The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the 2025 season was held following the 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. It marked the first draft for the newest expansion team for the league, the Golden State Valkyries. The draft took place at The Shed in Manhattan and was televised on ESPN in the United States and on TSN1/3/4/5/SN360/SNP in Canada.
There were only 12 picks in the first round, as the Las Vegas Aces' pick was stripped for violating league rules regarding impermissible player benefits and workplace policies.
Draft lottery
The lottery to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2025 draft took place on November 17, 2024. It was televised on ESPN in the United States and streamed on TSN+ in lieu of the TSN network due to the latter airing the Canadian Football League's 111th Grey Cup with Sportsnet in Canada. The four non-playoff teams in 2024 qualified for the lottery.
Lottery chances
The lottery odds were based on combined records from the 2023 and 2024 WNBA seasons. In the drawing, balls numbered 1–14 are placed in a lottery machine and mixed. Four balls are drawn to determine a four-digit combination (only 11–12–13–14 is ignored and redrawn). The team to which that four-ball combination is assigned receives the No. 1 pick. The four balls are then placed back into the machine and the process is repeated to determine the second pick. The two teams whose numerical combinations do not come up in the lottery will select in the inverse order of their two-year cumulative record. Ernst & Young knows the discreet results before they are announced. The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third rounds was determined by inverse order of the teams' respective regular-season records solely from 2024.
Note: Team selected for the No. 1 pick noted in bold text.
2025 unofficial combine
On April 4, 2025 in Tampa, Florida, Intersport Basketball hosted their inaugural Lilly Women's College All-Star Combine, sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company and Herbalife. The event took place during the 2025 NCAA Final Four weekend. Thirty college basketball players with the intent to declare for the 2025 draft were invited to participate in the combine which included "interviews with team personnel, measurement and strength and condition, and on-court basketball drills." Scouts from the thirteen current WNBA teams were in attendance for the combine. The event was streamed live on YouTube.
The 2025 attendees were:
- Destiny Adams, Rutgers
- Julia Ayrault, Michigan State
- Lexi Donarski, North Carolina
- Kha'Dija Faye, Pittsburgh
- Allyson Fertig, Wyoming
- DeYona Gaston, Auburn
- O'Mariah Gordon, Florida State
- Zaay Green, Alabama
- Izzy Higginbottom, Arkansas
- Jordan Hobbs, Michigan
- Diamond Johnson, Norfolk State
- Jerkaila Jordan, Mississippi State
- Molly Kaiser, New Mexico State
- Dazia Lawrence, Kentucky
- Megan McConnell, Duquesne
- Esmeralda Morales, Montana State
- Lucy Olsen, Iowa
- Ugonne Onyiah, California
- Sammie Puisis, South Florida
- Kelsey Ransom, Georgetown
- Madison Scott, Ole Miss
- Shyanne Sellers, Maryland
- Jewel Spear, Tennessee
- Makayla Timpson, Florida State
- Kennedy Todd-Williams, Ole Miss
- Harmoni Turner, Harvard
- Alyssa Ustby, North Carolina
- Aaronette Vonleh, Baylor
Eligibility and entrants
Under the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the WNBA and its players' union, draft eligibility for players (not defined as "international") requires the following to be true:
- The player's 22nd birthday falls during the calendar year of the draft. For the 2025 draft, the cutoff birth date is December 31, 2003.
- She has either:
- completed her college eligibility;
- received a bachelor's degree, or is scheduled to receive such in the three months following the draft; or
- is at least four years removed from high school graduation.
Early eligibility
Players who are younger than the draft's cutoff age and are scheduled to receive their bachelor's degree within three months of the draft date will only be eligible if the calendar year of the draft is no earlier than the fourth year after their high school graduation.
Players with remaining college eligibility but who do meet the cutoff age criteria must notify WNBA headquarters of their intent to enter the draft no later than 10 days before the draft date, and must renounce any remaining college eligibility to do so. For the 2025 draft, the date fell on April 4. A separate notification timetable is provided for players involved in postseason tournaments (i.e. the NCAA Division I tournament); those players (normally) must declare for the draft within 24 hours of their final collegiate game.
