Atlanta Dream select Kentucky's Rhyne Howard with top pick in WNBA draft; Indiana Fever take Baylor's NaLyssa Smith at No. 2

The Atlanta Dream selected Kentucky guard Rhyne Howard with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA draft on Monday night in New York.

The Washington Mystics won the draft lottery in December, but traded the top pick to Atlanta last week, as the Dream moved up from No. 3 to guarantee they got Howard.

The 6-foot-2 Howard, the SEC's player of the year as a sophomore and a junior, averaged 20.5 points and 7.4 rebounds during her senior season, leading the Wildcats in points, rebounds, 3-pointers, steals and blocks. The only other SEC player to do that over the past 20 seasons was Mississippi State's Tan White (2003-04 & 2004-05).

«I'm shaking right now,» Howard told ESPN's Holly Rowe after being selected No. 1. «It's a dream come true.»

Baylor's 6-foot-4 forward NaLyssa Smith, the Big 12 player of the year the past two seasons, was the No. 2 pick by the Indiana Fever, who had four first-round selections.

«I'm coming in hungry,» said Smith, who can play either the power forward or small forward position in the WNBA. She is known for scoring in the paint and believes her range will keep growing.

The top three picks went as expected, as the Washington Mystics selected Ole Miss 6-foot-5 center Shakira Austin at No. 3. Austin averaged 15.2 points and 9.0 rebounds for the Rebels in 2021-22 and can be a force on interior offense and defense for Washington.

The Fever were expected to go big on defense and posts with their early-round picks, and the last in the lottery fit both: Louisville forward Emily Engstler, who helped the Cardinals make the women's Final Four.

Engstler went No. 4, but the Fever's pick at No. 6 was a surprise: Stanford guard Lexie Hull, who many projected as a second-round pick. But Hull, who helped Stanford