Olivia Miles. Flau’jae Johnson. Azzi Fudd. Kiki Rice. Awa Fam.
Those WNBA rookies, all selected in the first round of the 2026 draft, have already had a lot of success in the W.
But arguably the next five most impactful rookies were NOT selected in this year’s draft. Four of them went undrafted, and the other was a late pick in 2019.
Here’s a look at those five players, and how they have translated their excellence in Europe to the most competitive league in the world. In the comments, let us know which
of these surprising rookies you’ve enjoyed watching the most.
Sydney Taylor (Chicago Sky, 5-foot-9 guard, 25 years old)
- Undrafted out of Louisville (2024)
- 2026 stats: 20.5 minutes / 14.5 points / 1.6 rebounds / 1.7 assists / 0.8 steals / 0.2 blocks / 45.3% FG / 34.9% 3P / 83.3% FT (29 games)
Our Eric Nemchock recently went in-depth on how well Sydney Taylor has been playing.
She spent four years at mid-major UMass before playing for a powerhouse program in Louisville during her fifth year of college. Playing with the Cardinals gave her more exposure, but she only averaged 10.8 points per game that year. Nothing earth-shattering. After going undrafted in 2024, she began playing overseas.
Her 22.8 points per game in Poland caught the attention of the Chicago Sky, who signed her to a training camp contract. Still, she wasn’t a favorite to make the opening day roster, but 24 points in a preseason game changed that.
In response to that performance, Sky head coach Tyler Marsh offered:
What you saw today is what she does. She can light it up quickly. Everyone could use a scorer like that. She has no fear. She believes every shot is going in.
It’s been well-documented how Taylor has kept up the scoring outbursts in the regular season. She has seven games of 20-plus points, including two 30 pieces, to her credit. It must be so sweet for her to be performing at this level in the W after all the obstacles she has faced. Back during the preseason she said:
Been doubted my whole life. “Mid-major, she can’t do it, didn’t get drafted, still can’t do it.” There’s so many doubters, so many haters. Just trying to prove them wrong.
Pauline Astier (New York Liberty, 5-foot-11 guard, 24 years old)
- Undrafted out of France
- 2026 stats: 23.2 minutes / 9.4 points /2.4 rebounds / 3.4 assists / 0.9 steals /0.1 blocks / 55.2% FG/ 32.6% 3P / 88.2% FT (37 games)
The New York Liberty signed Pauline Astier based on her past two seasons playing in EuroLeague Women, when she put up similar numbers in each season. In 2026 with ZVVZ USK Praha, her marks were at 10.2 points, 5.6 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game.
With Sabrina Ionescu out to begin the season, Astier started her debut WNBA season off with a bang, averaging 20.7 points over her second to fourth games. Her scoring volume has since dipped, but the potential is there, waiting to be unleashed again. Her field goal percentage of 55.2 leads all guards and is ninth in the league overall!
Laura Juškaitė (Toronto Tempo, 6-foot-4 forward, 28 years old)
- Undrafted out of Lithuania
- 2026 stats: 24.4 minutes / 9.9 points / 3.9 rebounds / 1.6 assists / 1.2 steals / 0.2 blocks / 45.9% FG / 31.4% 3P / 79.3% FT (35 games)
Laura Juškaitė played for ÇBK Mersin this past EuroLeague season, averaging 12 points and 5.8 boards. She’s been playing professional basketball since 2012, and is finally getting her shot in the W.
This season with the Toronto Tempo, she has 16 double-digit scoring performances, including a career-high 25 points on July 10. She’s shooting just 31.4 percent from 3, but she’s been much better at times overseas. Teammate Marina Mabrey wants her to keep shooting!
María Conde (Toronto Tempo, 6-foot-3 forward, 29 years old)
- Drafted in 2019 out of Florida State/Spain (No. 27 overall)
- 2026 stats: 27.1 minutes / 9 points / 4.7 rebounds / 2.6 assists / 0.5 steals / 0.2 blocks / 36.9% FG/ 36.1% 3P/ 87.8% FT (32 games)
María Conde is similar to her Tempo teammate Juškaitė in that they are both very mobile for their height and can essentially play like guards. Conde has been a better 3-point threat than Juškaitė with 1.7 makes per game at 36.1 percent.
Conde played for Praha for five years, winning the EuroLeague championship and being named to the All-EuroLeague First Team in 2025. She now plays for Beretta Famila Schio. Her 6.4 assists per game in 2025 and 5.9 in 2026 demonstrate that she has the potential to be an elite distributor in addition to her scoring.
She didn’t do much in her two years at Florida State, but she is the biggest EuroLeague star of the players on this list, so her success in the W this year is the least surprising.
Jovana Nogić (Phoenix Mercury, 6-foot guard, 28 years old)
- Undrafted out of Providence/Serbia (2019)
- 2026 stats : 20.2 minutes / 10.4 points / 1.1 rebounds / 1.6 assists / 0.6 steals / 0 blocks / 42% FG / 42.1% 3P / 89.5% FT (16 games)
Jovana Nogić has been a sharpshooter everywhere she’s been, so it shouldn’t have been surprising to see her immediately torch the WNBA nets. She shot 4-for-5 from distance in each of her first two contests.
Olympics? Nogić shot 43.5 percent from beyond the arc in 2024, leading Serbia to the quarterfinals. With UMMC Ekaterinburg in 2025-26? She shot 45.3 percent. At Providence? She shot 40.8 percent with a program-record 323 makes.
Nogić’s Phoenix Mercury announced on June 29 that she would miss the remainder of the season for personal reasons. Her plan is to return to the Mercury in 2027; if she does, she likely has a bright WNBA future ahead of her.
Since four of the five players on this list are international, it’s worth sharing Nogić’s rationale for joining the W this year specifically, upon the implementation of the new CBA, which raised the minimum salary of a WNBA player from $66,079 to $270,000.
Here are her thoughts:
It’s been something that I didn’t know I wanted. It was always my dream, since I was a little girl, to play in EuroLeague. I didn’t think (the) W was possible for me, so I guess I didn’t even let myself dream of it.
Then with more media coverage and attention to the W, at some point I was like, ‘Damn, maybe, I do want to try the W.’ But it was never rewarding enough to make us come. We always had better contracts in Europe. Until this point it was like, there’s no point of going (financially). Now, it just makes sense.
