Bueckers goes No. 1 in WNBA draft, league addresses player safety
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Apr 15, 2025
UConn's Paige Bueckers was the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft Monday. The league also announced some new player safety initiatives.
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The WNBA is one month from their 29th season and has a new crop of star players to bolster its popularity
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Monday, the league's entry draft was held, and like last season when Kaitlin Clark was the number one overall pick
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this year's top player is also no surprise. UConn's Paige Beckers, who led the Huskies to an NCAA title just a week ago
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is on her way to Dallas to revive a Wings franchise that finished 9-31 last season
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Another feather in the cap of the league. WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert talked about capitalizing on the growth Monday
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The momentum from last year has carried over in a big way, fueled by obviously incredible fan engagement
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rising TV viewership in a league stacked with extraordinary talent. But there are some things the league has addressed in the offseason
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namely players' health and safety, and the battle against online hate and vitriol
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Engelbert announced what she called a four-pronged approach to those issues and has set up a task
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force to make improvements. The four touch points include monitoring of players' social media for
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negative comments and threats using artificial intelligence, better in-arena fan conduct standards better security measures at league and player facilities and dedicated mental health clinicians on call for players should they need them I think there is just a continuing drain on all of us on players on staff staff at our teams
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I'm sure on all of you, too, just continuing unaccountability for people who type things in social media
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And our players are digital natives. They're in their 20s, young 20s. And then obviously more veteran players are 20s into 30s and they take everything very hard and it's a toll on them
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Some of the youngest players were drafted Monday. After Beckers went number one overall, the Seattle Storms selected 19-year-old 6'6 center Dominique Malanga from France at number two
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The third and fourth picks were back-to-back from the Washington Mystics. They chose Sonia Citrone from Notre Dame and Kiki Irifin from Southern Cal, an instant rebuild in D.C
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And the fifth pick in the third round went to the expansion Golden State Valkyries
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who made their first-ever draft-picked 19-year-old guard, Justey Juchite from Lithuania. Several teams like Washington, Connecticut and Dallas had multiple first-round picks
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Raising up the bottom teams is crucial for the league's success. Training camps open in just two weeks
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For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis
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