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The WNBA coaching carousel is going to be a wild one this offseason, with three teams currently looking to fill openings. The Chicago Sky parted ways with Teresa Witherspoon after just one season, the Dallas Wings fired Latricia Trammel on Friday and Curt Miller is leaving the Los Angeles Sparks after two seasons.
The Sky, Wings and Sparks make up three of the four teams in the WNBA Draft lottery that will determine the order of the top of next April's draft. The Washington Mystics will also be vying for the No. 1 overall pick when the order is selected during the lottery on Nov. 17.
The draft order will likely be known before some or all of these teams end up deciding on their new head coach. Because of this, the order of the lottery could influence the attractiveness of some jobs compared to others. A team with the top pick would obviously be a more attractive destination than the teams below them in the draft.
The three teams with head coach openings are all intriguing destinations for different reasons. The Wings had a down year due to injury, but they have two established stars in Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally. The Sky and the Sparks both have promising young cores surrounding Angel Reese and Cameron Brink, respectively.
Paige Bueckers favored to go No. 1 in 2025 WNBA Draft
As of now, the 2025 WNBA Draft Lottery looks like it could be renamed the Paige Bueckers sweepstakes. The UConn superstar is an overwhelming favorite to be selected No. 1 in the draft next spring.
Bueckers has struggled with injuries in her college career, which is one of the only things preventing her from being one of the all-time great draft prospects in women's basketball. On the floor, Bueckers has it all. She can shoot off the dribble or the catch, finish at the rim, rebound and make plays for her teammates. Bueckers is effective playing at either guard spot and has done so for Geno Auriemma at UConn during her career.
Defensively, Bueckers is a playmaker. While she will have to get a little bit stronger to match up with some of the WNBA's more physical guards, Bueckers is a great shot blocker for her position and uses her length and anticipation to consistently get steals.
USC forward Kiki Iriafen, who transferred to the Trojans after a very successful career at Stanford, and LSU forward Aneesah Morrow are two of the chasers that could take the top spot from Bueckers with a big season in 2024-25.
