At the end of every season, five WNBA rookies are selected for the All-Rookie team.
Last season, the All-Rookie team was comprised of Caitlin Clark (Indiana Fever), Angel Reese (Chicago Sky), Rickea Jackson (Los Angeles Sparks), Kamilla Cardoso (Chicago Sky), and Leonie Fiebich (New York Liberty) — five outstanding players who should be impactful for years to come. It’s been well-chronicled that the 2024 class was outstanding and helped bring a significant number of new eyes to the WNBA.
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But this year’s rookie class has actually probably been even more stacked, and selecting just five rookies for the All-Rookie team was exceedingly difficult.
Here’s who I ended up selecting in my awards ballot:
Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings
Sonia Citron, Washington Mystics
Kiki Iriafen, Washington Mystics
Janelle Salaün, Golden State Valkyries
Monique Akoa Makani, Phoenix Mercury
The No-Brainer All-Rookie Selections: Paige Bueckers, Kiki Iriafen, and Sonia Citron
Of the 5 All-Rookie selections, three were no-brainers: Paige Bueckers, Kiki Iriafen, and Sonia Citron. All three players were named All-Stars in their first season, and all three were among the most critical players on their team in Year 1. Bueckers is also my Rookie of the Year pick.
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But after that trio, some difficult decisions had to be made.
Outside of Bueckers, Iriafen, and Citron, I (mostly) considered six players for the final two spots on the All-Rookie team:
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Connecticut Sun guard Leila Lacan
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Connecticut Sun guard Saniya Rivers
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Connecticut Sun forward Aneesah Morrow
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Golden State Valkyries forward Janelle Salaün
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Phoenix Mercury guard Monique Akoa Makani.
I’ll note that in addition to these players, I took a look at several other standout rookies, including Dallas Wings center Luia Geiselsoder, Valkyries guard Carla Leite, Atlanta Dream guard Te-Hina Paopao, Phoenix Mercury rookie Kathryn Westbeld, among others.
In short, this was a truly awesome rookie class that definitely could have warranted a second-team All-Rookie.
The 6 WNBA rookies battling for 2 All-Rookie spots
To select two rookies, I weighed my own experiences/notes watching the rookies alongside their team’s success, as well as some advanced analytics.
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All advanced analytics are flawed in their own way, but I’ll explain the ones I reference below.
True shooting % (TS%) is used to compare players’ efficiencies. TS% is an advanced basketball statistic that measures scoring efficiency by accounting for all types of field goals (2-pointers and 3-pointers) and free throws. It’s probably the most reliable advanced analytic out there.
Player Impact Estimate (PIE) is a statistic that quantifies a player’s overall contribution to a game by measuring the percentage of game events they are responsible for — combining scoring, playmaking, and defensive actions into a single score. It’s a valuable metric because a team with a higher aggregate PIE than its opponent wins the vast majority of games, and high PIE performers are often considered MVP candidates. But it nonetheless has its limitations.
Leila Lacan: Appeared in 25 games, averaging 10.4 points on 54.8% TS, 10.2 PIE, -0.5 net rating
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Let’s get this one out of the way: Lacan, who was drafted by the Sun in 2024 but only joined the team this season, would have been on the All-Rookie team had she just played longer. There’s no minimum game played requirement, but it was hard for me to select her over the others when she only joined the Sun in July (though her impact in Connecticut on both ends has been palpable and undeniable).
I do want to note this: the Sun were 17.6 points per game better with Lacan on the floor (-0.5 net rating) than off it (-18.1 net rating) this season. That’s pretty ridiculous and captures her impact.
Saniya Rivers: Appeared in 42 games, averaging 8.8 points on 49.5% TS, 8.7 PIE, -12.5 net rating
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Rivers, the No. 8 pick in the 2025 draft, is going to be an awesome WNBA player. She’s already demonstrated that she’s an elite defender, and has seen her scoring rise in recent days (in her last 15 games, she’s averaging 11.3 points per game).
But, it was difficult to select her over several others on this list due to her relative inefficiency and the fact that she didn’t contribute to winning as much (it’s not her fault that she was drafted onto a rebuilding roster, but it nonetheless was taken into consideration). Shoutout to Rivers, though, for becoming just the second WNBA player ever to record at least 100 stocks (blocks plus steals) in her rookie campaign.
Aneesah Morrow: Appeared in 41 games, averaging 7.7 points on 46.1% TS, 11.2 PER, -9.1 net rating
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As many (including me!) projected, Morrow is the best rebounder in the rookie class. She’s averaging 6.9 rebounds per game (and 13.1 boards per 36 minutes). The Sun’s net rating was 6.6 points better when she was on the floor than when she was off of it.
But, she was a bit too inefficient for me (and played a little too few minutes) to place her on the All-Rookie team. If you’re a Sun fan, you should still feel great about this draft selection and be encouraged by what you saw in Year 1.
Janelle Salaün: Appeared in 35 games, averaging 11.5 points on 53.5% TS, 9.8 PIE, +0.5 net rating
Janelle Salaün, an undrafted Valkyries rookie out of France, has been critical to the team’s success. She’s increased her production in recent weeks and scored in double-digit points in 13 of her last 15 games.
Salaün was awesome in a loss against the Seattle Storm on Tuesday, tallying 22 points on 8-13 shooting alongside 6 rebounds. I value winning less when it comes to rookie awards than other awards, but the fact that Salaün is contributing on a playoff team as a rookie strengthens her case.
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Dominique Malonga: Appeared in 42 games, averaging 7.7 points on 56.6% TS, 13.8 PIE , -1.3 net rating
19-year-old Dominique Malonga has shown flashes of the brilliance that made her the No. 2 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. I’m pretty certain she’s eventually going to be one of the best players in the WNBA.
This past season, she saw few opportunities at the start, but her production has ticked up as of late. In her last 15 games, she’s averaged 12.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks (contrast that with her first 15 games, in which she averaged 4.5 points in 8.5 minutes per night). Per 36 minutes, she was the second-highest scorer in the rookie class (averaging 19.4 points per game).
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But, she simply wasn’t on the floor long enough to warrant a spot over the other strong candidates here.
Monique Akoa Makani: Appeared in 40 games, averaging 7.7 points on 55% TS, 7.6 PIE, +9.6 net rating
Akoa Makani’s case for the All-Rookie team is straightforward: she’s impacting winning on a really good team. She’s a really good defender (probably the best in the rookie class, as of right now) and has played a significant role in Phoenix, starting 39 of her 40 games played.
And the Mercury have been much better with her on the floor than with her off of it; they’ve outscored teams by 9.6 points with her on it, and they’ve been outscored by 0.8 points with her off it.
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I don’t think she’s going to be one of the five best rookies in the class, but I do think she’s had one of the five most impactful rookie seasons this year, and that’s what this recongition is about.
I ended up selecting Salaün and Makani because they both contributed to winning on playoff squads. Both were efficient (especially for rookies), and both held up well on both ends of the floor. Salaün was also the fourth-leading scorer among rookies, and third-leading rebounder.
The toughest singular omission was Dominique Malonga, who was hurt by the fact that her role was so limited in the first half of the season. And, the toughest overall decision was coming to terms with the fact that the Connecticut Sun didn’t get a single player on the All-Rookie team. I’ve loved watching the Sun play this season, and all three of their first-round rookie selections deserve recognition for their first year as WNBA pros.
This was a tough one.
