grab depending on how their roster looks now, and what it looks like in the future. I think she’s more of a four-three at her size, her length, her skill set, she can kind of do a little bit of everything. Her thing is going to be getting experience and getting stronger.
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“I like her athleticism. I look at her sometimes and think about Natasha Howard or Ezi Magbegor and think about her potential.”
Angel Reese | 6-3 forward | LSU
18.7 ppg, 13.2 rpg, 1.8 spg, 47.9 fg%
“Angel is a bit of an enigma. Obviously she produces. No matter what people say she can’t do, she produces. Her production speaks for itself. To be one of the top players in the country in scoring and rebounding, her team wins and she’s a competitor. At our level, there will be a transition, but I think she’ll figure it out and find a way, have an impact. But there will be a transition period and how quickly it will be will depend on her, the work she puts in and her ability to continue to develop.”
“She’s got super long arms, go-go gadget arms. I watch her rebound and she’s matched up against taller players, but a lot of times she gets it because of her ability. Her length is crazy. She’s just a competitor. I like her fight. I don’t know if she’ll be talking as much as she does in college. But I think she’ll be just fine.”
“I think she has a couple pro skills right now. But Angel has to expand her offensive game to play in our league. She’s not going to be able to do some of the things she does in college as efficiently in our league because you have to expand your offensive game. She’s not a perimeter shooter. She may eventually be there. It’s gonna take her time to have a good pro game. The problem for her is expectations versus what she’ll have to go through these next couple of years.”
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(Photos of Angel Reese, Cameron Brink, Aaliyah Edwards: Eakin Howard / Getty Images, Candice Ward / Getty Images, Alika Jenner / Getty Images)