2024 WNBA Re-Draft: Caitlin Clark still goes No. 1, but how high does Angel Reese climb?

The WNBA's 2024 draft class, led by Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, has transformed the league. Their unique talents, combined with the attention they demanded, made a historic new collective bargaining agreement possible and created an environment where 3.3 million people watched the Golden State Valkyries win their first title by defeating Reese and the Atlanta Dream in Game 7 of the 2026 WNBA Finals. When the 2024 WNBA Draft took place, the Valkyries were little more than an idea, and the league had never even played a best-of-seven series, let alone had a winner-take-all Game 7 for the title. It's almost hard to believe that Clark, Reese and the rest of the 2024 class have been in the league for three seasons now. Next year will be the final year of their rookie contracts, and Clark and Reese are eligible to sign EPIC extensions this offseason. As another long offseason begins, this is the perfect time to revisit the 2024 class with a re-draft. Clark would still go No. 1, of course, but what about Reese, Cameron Brink and French guards Carla Leite and Leila Lacan? Let's dive in. 1. Indiana Fever: Caitlin ClarkOriginal pick: Caitlin ClarkClark set the NCAA scoring record, led Iowa to back-to-back national championship games in her junior and senior seasons and was an international sensation long before she entered the league as the most hyped prospect ever. Regardless of which team won the 2024 Draft Lottery, Clark was going No. 1. The first three seasons of Clark's professional career have not been smooth sailing for her or the Fever, but Indiana would not hesitate to select her again. She immediately established herself as one of the WNBA's best guards with a historic rookie season, has made the All-WNBA First Team in her two healthy campaigns and is an economic engine off the court. The Fever hadn't made the playoffs for seven seasons before Clark arrived. They've made it every season since drafting her, won a franchise-record 28 games in 2026 and have become one of the most popular franchises in all of sports. 2. Los Angeles Sparks: Angel ReeseOriginal pick: Cameron BrinkBrink was a rim-protecting machine in college at Stanford, and her upside as a long, mobile big who could control the paint on the defensive end and space the floor on the other made her the obvious pick at No. 2 for the Sparks with the first of their two lottery selections. If the Sparks had to do it over again, though, they would choose Reese instead. Brink tore her ACL early in her rookie season and has only played 65 games as a pro. Reese, on the other hand, has grown into one of the league's best young bigs thanks in large part to her indefatigable motor. Reese fell to No. 7 despite a historic run to a national championship as a senior at LSU due to serious concerns about her offensive game, which were not unfounded. While she still needs to improve as a scorer, Reese is well on her way to being the best rebounder ever. She won Defensive Player of the Year and was instrumental in leading the Dream to the Finals. She has very clearly become the second-best player in this class, which no one would have predicted on draft night. The Sparks would be in a much better place right now if they had drafted Reese instead of Brink. 3. Chicago Sky: Carla LeiteOriginal pick: Kamilla CardosoCardoso entered the league fresh off her second national championship in three seasons with South Carolina and a dominant NCAA Tournament run as a senior. With her size, defensive ability and efficient interior scoring, it seemed like she would have a very high floor. But while her raw stats have indeed been very solid, she has not been impactful. In fact, the Sky have been slightly better with her off the floor in her first three seasons. Knowing what we know now, the pick for Chicago at No. 3 would have been Leite, who originally went No. 9 to Dallas because of her age, questions about when she would come over to the U.S. and lingering concerns in the pre-2026 CBA era about international players' willingness to prioritize the WNBA. Leite never even played for the Wings, who left her unprotected in the 2025 expansion draft. She then played sparingly as a rookie for the Valkyries, who also left her unprotected in the 2026 expansion draft. In Portland, she finally got a chance when Alex Sarama gave her the keys to the Fire's offense, and she had a breakout campaign that resulted in a third-place Most Improved Player finish. Leite, still only 22, is coming off one of the best high-volume pick-and-roll seasons ever, made tremendous strides as a 3-point shooter and has established herself as a franchise point guard. Even if she had followed the exact same timeline in Chicago, picking her at No. 3 would have been the right call. 4. Los Angeles Sparks: Leïla LacanOriginal pick: Rickea JacksonAfter the Sparks took Brink at No. 2, they waited anxiously to see what the Sky would do at No. 3. If the Sky had taken Jackson, would the Sparks really have taken both Brink and Cardoso? We'll never know, because the Sky took Cardoso, which allowed the Sparks to take Jackson at No. 4. At the time, it seemed like Los Angeles had added the best big and the best wing in the class. Jackson never seemed to mesh with then-Sparks coach Lynne Roberts, however, and despite putting up some big scoring numbers, was traded to the Sky last offseason for Ariel Atkins. Four games into her Sky tenure, Jackson tore her ACL; she missed the remainder of last season and her status for 2027 is unclear. If the Sparks could do it over again, Lacan would be the pick. Like Leite, Lacan fell to No. 10 because she was a young French guard, and she didn't make her WNBA debut until 2025. But since she's arrived, she's been extremely impactful, especially on the defensive end, where she's already one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. In her two seasons, the Sun were 18-35 with Lacan and 4-31 without her as she has, indeed, missed extensive time due to international commitments.There would certainly be spacing concerns with Reese and Lacan, who is an inconsistent shooter, but the defensive potential would be off the charts. Ironically, the Sparks' major issues on that side of the ball are a big reason they still haven't made the playoffs since 2020. Lacan is also still only 22 and has more room to grow than most other players in this class. 