This year's period of WNBA free agency was always going to be unusual and feel a bit unprecedented since most of the league is available, but it turns out that the players still on their 2024 rookie contracts are generating a good bit of buzz. And that's not because they're all set to be paid a lot more this season or because a few of them have announced surprise trades this week, but for another reason: of the top 8 picks from the 2024 draft, only three remain on their original teams.
Women's sports writer and editor Katie Lipton noted the trend and shared it via X Thursday. As Lipton wrote, the top 8 draft picks include Caitlin Clark, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, Rickea Jackson, Jacy Sheldon, Aaliyah Edwards, Alissa Pili, and Angel Reese. Of that list, five players — Jackson, Sheldon, Edwars, Pili, and Reese — are now playing for teams other than the ones that signed them, and Sheldon has actually been moved twice (from the Wings to the Sun to the Mystics).
(It's important to note that at present, there are only rumors that the Sparks are trading Rickea Jackson to the Chicago Sky this week — nothing has been confirmed by any involved party, but that move would solidify her as the fifth player to be moved from their original franchise to a new team from the 2024 draft class.)
This appears to indicate that while a few teams — the Fever (Clark), Sparks (Brink), and Sky (Cardoso) — appear to be comfortable building around and/or heavily incorporating their 2024 rookies into their longterm plans, others are still searching for a franchise identity. Many have speculated about the dual draftings of Reese and Cardoso by the Sky, and wondered which athlete the team would ultimately build around. This week's trade announcement that Reese has moved to the Atlanta Dream appeared to answer that question.
The WNBA is in a state of enormous and rapid growth, and it's of little surprise that teams are navigating the system differently. While the Fever have strongly indicated that Clark is the centerpiece the team is being built around, other teams may need more time before they figure out what their own narrative is. And, of course, two new teams (the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire) will enter the fold this season, which will offer more narratives and storylines about rookies and their impact on a franchise.