The 2025 WNBA Draft gets underway on Monday evening, and we'll soon know who the next generation of league stars is.
For those tuning in to Monday night's action, some folks may be wondering why some of college basketball's biggest stars aren't part of the league's event.
Just like the NBA and other leagues across the country, the WNBA has certain eligibility requirements before they are able to enter their names into the draft.
Let's take a look at why the likes of USC's JuJu Watkins, UConn's Azzi Fudd, UCLA's Lauren Betts or TCU's Olivia Miles aren't taking place in Monday night's draft.
📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
Notable NCAA stars not in 2025 WNBA Draft
There are a couple of reasons for this. Some players aren't eligible for the draft, since they are too young.
Here are the requirements to enter the WNBA draft, per the league's website:
WNBA teams select from a pool of up-and-coming college basketball players, as well as others playing in leagues across the world.
The league requires domestic draft entrants to be at least 22 years old during the year in which the draft takes place and to have no remaining college eligibility or to renounce any future college eligibility. International draftees must be at least 20 years old during the year in which the draft takes place.
In some other cases, a player was eligible for the draft but chose to remain in college instead.
MORE: SN's latest WNBA mock draft
JuJu Watkins, USC
Watkins just finished out her sophomore season at USC. Before her season-ending ACL tear she suffered in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, she was averaging 27.1 points per game with 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists. She was named The Sporting News' Player of the Year for 2024-25.
Although she would likely be one of the top players taken in this year's WNBA Draft, at just 19 years old, she isn't eligible for the draft at this point.
Lauren Betts, UCLA
UCLA's Lauren Betts is one of the country's best centers, coming off the best season of her career with the Bruins in 2024-25. Last season, she averaged 20.2 points per game, including 9.5 rebounds and 2.9 blocks.
She helped lead UCLA to a 72-65 victory over LSU in the NCAA Tournament, finishing with 17 points, six blocks and seven rebounds in the victory. UCLA lost to UConn 85-51 in the Final Four, while Betts still had 26 points in the loss.
Betts will turn 22 in October, so she'll be eligible for the draft in 2026.
Azzi Fudd, UConn
Unlike Betts and Watkins, Fudd actually was eligible to declare for the WNBA if she wanted to. She is 22 years old, but has one year of eligibility remaining with the NCAA. She helped lead UConn to their first national championship since 2016, finishing in the title game against South Carolina with a team-high 24 points, adding five rebounds and three steals.
Although Fudd could have gone to the league after this season, she opted to return to UConn for one more season in 2025-26. Fudd said in an interview with ESPN that her coach, Geno Auriemma, told her he didn't think she reached her full potential as a player just yet.
"He said, 'I would say 10 games, maybe, you've played to your full potential of who Azzi Fudd really is and so you wouldn't do yourself justice leaving,'" Fudd said via ESPN. "You would leave here not doing what you could in a UConn uniform.' I was like, 'Yeah, he has a point.'"
Due to various injuries, Fudd hasn't played too many full seasons at UConn. She played in 25 games for UConn in 2021-22, and just 15 in 2022-23. She then suffered a torn ACL two games into her season last year. During her first full season healthy for UConn this year, she finished averaging 13.6 points per game.
"Having someone of Azzi's ability and the way she can just control a game, she just hasn't had an opportunity, at this point, to fully show who she is, what she can do, what impact she can have on our program and on college basketball," Auriemma told ESPN. "So hopefully being here another year, having an injury-free year, knock on wood, can remind everybody this is the Azzi Fudd that was coming out of high school, and can we get a full year out of that? I'm as excited as anybody, our fans, anybody to see what can happen."
Olivia Miles, TCU
Olivia Miles has also chosen to return to school in 2025-26, despite being eligible for the WNBA draft. This past season for the Fighting Irish, she averaged a career-high 15.4 points per game, adding 5.8 assists, 5.6 boards and shot 40.6 percent from three.
The guard from Phillipsburg, New Jersey also suffered an ACL injury at the end of the 2022-23 season, and it caused her to miss the 2023-24 season entirely. Miles feels as though she still has yet to recover from the injury, stamina-wise.
“My physical shape could be better,” Miles said via The Athletic. “This injury, it’s a long, long process. Even after you’re healed, getting the rest of your body to catch up. I would say I’m not even 75 percent of the way there yet.”
After Notre Dame's 2024-25 season, Miles entered the transfer portal and has since signed with TCU for her final season next year. The Horned Frogs made it to the Elite Eight last year.