(Editor’s Notice: That is Half 2 of a five-part sequence, that includes the highest 5 rookie campaigns from every decade over the primary 30 years of the WNBA)
Was there a extra thrilling decade than the 2000s, when it got here to WNBA rookie courses?
Whereas the WNBA was attempting to carve its means into the skilled sports activities buffet, albeit like sawing wooden with a butter knife, sports activities followers of different leagues have been partying prefer it was 1999.
But there was a giant worry with the WNBA, as questions concerning the league remained in place.
Will there be sustained curiosity? Will extra followers be part of the present ones?
Most significantly, will there be extra stars?
Fortunately, the basketball Gods shone upon us and gave us a plethora.
Whether or not or not sports activities followers have been prepared to simply accept girls’s basketball, the celebs who started sculpting the WNBA painted a transparent image of simply how gifted faculty gamers have been by the point they graduated.
With the quantity of star energy that was splashing the league each Spring, there was a perception that there was endurance, that the pipeline was primed, and there can be extra expertise that was getting higher exponentially.
And at this level, the league wasn’t counting on very many overseas gamers, because it was predominantly home. Due to NCAA powerhouses like UConn and Tennessee, it shortly grew to become obvious that girls’s basketball on the WNBA degree may maintain.
Week 2: THE 2000s
All 5 of this week’s choices earned Rookie of the Yr honors and may deservedly obtain credit score for serving to lay the WNBA’s basis.
Even for newer WNBA followers who not too long ago jumped on the bandwagon, three of the names ought to sound acquainted, as every of these gamers retired in every of the final three seasons.
Right here is our 2000s‘ prime 5 rookies:
1. CANDACE PARKER, Los Angeles Sparks (2008)
There is a authentic argument that Parker had the best rookie season in WNBA historical past, a degree we’ll make in a couple of weeks. A stretch 4 who had the instruments of a guard, Parker gave us the primary glimpse of somebody her dimension who may rip and run. Recent out of Tennessee and from beneath the Pat Summitt umbrella, we hadn’t seen many individuals in faculty, not to mention the WNBA, make the most of her quick-trigger muscle tissues to chop towards the basket after receiving a cross with deliberate intention to attain earlier than the protection may even arrange. And this was somebody who had dunked at Tennessee, and ultimately, throughout her rookie marketing campaign.
Parker had a eager means to command the offense like no one we had seen, but. Coaches, teammates, analysts and followers could not wait to see what she would do with the basketball. All eyes have been glued to Parker in case she had a one-handed flush in thoughts. From the second Parker entered the league, she grabbed the viewers by the shirt collar. In 2008, Parker averaged 18.5 factors, 9.5 rebounds and three.4 assists, led the league in rebounding and double-doubles, and led all rookies in scoring and blocks. She’s nonetheless the one participant in WNBA historical past to win Rookie of the Yr and MVP in the identical season.
2. DIANA TAURASI, Phoenix Mercury (2004)
There is a motive many individuals imagine Taurasi’s picture is the silhouette embedded within the league’s vertical orange emblem. Her in depth profession that earned the moniker GOAT started with a splash in her rookie season. The primary-overall decide in 2004, Taurasi got here into the WNBA speaking the speak and backing it up. The three-time Nationwide Champion out of UConn was a pro-ready from Day 1 for a taking pictures guard as you are going to get. Enjoying for Geno Auriemma had her prepared to hold the load greater than anybody else we had seen recent out of faculty. Definitely extra so than another UConn product, as Auriemma was constructing his manufacturing facility.
Although she wasn’t named an All-Star in her rookie marketing campaign – a smaller pool made it tough to earn a nomination as a rookie – she represented the US Olympic staff in Athens and helped Crew USA earn gold that summer season. Taurasi, who averaged 17.0 factors, 4.4 rebounds and three.9 assists per sport, was nonetheless unstoppable in her first season and shortly made a reputation for herself. It was the primary time analysts started evaluating a WNBA participant to an NBA participant. Every thing regarded easy for her, as her progress as a rookie and collectively over her first two years as knowledgeable honed her abilities and ready her for a pairing with Cappie Pondexter. They ultimately shaped some of the deadly offensive duos we would ever see.
