On opening day rosters, Cardinal has the fourth-most players of any school.
Stanford, California – The opening day lineups of the 12 WNBA teams include seven players selected from Stanford in the 28th season of the league, which begins today. With seven in the conference, the Cardinals are fourth out of all schools (UConn is at 16, South Carolina is at 10, and Notre Dame is at 8).
Nneka Ogwumike, who is about to begin her 13th WNBA season, moved to Seattle as a free agent this season after spending 12 years in Los Angeles. Six-time All-WNBA selection and 2016 WNBA MVP Dwyane Wade, Ogwumike is coming off another fantastic season in which he finished sixth in the league in scoring (19.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.8 rpg).
On the Storm, Kiana Williams joins Ogwumike. Williams, who was first selected by the Storm in the 2021 draft, played in 14 games for the team in 2021 and 2022. She is making her WNBA comeback after showcasing her skills in Seattle’s last preseason game, where she scored nine points on three of six shots.
When Cameron Brink takes the floor for the Los Angeles Sparks for the first time, she will become the 34th player from Stanford to play in a WNBA game. Brink, the second overall choice in the 2024 WNBA Draft, had a fantastic senior season, averaging 17.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks while shooting 51.1 percent from the field. Three-time All-American and two-time National Defensive Player of the Year, Brink was the only player in the nation to end the previous season with a PER of 45.75, the best for a major conference player since 2018–19. He also averaged 17.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks per game.
After being selected with the sixth overall selection in 2022, Lexie Hull is set to begin her third professional season with the Indiana Fever. With an average of 4.3 points and 2.2 rebounds in 17 minutes per game, she has participated in 56 career games and started 29, including five last season. The organization exercised Hull’s fourth-year option on her rookie scale contract on Friday.
Haley Jones, a fellow 2021 national champion, is set to begin her second season with the Atlanta Dream. In 2023, Jones participated in all 40 Atlanta games, starting six of them. She had a season-high nine rebounds against New York on June 13, a career-high 23 points against Las Vegas on August 22, and a personal-best nine assists against the Connecticut Sun on June 15.
After spending a season in Chicago, Alanna Smith signed a two-year contract on January 31 with the Minnesota Lynx. 38 games were played by Smith during his time with the Sky, and in 26.5 minutes per game, he averaged career-highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. Selected as a nominee for the Most Improved Player award, she was among the top ten in the league in multiple categories. These included leading the league in two-point shooting (62.6%), total blocks (50), offensive rebound percentage (8.0), steal percentage (2.5), and block percentage (4.1).
Karlie Samuelson signed a two-year deal with the Washington Mystics on Feb. 1 after appearing in 76 games with the Los Angeles Sparks (2023, 2021, 2019, 2018), Phoenix Mercury (2022), Seattle Storm (2021) and Dallas Wings (2019). With the Sparks last season, Samuelson had career-best averages of 7.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 34 games. She also shot a career-high 46.3 percent from the field and 94.1 percent from the free throw line. She was sixth in the WNBA in three-point percentage, shooting 42.6 percent, and joined Jackie Young (Aces), Chelsea Gray (Aces) and Lexie Brown (Sparks) as the only players to shoot at least 45 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep.
Thirty-three former Stanford players have participated in WNBA regular season games since the league’s founding, and seven of them have won a total of eight WNBA championships.
