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What Satou Sabally declaring means for the 2020 WNBA Draft

By Howard Megdal

TAMPA, FLORIDA - APRIL 05: Satou Sabally #0 of the Oregon Ducks drives to the basket against the Baylor Lady Bears during the first quarter in the semifinals of the 2019 NCAA Women's Final Four at Amalie Arena on April 05, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA - APRIL 05: Satou Sabally #0 of the Oregon Ducks drives to the basket against the Baylor Lady Bears during the first quarter in the semifinals of the 2019 NCAA Women's Final Four at Amalie Arena on April 05, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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A big-time addition to the upcoming crop

It wouldn’t be an overstatement to call Satou Sabally’s decision to enter the 2020 WNBA Draft as one that fundamentally reshapes the April 17 event for a number of WNBA teams.

“After long consideration, I have decided to follow my childhood dream to play professional basketball next season,” Sabally wrote in a Twitter post on Thursday afternoon. “I want to thank all the people along my journey who have helped me reach that goal.”

Sabally, a 6’4 hybrid forward, possesses everything WNBA teams want. She’s an elite, dynamic offensive player with perimeter shooting skills — 33 percent from three this year, 41.5 percent a year ago — and strong secondary playmaker profile, double digits in assist percentage for the second straight season out of some point-forward sets run by Kelly Graves.

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Graves himself serves as a useful figure here, with the Oregon offense patterning itself after much of the cutting edge work done at the WNBA level by the last two WNBA champions, Seattle and Washington, respectively.

Sabally has a WNBA build already, meaning much of the work to add strength has happened. She enjoys an elite basketball IQ, understands the league in a larger social conscience sense as well, and is beloved by the Oregon coaching staff.

The broad base of skills makes it easy for virtually any team to justify drafting her, from New York on down through the lottery. Conversations with WNBA talent evaluators yield the universal opinion that she won’t last beyond the lottery, with some even rating her ahead of the consensus number one on the draft board, Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu. She’d clearly fit on New York, Indiana or Atlanta, while Dallas, though currently possessing many fours, could draft her as either someone to allow them to move others, or even deal her to a team that wishes to add her.

The impact on the college season, with Ionescu, Hebard and Sabally all recognizing that this is their last chance to win a college title together, should not be ignored, either.

But what comes after New Orleans? Well, that just got even more interesting.

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