Being born into a basketball family means the annual WNBA Draft is my Met Gala. Watching NCAA players walk the red carpet (a first for many of the league's rising stars) is as riveting as seeing which A-listers walk up the steps of the Met Museum on the first Monday in May. And, just as I expected, the 2026 WNBA Draft was another one for the (look) books.
On April 13, the new class of WNBA rookies delivered sartorial slam dunks inside New York City's The Shed. There wasn't an official dress code, but draftees took the step-and-repeat as seriously as their final college game. (Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron, Dominique Malonga, and more set a high bar last year.) Some players kept it cool, like Courtney Williams in a leather jacket and baggy trousers. Others saw this as their opportunity to show up and show out—see: Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, Azzi Fudd, and Gabriela Jaquez in custom Coach gowns.