5. Dallas Wings: Cameron BrinkOriginal pick: Jacy SheldonHeading into the 2024 draft, the Wings were coming off a semifinals appearance and had a crowded frontcourt, which is why they took Sheldon over some of the bigs still on the board, including Reese. Sheldon had played five seasons at Ohio State, was an elite perimeter defender at the collegiate level and a reliable 3-point shooter. The logic behind the selection made sense; she could come in and fill some needs right away for a team that expected to be in the playoff hunt again. As we know now, none of that happened. Sheldon struggled and was traded to the Sun after her rookie season, and the Wings were a disaster in 2024 (and 2025). Despite their frontcourt logjam at the time, and what has happened to Brink early in her professional career, she would be the pick here at No. 5 if she were still on the board. The defense is very real when Brink can stay on the floor, and it's almost impossible to find players who can protect the rim as well as she can while also being mobile enough to not get exposed away from the basket. 6. Washington Mystics: Rickea JacksonOriginal pick: Aaliyah EdwardsAt the time, Edwards was the obvious pick at No. 7 for a Mystics team that had learned in February it would be without Elena Delle Donne indefinitely (she never played another game for the franchise). Edwards was a standout for UConn, which always produces pro-ready players, and her mobility at her size was enticing. Edwards only lasted one season in D.C. before being traded to the Mystics for Sheldon, whom the Mystics later flipped to the Sky for Chicago's 2028 first-round pick. If they could guarantee that chain of events would happen again, maybe Edwards would still be the choice given the value of the Sky's 2028 first-rounder. But if Jackson was still on the board at No. 7, it would be hard to pass her up, even knowing about her eventual ACL tear. Jackson remains the best wing in this class, and her ability to create her own offense is exactly the type of skill set the Mystics have been missing in recent seasons. 7. Chicago Sky: Sydney TaylorOriginal pick: Angel ReeseThe Sky traded up from No. 8 to No. 7 because they desperately wanted Reese. At the time, there were real questions about their decision to take Cardoso and Reese, which proved to be a mistake. The real issue, though, was taking Cardoso at No. 3 instead of a perimeter player, and getting Reese at No. 7 was tremendous value. Reese would obviously not be on the board for the Sky's second pick in this redraft scenario, so instead they would take Taylor, who is actually on the roster. After going undrafted in 2024 out of UMass and Louisville, Taylor spent a few years playing in Lithuania and Poland. She earned a training camp invite from the Sky ahead of the 2026 season and ended up making the final roster. Taylor ended up playing a big role after Jackson and Skylar Diggins went down with injuries. She was one of the few bright spots for the Sky during another disappointing campaign. She's extremely quick and an elite finisher at the basket, and earned a spot on the All-Rookie Team. 8. Minnesota Lynx: Aaliyah EdwardsOriginal pick: Alissa PiliThe Lynx moved down from No. 8 to No. 7 and got a 2026 first-round pick swap for their trouble, which they eventually used to select 2026 unanimous Rookie of the Year Olivia Miles. It's fair to wonder if they would have won the title in 2024 if they had just stayed at No. 7 and taken Reese, but it's hard to find too much fault in a process that led to Miles. It is easy to criticize Cheryl Reeve's decision to select Pili, who never seemed like a WNBA player. She lasted less than two seasons before being waived and has only played 46 career games. There's no chance the Lynx would select Pili again. Edwards is the pick instead because she would have been a better fit for the Lynx's system than the paint-bound Cardoso. While she's never lived up to her full potential, she finally found her stride in Connecticut last season. Could she have done so sooner in Minnesota? Reeve's ability to develop players and put them in positions to succeed suggests the answer is yes. 9. Dallas Wings: Isobel BorlaseOriginal pick: Carla LeiteThe Wings went draft-and-stash with their second first-round selection in 2024 and nailed the pick. The only problem was they left Leite unprotected in the Valkyries' expansion draft, and she never even played for the team. Leite would be unavailable in a re-draft, but another draft-and-stash player would make sense for the Wings here: Borlase. The Australian didn't arrive in the WNBA until 2026, after she had won MVP of the WNBL in her native country. Very few rookies earn more playing time in the playoffs than in the regular season, but that's just what Borlase did for the Dream in their run to the Finals. She never once looked scared and was one of the few players who could get anything going in the team's Game 7 defeat to the Valkyries. Borlase has a bright future and would be a great fit on this current Wings roster. 10. Connecticut Sun: Emma ČechováOriginal pick: Leïla LacanThe 2024 Sun were a title contender and only rostered 11 players due to salary cap concerns, which made Lacan a perfect option as a draft-and-stash candidate. That turned out to be a brilliant pick, but Lacan would not be available at No. 10 in a re-draft. But given the Sun's roster and cap crunch, they still would have looked for a draft-and-stash player. In that case, Čechová, who we're including in this class because she was eligible for the draft starting in 2024, makes the most sense. Čechová signed with the Lynx last season as an undrafted free agent and was off to an excellent start before tearing her ACL. 11. New York Liberty: Kamilla CardosoOriginal pick: Marquesha DavisAfter losing in the Finals in 2023, the Liberty took a big upside swing on Davis with their late first-round pick in 2024. The Liberty ended up winning the title in 2024 and got nothing along the way from Davis, who only played 29 games with the club before being waived. She is now out of the league. Cardoso is not a good fit for the Liberty's style -- then or now -- but it would be impossible to pass on her at this point in the draft. And if the Liberty didn't want to add Cardoso, they easily could have traded the pick if she was still on the board at No. 11. 12. Atlanta Dream: Jacy SheldonOriginal pick: Nyadiew PuochThe options were pretty limited at this point in the draft, and the Dream understandably went for upside with Puoch, a.k.a., "The Block Doctor." She never ended up playing for Atlanta, but was selected by Portland in the expansion draft and had a nice close to the 2026 season. But if given a redo, the Dream would select Sheldon. The feisty point guard has played for four teams in three seasons, and really struggled in Chicago last season. It's still possible she could become a useful defensive-minded bench guard, especially if she can ever find some stability.