WNBA Rookies Watch – The Halfway Point of the WNBA Season

We are now approaching the halfway point of the WNBA season, and it is now time for an update for the 2025 edition of the WNBA Rookies Watch. I last wrote a WNBA Rookies Watch blog post when the first two weeks of the WNBA season was over, and I was unfortunately not able to continue to write more WNBA Rookies Watch blog posts due to my physical health and I needed to recover and get better. The bright side to all of this is that I get a full month of rookie performances that I get to analyze and write who the top 5 rookies were for the first month of the WNBA season.

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*Note – These are games played from May 29^th , 2025 to July 1^st, 2025*

1. Paige Bueckers – G, Dallas Wings

Paige Bueckers is off to an amazing start so far as a rookie guard for the Dallas Wings. In her first month of the WNBA season, she scored in double figures in all of them. She scored a career high 35 points in a loss to the Phoenix Mercury and has only shot less than 40% once. It was to the Las Vegas Aces in a four-point loss. As of May 29^th, she is currently averaging 20.75 ppg, 4.25 rebounds per game and 5.37 assists per game. She’s been so great that she was recently named an WNBA All-Star starter. She joins an impressive group of players that were named WNBA All-Star starters in their rookie seasons.

2. Sonia Citron – G, Washington Mystics

Sonia Citron is also off to an incredible start so far as a rookie guard for the Washington Mystics. In her first month of the WNBA season, she scored in double figures, except in one game against the Minnesota Lynx. It was a four-point win, and she was held to just nine points and four rebounds. She’s had two career double-doubles (both were against the same opponent, the Dallas Wings.) In one of those games, it was a three-point win and the other was an eight point loss. She’s only shot less than 40% twice and one was against the New York Liberty and the other was against the Minnesota Lynx. As of May 30^th, she is currently averaging 15.09 points per game, 5.54 rebounds per game and 2 assists per game.

3. Kiki Iriafen – F, Washington Mystics

Kiki Iriafen continues to hold on strong as a rookie forward for the Washington Mystics. She’s slowed down after she got off to an impressive start in her first two weeks of the WNBA season, but she’s scored a career-high 20 points and had 9 rebounds in a WNBA Commissioner Cup loss against the Indiana Fever. She’s had one double-double and that was against the Minnesota Lynx. Her most impressive performance so far was against the Dallas Wings in a three-point win. She scored 19 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and had 5 steals. Remarkable. She’s only shot less than 40% three times. One was against the New York Liberty; one was against the Las Vegas Aces and the final one was against the Dallas Wings. As of May 30^th, 2025, she is currently averaging 12.1 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game. She was named WNBA Rookie of the Month for the month of May.

4. Janelle Salaün – F, Golden State Valkyries

Janelle Salaün went undrafted and has gotten off to a hot start in her WNBA career. Before being temporarily released for her commitment in participating in FIBA Women’s Eurobasket 2025, she was averaging nearly 25 minutes per game (sometimes as high as 39 minutes per game and as low as 21 minutes per game). She’s had one career double-double and that was against the New York Liberty. She scored a career-high 21 points and had 8 rebounds in an eight-point win over the Los Angeles Sparks. She was recently re-activated. From May 29^th to June 9^th, she averaged 11.4 points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game. She’s only shot less than 40% two times. One against the New York Liberty and the other against the Minnesota Lynx. Salaün led the French National Basketball Team to a fourth place finish at Eurobasket and we shall see how she plays during the second half of the season for the Valkyries.

5. Monique Akoa Makani – G, Phoenix Mercury

Monique Akoa Makani went undrafted and is learning to adjust to the WNBA. She typically plays around 22 minutes per game (the highest she has played so far is 28 minutes per game) and is doing the best she can when she receives playing time. She scored a career-high 21 points and had 6 assists in an eight-point win over the New York Liberty. She’s shot less than 40% four times. One against the Minnesota Lynx, one against the Golden State Valkyries, one against the Connecticut Sun and the final one against the Las Vegas Aces. As of May 30^th, she is currently averaging 7.25 points per game, 2.25 rebounds per game and 2.6 assists per game.

These five rookies have stood out so far in the first two months of the WNBA regular season and we shall see if they can continue to do so or if a new player can emerge. Being a rookie is difficult and these five players have shown that they are learning to be just as good as their other fellow WNBA players.

Honourable mention

Lexi Held – G, Phoenix Mercury