Just like that, the WNBA’s 30th season is off and running. A lot is left to be said as each team is near or at the five-game mark, but the start to the regular season has brought plenty of clarity how each roster will look for the long haul.
There will be a trade deadline and unexpected shake-ups, but that’s not expected for the league’s fresh faces whom front offices invested significant draft capital in during the truncated offseason. The Lynx took Olivia Miles with the second pick in the draft and she looks to be Minnesota’s guard of the future as she remains the early Rookie of the Year frontrunner.
Top pick Azzi Fudd is adjusting to the next level in the Wings’ offense alongside Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale, but she’s already had a couple of strong performances that show why Curt Miller believes in her to provide the scoring and shooting the team needs in order to thrive.
Each year, the WNBA brings us some unexpected first-year players who are ready to contribute at the highest level thanks to their overseas experience. This season, that’s the Mercury’s Jovana Nogić and the Liberty’s Pauline Astier, who have seemingly come out of nowhere and have quickly turned into two of the league’s most exciting rookies.
With a lot to digest across the W, Sports Illustrated is keeping close tabs on the 2026 rookie class throughout each player’s first season. Here’s what we learned this week about the WNBA’s newest standouts:
Gabriela Jaquez steps up for Chicago after Rickea Jackson injury
Jackson’s torn ACL was a brutal blow for the Sky who started the season 3–1 before she went down. Chicago had low expectations entering the season after the offseason deal that sent Angel Reese to the Dream, but the trade with the Sparks to bring in Jackson added a leading scorer alongside the return of Skylar Diggins.
The only good to take out of Jackson’s season-ending injury is the opportunity it provides Jaquez, who general manager Jeff Pagliocca took with the fifth pick in the draft. Jaquez has started each game for the Sky thus far and should get some of the offensive opportunities left from Jackson, who took 12 shots per game before the crushing injury. There’s still Diggins, Natasha Cloud and the continued growth of Kamilla Cardoso, but Chicago needs some production from its forwards as it enters the rest of the season without Jackson.
Jaquez can bring that and she has so far in a small sample size with 12.4 points per game over her first five at the WNBA level. Her best game came in Sunday’s win over the Lynx where she dropped 20 points and eight rebounds as Jackson suffered the devastating injury after 11 minutes of play. The Sky’s hot start hit a bump, but Jaquez’s increased role could pay dividends for the franchise moving forward.
Jovana Nogić may be the most impactful rookie this season
Nogić had a historic 27-point performance in the Mercury’s win over the Sky on Friday. The 28-year-old rookie out of Serbia set the record for the highest scoring game by an undrafted rookie in WNBA history. According to the Mercury, her hot start has made for the second-highest efficiency to begin a season ever. That’s among any player, not just rookies.
Jovana Nogic tonight 🔥
— Women’s Hoops Network (@WomensHoops_USA) May 16, 2026
• 27 points
• 4 rebounds
• 5/8 3PM
• 6/11 FG pic.twitter.com/kYOlHm2EtT
Through her first four games, Nogić had 64 points with an 80.4% true-shooting percentage. Only Ariel Atkins had a more efficient start to the season, while Nogić’s 80.4% true-shooting numbers tops other historic starts to the year from the likes of Sue Bird, Becky Hammon and Jonquel Jones. Nogić is an absolute knockdown shooter as she’s made 15 of her 29 three-point attempts to start the year. Her 15 threes tie Marine Johannès for the second-most across the league, with only Toronto’s Marina Mabrey in front with 18 triples.
Phoenix sorely needed shooting with no Sami Whitcomb to start the year, plus Satou Sabally’s departure over the offseason. Nogić brings that and then some in a way that’s sustainable over the rest of the season.
Pauline Astier leads all rookies in scoring with back-to-back 20-point games
The Liberty had a week off after two straight games out West against Portland. Against the Fire, Astier shined with two straight 20-point games as she has kept New York’s offense afloat without Sabrina Ionescu. Another unexpected rookie standout in addition to Nogić, Astier is a 24-year-old undrafted free-agent rookie who most recently played for USK Praha in Czechia.
She’s a quick guard who has the ballhandling skills to get to the rim and then has the layup package to score there. She shot the ball well over the scoring outburst in Portland, too, as she hit five of her nine three-point attempts in the two games against the Fire.
Pauline Astier tonight 🔥
— Women’s Hoops Network (@WomensHoops_USA) May 15, 2026
• 20 points
• 3 rebounds
• 3/6 3PM
• 7/12 FG
• 22 minutes played pic.twitter.com/OMO1hH2a0K
Astier’s role will likely be reduced upon the return of Ionescu, who’s questionable for New York’s next game against the Valkyries. Even if that’s the case, the French guard brings the Liberty offense some scoring juice off the bench once Ionescu is back in the fold.
The Tempo are on a run and Kiki Rice is a big part of it
Toronto is 3–2 over its first five games in existence. The Tempo got two-straight wins on the West Coast this week and although Brittney Sykes’s consecutive 30-point games led the way, Rice has been a key piece for the expansion franchise early on.
She was the sixth pick in the draft out of UCLA and after a scoreless WNBA debut, she’s hit double digits in each of her last four games. Her best game scoring thus far came Sunday in the win over the Sparks where she had 19 points and five rebounds. She followed that up with 15 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals Tuesday as the Tempo took down the Mercury. Those were her first two WNBA starts and she’s thrived in the role even if it’s in support of Sykes and Mabrey. Rice has connected on her threes at a high clip, too, currently shooting 50% from deep on 2.8 attempts per game.
The Tempo decided to put a competitive roster on the floor immediately through the expansion draft and free agency, but it looks like their front office has hit in the draft early on as well with the addition of Rice, who helped drive UCLA’s championship squad in the spring.