3. TAMIKA CATCHINGS, Indiana Fever (2002)
With the league simply turning six, there have been a handful of two-way gamers who complemented their sturdy go well with with stellar play on the reverse finish. Catchings, nonetheless, grew to become the primary participant requested to hold the offensive and defensive hundreds. Catchings appeared tireless in doing it. She could have been essentially the most full two-way rookie the WNBA had seen to that time, because it wasn’t her rookie affect for the Fever she supplied; it was a celebrity’s affect. Her power was unmatched. If Parker entered the WNBA wanting like essentially the most gifted participant on the ground, then it was Catchings who entered wanting just like the participant you completely didn’t wish to compete in opposition to for 40 minutes.
And what made her rookie season much more spectacular was she was coming off a torn ACL suffered throughout her senior season at Tennessee and had missed your complete 2001 WNBA season rehabbing. She was technically a second-year participant however performed her rookie marketing campaign in 2002, when she averaged 18.6 factors, 8.6 rebounds and a couple of.9 steals per sport en path to profitable Rookie of the Yr. Her basketball IQ grew whereas sitting out the 2001 season, absorbing the sport like a sponge. Scoring, rebounding, defending a number of positions, forcing turnovers, dealing with the ball, creating hustle performs that would change possessions and the complexion of a sport, Catchings grew to become the prototype for one of many biggest gamers we would ever see down the highway in Maya Moore.
Olivia Miles has scored in double figures in 5 straight video games to begin the season🔥
That is the longest streak by a Minnesota Lynx rookie since Seimone Augustus in 2006. pic.twitter.com/EeN5MOmBfS
— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) Might 22, 2026
4. SEIMONE AUGUSTUS, Minnesota Lynx (2006)
Augustus opened eyes along with her slick maneuvering, as she may manipulate the dribble drive or the step again, and did it with such swag and effortlessness. Augustus strolled into the WNBA with knowledgeable scorer’s mentality already absolutely developed, and introduced a Rucker Park vibe along with her as a result of she was simply so cool about her method. And that baffled some, as this was somebody from the nation, born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and seemingly fed from delivery with humble pie. That stated, her kindness stopped on the baseline, as she was lethal as soon as she stepped on the court docket. If there was anyone who had basketball in her blood, Augustus confirmed us the lab reviews.
As a rookie, Augustus averaged 21.9 factors per sport, completed second within the league in scoring, and made the All-Star staff en path to profitable Rookie of the Yr. Her 21.9 scoring common set the WNBA rookie report. Augustus‘ excellence with the basketball in her hand by no means wavered, and he or she by no means confirmed worry with the shot clock winding down. Be it a step-back jumper, a step-through or a Euro step, we have been witnessing Augustus do issues earlier than anyone else. A scholar of the sport, she strengthened a genetic code laced with basketball rhythm by watching different gamers – within the W or the NBA – and likewise internationally, after which taking snippets of their sport to construct her personal model. Augustus epitomized work ethic away from video games, practising and perfecting her abilities. However when she checked right into a sport, it was superb to see how straightforward she made tough pictures look.
5. ANGEL MCCOUGHTRY, Atlanta Dream (2009)
The highest 4 on this record all had distinctive and uncanny intangibles that helped them enter the league with eye-opening impacts. In 2009, the world shortly realized about attacking intuition, one thing McCoughtry had perfected whereas placing Louisville on the map and main the Cardinals to their first Closing 4. Whereas her season numbers did not inform her story – 12.8 factors, 3.1 rebounds and a couple of.1 assists per sport – she additionally did not begin the season as Atlanta’s offensive centerpiece. She had a lot bravado that it took the Dream a minute to catch as much as her, and he or she ultimately grew to become the staff’s go-to attacker. And because the season progressed, the staff’s confidence in her grew. The 2009 Rookie of the Yr exuded optimistic aggression, which might be why the Dream selected her No. 1 general within the draft.
Title the state of affairs, and McCoughtry’s reply was one factor: ATTACK! She did not imagine in passivity, because it belonged nowhere close to her basketball vocabulary, evidenced by her lengthy, violent first stride that humiliated any defender who engaged her. It was extremely uncommon for a rookie to exemplify that high quality, as they typically spend the primary a part of their debut marketing campaign attempting to determine the place they’re and the best way to impose themselves. McCoughtry did not want to determine something and imposed her will on everybody. It was her assassin-like mentality that turned her into one of many league’s most harmful scorers.
