The fight for making a WNBA playoff spot is divided among several teams and many rookies are helping their teams in trying to secure a potential playoff spot. Only the first place team, the Minnesota Lynx have clinched their playoff spot. Now, let’s see which rookies had a significant impact these last two weeks in the latest edition of the WNBA Rookies Watch. You can read the previous post here.
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*Note – These are games played from August 5th to August 18th, 2025*
- Paige Bueckers – G, Dallas Wings
Despite the Dallas Wings heading to the lottery this season, they still continue to fight and Paige Bueckers continues to be a key reason why. She has now scored in double-figures in all 28 WNBA games she has played in. She scored a career high 29 points, had five assists and four rebounds and shot 57.1% from the field in a one point loss at home against the LA Sparks. She continues to play as the best rookie among her fellow rookie class as she averaged 20.2 points per game, five rebounds per game and 4.8 assists per game during these two weeks. She also averaged shooting 48.4% from the field during the games in these two weeks. She continues to show why she was the best draft prospect from this rookie class.
2. Sonia Citron – G, Washington Mystics
The Washington Mystics are among the ten teams currently in the hunt for a potential playoff spot and Sonia Citron is doing her best to help her team. In two big wins against the Indiana Fever and the LA Sparks, she scored 21 and 24 points respectively and shot over 60% from three. When the Mystics defeated the Wings on the road, Citron was excellent. She scored 18 points, had six assists and five rebounds. She shot 70% from the field and 50% from three. She averaged 19.5 points per game, 3.5 assists per game and 2.6 rebounds per game.
3. Kiki Iriafen – F, Washington Mystics
Kiki Iriafen continues to stand out among the rookies as the best forward so far. She continues to deliver and contribute in helping the Mystics fight for a potential playoff spot. She had four double-doubles in these last six games during this two week span. She now has 13 double-doubles in her rookie season. She averaged 15.8 points per game, 9.5 rebounds per game and 2.3 assists per game. Just like Citron, Iriafen was excellent in the Mystics road victory versus the Wings. She scored a career high 23 points and finished with a double-double (10 rebounds). She also shot 64.3% from the field.
4. Janelle Salaun – F, Golden State Valkyries
The Golden State Valkyries are also among the ten teams fighting for a potential playoff spot and rookie Janelle Salaun has been doing her best to help out. During these six games in this two week span, the Valkyries went on a four game win streak. In a win against the Connecticut Sun on the road, Salaun scored 16 points, shot 60% from the field and 57.1% from three. She averaged 11.8 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game, two assists per game and one steal per game during this two week span.
5. Leila Lacan – G, Connecticut Sun
The Connecticut Sun are headed to the lottery and the rookies have been getting their opportunity to grow, learn and get better and in this edition of the WNBA Rookies Watch, rookie guard Leila Lacan stood out. During these six games in which she played in, she almost had her first career double-double against the Indiana Fever. In the overtime loss, she finished with seven points and a career high 14 assists. She was spectacular during these last two weeks as she averaged 10.5 points per game, six assists per game, 2.6 steals per game and 2.5 rebounds per game.
Honourable mention: Saniya Rivers, Aneesah Morrow (Connecticut Sun), Dominique Malonga (Seattle Storm)
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