The 2026 WNBA Draft survey was released by the league in time for the tip-off of the league’s 30th anniversary season.
Last year, the GMs filled out their preseason survey with the Minnesota Lynx near the top of just about everything. The Lynx took 60% as title pick, Napheesa Collier was the MVP choice at 67. Minnesota also got 73% as best defensive team, and Cheryl Reeve carried 83% for best coach.
The Las Vegas Aces, by contrast, drew 10% in the title vote that year. A’ja Wilson finished second to Collier in MVP voting at 25. Caitlin Clark led the build-around question at 50% while her Indiana Fever was named the most-improved team and the most-fun-to-watch team by wide margins.
The 2025 season went somewhere else. Wilson won her record fourth MVP and the Aces took their third championship in four years by beating the Phoenix Mercury in the Finals. Minnesota lost to the Mercury in the semifinals due in part to Collier’s Game 3 ankle injury while Indiana didn’t make the Finals as Clark missed time with an injury.
In the 2026 ballot, Las Vegas is back as title favorite at 40% while Wilson is back as MVP frontrunner at 60. The Lynx, with Collier missing the start of the year due to an injury, don’t appear on the title board at all. Reeve still leads the best coach voting, but her share dropped from 83 to 53%. Clark went from 50% in the build-around poll to 20%, as Paige Bueckers now leads the category at 33%. Wilson tied with Clark at 20% and Bueckers’ Dallas Wings took the most-improved and most-fun-to-watch votes Indiana held a year ago.
The Wings capped their preseason with a 101-84 win over the Aces in front of a Moody Center sellout last Sunday in Austin. Alanna Smith took an inadvertent elbow from Wilson in the first half and didn’t return. In 21 minutes, Bueckers finished with 11 points, four rebounds, and nine assists without a turnover.
Las Vegas is Favored to Repeat
Behind the Aces’ 40% title share, the New York Liberty pulled 33% and the Dream came in third at 27. Breanna Stewart was second at 27% behind Wilson’s majority. Clark tied with Atlanta’s Allisha Gray at 7% behind them. Wilson’s Las Vegas teammate Chelsea Gray was equally praised, picking up 73% as best point guard and 93% in both best passer and top basketball IQ.
New York added Satou Sabally in the offseason move GMs called most surprising at 23%. She joins Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Sabrina Ionescu on the Liberty roster. Atlanta traded for Angel Reese and slotted her next to Gray. With Gray and Reese on board, he Dream pulled 27% as title pick despite not reaching last year’s Finals. Defending finalist Phoenix didn’t crack 10%.
Las Vegas opened Sunday with aggressive coverages designed to get the ball out of Bueckers’ hands. She carved them up as a passer. The Wings finished with 24 assists on 35 made field goals. Smith had 12 points and 7 rebounds in 12 minutes before the Wilson elbow.
Can’t wait to see what Paige Bueckers does in year 2. pic.twitter.com/baeg7KyFbf
— WNBA on NBC and Peacock (@WNBAonNBC) May 7, 2026
Paige Bueckers Drew Significant Support
When Bueckers was still at UConn, Wilson was second in the “start a franchise with any player” question behind Clark. This year, Bueckers leads at 33% while Clark and Wilson are tied behind her at 20 each.
As a 23-year-old rookie, Bueckers averaged 19.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 5.2 assists with low turnovers. The Wings went 10-34 around her and ran out of healthy guards before the All-Star break though ran a 30-game double-digit scoring streak that didn’t break until late August in Golden State.
Dallas is tied Seattle at 31% for best young core, despite its starting five having yet to play a regular season minute together. Azzi Fudd finished second to Olivia Miles in the Rookie of the Year poll, picking up 20%. The franchise also added Smith, the 2025 Co-Defensive Player of the Year, in free agency. Arike Ogunbowale was re-signed long-term and Jose Fernandez came in as head coach out of South Florida. The Wings went 2-0 in preseason, beating the Indiana Fever in addition to the win in Austin. Bueckers led the team in assists across both preseason games while Smith led in rebounds.
Seattle’s Pick of Awa Fam
Awa Fam, the No. 3 pick out of Senegal taken by Seattle, drew 67% as the rookie GMs project to be best player in the league in five years. Fam is 6-foot-4 with shooting touch and length on the perimeter. Miles came in second at 33% in that vote. That flipped the order of the Rookie of the Year poll, where Miles took 73% and Fudd was second at 20%.
France went unanimous as the country outside the U.S. producing the best WNBA talent right now. That’s up from 92% a year ago, when Germany got the lone other vote. Golden State forward Janelle Salaün got 20% behind Jones (33%) as best international player.
Gabby Williams, joining Salaün in Golden State, tied with Reese as the offseason addition GMs expect to matter most at 27% each. Golden State also took best home-court at 64% ahead of Indiana (21%) and New York (14%).
In addition to retaining the “best head coach” title, Reeve also took best in-game adjuster at 50%. Becky Hammon of Las Vegas ran second in both, at 40% and 36% respectively and led best-motivator at 43%.
Where Minnesota Landed
Collier got nothing in the MVP poll. She had ankle surgery in March on the ankle she hurt in the semifinals and isn’t expected back until June (the survey was in late April). The MVP runner-up to Wilson in each of the last two seasons is also coming off a 50/40/90 year of 22.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists.
The Lynx still pulled heavy votes outside the title board, as Miles won the Rookie of the Year poll at 73%. The roster around her returns Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams. Natasha Howard signed from Indiana in free agency. Dorka Juhász is back after a year off, though her season debut could be delayed due to a foot issue revealed on Friday.
Further down the ballot, developmental players were picked as the league change requiring the biggest adjustment in 2026 at 42%. The addition of the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire as expansion teams ranked second at 25%. Developmental contracts are new under the CBA, giving teams a chance to add two players beyond the 12-player roster to practice and be active for up to 12 games in a season.
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