The Dallas Wings won the lottery for the second time in a row. Last year, it was already fairly obvious that the Wings would draft Paige Bueckers in the 2025 WNBA Draft. This time around, the choice isn’t as obvious. Azzi Fudd, Lauren Betts, and Awa Fam all have legitimate cases to end up as the top pick when the draft arrives, and all three would look good on the Wings. Especially, the latter offers a lot of untapped potential.
Going first overall to the Wings would be a great opportunity for Awa Fam. She’d get to play with other young talent and fill a big role right away. However, going second overall to the Lynx could be the best thing for Fam’s development.
The Lynx could bring Fam along slowly and give her time to adjust
Awa Fam is only 19 years old. While she has experience playing against long-time professionals, she is still a teenager and will need time to adjust to the speed, physicality, and skill in the WNBA, as well as moving to a different continent at such a young age. The Seattle Storm set an excellent example with how they brought along Dominique Malonga, another young big from Europe. Malonga’s playing time increased slowly but surely as she learned from veterans Nneka Ogwumike and Ezi Magbegor.
Minnesota is a much different team than Dallas. The Wings want to be more competitive than they were in 2025, but given the team’s youth and inexperience, it might take small steps. The Lynx, meanwhile, want to compete for a championship and have many of the necessary building blocks in place: a proven championship coach, an MVP candidate, the 2025 co-DPOY, and other high-level veterans.
Those ambitions mean that Cheryl Reeve wouldn’t be able to offer Fam as big a role as Jose Fernandez with the Wings. At the same time, however, playing for the Lynx would allow Fam to adjust to the W without the pressure that comes with being the Wings’ top pick and with star veterans to guide her.
Given that both re-sign in free agency, the Lynx’s starting frontcourt is made up of Napheesa Collier and Alanna Smith. Both are versatile bigs Fam could learn a lot from. Collier finished second in MVP voting in the last two seasons, was named the 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, and joined the exclusive 50-40-90 club this year. She is a high-level two-way player and legitimate three-lever scorer. Smith, meanwhile, shared DPOY honors with A’ja Wilson this year. Her ability to protect the rim on defense and space the floor on offense makes her a unique center.
On top of that, Cheryl Reeve is one of the most successful and proven coaches in the WNBA. She has coached the Lynx since 2010, won four championships, four Coach of the Year awards, and coached many of the best forwards and centres in the game. She coached Rebekah Brunson, Maya Moore, Sylvia Fowles, and Collier.