International players
"International players" are defined as those for whom all of the following is true:
- Born and currently residing outside the U.S.
- Never "exercised intercollegiate basketball eligibility" in the U.S.
- The player's 20th birthday falls during the calendar year of the draft. For this draft, the international cutoff birth date is December 31, 2005.
Declared players
The following players publicly declared for the 2025 draft:
Age-eligible college underclassmen
College seniors
- Paige Bueckers, UConn (redshirt)
- Sonia Citron, Notre Dame
- Madison Conner, TCU
- Jayda Curry, Louisville
- Sania Feagin, South Carolina
- Yaya Felder, Baylor
- Maria Gakdeng, North Carolina
- Melyia Grayson, Southern Miss (redshirt)
- Aubrey Griffin, UConn (redshirt)
- Bree Hall, South Carolina
- Jordan Hobbs, Michigan
- Kiki Iriafen, USC
- Liatu King, Notre Dame (redshirt)
- Aziaha James, NC State
- Dazia Lawrence, Kentucky (redshirt)
- Rayah Marshall, USC
- Megan McConnell, Duquesne
- Aneesah Morrow, LSU
- Lucy Olsen, Iowa
- Te-Hina Paopao, South Carolina
- JJ Quinerly, West Virginia
- Reigan Richardson, Duke
- Saniya Rivers, NC State
- Shyanne Sellers, Maryland
- Serena Sundell, Kansas State
- Taylor Thierry, Ohio State
- Makayla Timpson, Florida State
- Kennedy Todd-Williams, Ole Miss
- Harmoni Turner, Harvard
- Aaronette Vonleh, Baylor
- Chellia Watson, Buffalo (redshirt)
- Georgia Woolley, Syracuse
Graduate students
- Georgia Amoore, Kentucky
- Julia Ayrault, Michigan State (redshirt)
- Sarah Ashlee Barker, Alabama
- Kaitlyn Chen, UConn
- Taylen Collins, Auburn
- Aicha Coulibaly, Texas A&M
- Dalayah Daniels, Washington
- KK Deans, Ole Miss (redshirt)
- Kha'Dija Faye, Pittsburgh
- Yvonne Ejim, Gonzaga
- Zaay Green, Alabama (redshirt)
- Jillian Hayes, Cincinnati
- Madison Hayes, NC State
- Diamond Johnson, Norfolk State
- Taylor Jones, Texas
- Jerkaila Jordan, Mississippi State
- Deja Kelly, Oregon
- Koi Love, UT Arlington
- Deasia Merrill, TCU
- Aaliyah Nye, Alabama
- Ugonne Onyiah, California
- Sedona Prince, TCU
- Madison Scott, Ole Miss
- Alyssa Ustby, North Carolina
- Hailey Van Lith, TCU
- Talia von Oelhoffen, USC
- Maddy Westbeld, Notre Dame
International players
- Lea Bartelme, Slovenia
- Emma Čechová, Czech Republic
- Marine Dursus, France
- Justė Jocytė, Lithuania
- Adja Kane, France
- Anastasiia Kosu, Russia
- Dominique Malonga, France
- Ajša Sivka, Slovenia
- Annika Soltau, Germany
Draft invitees
On April 11, 2025, the WNBA released the names of the sixteen players who were invited to attend the 2025 draft.
- Georgia Amoore, Kentucky
- Sarah Ashlee Barker, Alabama
- Paige Bueckers, UConn
- Sonia Citron, Notre Dame
- Sania Feagin, South Carolina
- Kiki Iriafen, USC
- Aziaha James, NC State
- Dominique Malonga, ASVEL Féminin
- Aneesah Morrow, LSU
- Te-Hina Paopao, South Carolina
- Saniya Rivers, NC State
- Madison Scott, Ole Miss
- Shyanne Sellers, Maryland
- Ajša Sivka, Tarbes Gespe Bigorre
- Serena Sundell, Kansas State
- Hailey Van Lith, TCU
Draft
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