NEW ORLEANS — The 2024 NCAA Women's tournament wrapped up on Sunday, with the South Carolina Gamecocks winning the championship against the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The next step for two of the stars of that game, Caitlin Clark and Kamilla Cardoso is the 2024 WNBA Draft. The draft is set to take place on Monday, April 15, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Clark, who led the Hawkeyes to their second straight national championship game appearance, is expected to be the first pick in the upcoming draft. Cardoso and LSU star Angel Reese are also projected to be picked up in the first round.
The incoming class of rookies is expected to bring the fans who have followed them throughout their college careers with them to the WNBA and help grow the league.
Clark's matchup with Reese in the Elite Eight broke TV viewership records, but that record only lasted until their next game against UConn in the Final Four. The Iowa-UConn game averaged 14.2 million viewers on ESPN, making it the most-viewed women's basketball game on record and the largest audience for an ESPN basketball broadcast. The championship game numbers could break the records once again.
Clark is already affecting WNBA ticket sales. Her future team, the Indiana Fever, has started selling tickets, and the defending WNBA champs, the Las Vegas Aces, announced they would be moving their July 2 matchup with the Fever from the 12,000-seat Michelob Ultra Arena to T-Mobile Arena, which seats 18,000 for basketball.
The draft will air on ESPN and starts at 7:30 p.m. C.T. It will also be available live on the ESPN App.
Here is the 2024 WNBA Draft order:
First Round
- Indiana Fever
- Los Angeles Sparks
- Chicago Sky (from Phoenix)
- Los Angeles Sparks (from Seattle)
- Dallas Wings (from Chicago)
- Washington Mystics
- Minnesota Lynx
- Chicago Sky (from Atlanta, via Los Angeles)
- Dallas Wings
- Connecticut Sun
- New York Liberty
- Atlanta Dream (from Las Vegas, via Los Angeles)
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