WNBA mock draft 2024: Who are the lottery picks after Clark? - ESPN

After Iowa fell to South Carolina in the NCAA championship game Sunday, Caitlin Clark said it was good to know the WNBA was ahead as something to look forward to. Clark is expected to be the No. 1 pick by the Indiana Fever in the April 15 draft in Brooklyn.

«She's going to have great people around her,» Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said of Clark. «And if you put great people around her, that helps her succeed so much. If she's with the Fever, playing with somebody like Aliyah Boston, I think they could really have fun together.»

But Bluder also expressed some concern at the Final Four about how tough it might be for Clark and soon-to-be WNBA rookies to go from the college season to the league so quickly.

«She's going to be really tired after this season. That's what concerns me the most,» Bluder said Saturday at the Final Four in Cleveland. «Rookies go into the WNBA, which is such a challenging time, at their most exhausted time.

»I just know that Caitlin has stepped up to every challenge that we've posed to her. And I expect the same thing at the next level. Although I know… she's going to have to pay her rookie dues."

Who might hear their names called in the first round of the draft? Here is our updated projection. The WNBA season tips off May 14.

Iowa | PG | 6-foot-0 | senior

Clark finished her Iowa career with 3,951 points, 1,144 assists and 990 rebounds, leading Iowa to two NCAA championship games. Now comes the next step. Clark will have to go through rough treatment from WNBA veterans, but as Bluder said, she will have some talented teammates around her. Her passing skills might be one of her best attributes in her rookie season.

Stanford | PF | 6-foot-4 | senior

We've kept Brink in the No. 2 spot, as her ability on