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As soon as the Dallas Wings won the rights to the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft last year, it was obvious they were going to use the pick to select former UConn Huskies superstar Paige Bueckers, as Bueckers had asserted herself as a generational talent and top superstar during her college tenure.
And that’s exactly what the Wings did. One pick later, the Seattle Storm selected 19-year-old French sensation Dominique Malonga, who is 6’6″, has a penchant for dunking, and boasts a deep offensive skillset that seems poised to translate into the WNBA.
On May 15, the WNBA released a survey that anonymously polled the league’s GMs, asking them many questions regarding the upcoming 2025 season. And several questions that relate to this year’s rookie class are turning heads.
One question was, “Who will win 2025 Kia WNBA Rookie of the Year?” Bueckers received the vast majority of votes (73%), while Malonga’s 18% was the second-most.
But here’s where things get interesting. The next question was, “Which rookie will be the best player in five years?”
Malonga received 60% of the vote while Bueckers only received 40%.
WNBA GM survey voted Dominique Malonga the best player from the ‘25 draft class in 5 years pic.twitter.com/DEWfEwvE8l
— Shabazz 💫 (@ShowCaseShabazz) May 15, 2025
While this is just a prediction, it’s fascinating to hear that over half of the league’s GMs believe Malonga will eventually overtake Bueckers as the best player in this draft class.
Perhaps the most stunning aspect of this is that in five years, Malonga will be just one year older (24) than Bueckers is right now, which surely plays a role in how GMs see their prospects for success.
Bueckers’ Wings and Malonga’s Storm play each other for the first time this season on May 19.
