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7 Biggest WNBA Draft Busts

by Spencer Toth - 9/16/2026

Biggest WNBA draft busts Mya Hollingshed

The WNBA Draft can represent an opportunity for struggling franchises to find the next cornerstone of their franchise. When the Indiana Fever drafted Caitlin Clark first overall in 2024, it instantly revitalized their franchise and sent them back to relevancy for years to come. 

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However, things don’t always go to plan. 

The WNBA draft allows teams to select a potentially strong player coming out of college, but there is no guarantee the draftee will pan out. No matter how much game film a team combs over or scouting they do on a player, the WNBA is a whole different challenge than college basketball. There have been disastrous flops due to injury, lack of talent, and overhyping heading into the draft. One draft year stands out as particularly disastrous, and here are the seven biggest WNBA draft busts of all-time. 

#1 Charli Collier, No. 1 Overall, 2021

Charli Collier entered the 2021 WNBA draft with one of the strongest resumes in the sport, but panned out to be one of, if not the biggest, WNBA draft bust of all-time. The 6-foot-5 Texas native stayed home to play for the Longhorns and was quickly turning into one of the best centers in basketball. Her combination of size and strength was rarely seen at the collegiate level, and it allowed her to truly dominate down low. In her junior year, the final season before she was drafted, Collier averaged 19 PPG with 11.3 rebounds, 4.4 of which came from the offensive glass. She was part of the All-American second team, was a finalist for the best center in the country, and was already draft-ready before her senior year. She declared for the 2021 WNBA draft, and the rest was history. 

Collier was drafted first overall by the Dallas Wings, who were still searching for their first playoff victory as a franchise. Collier was expected to anchor the floor on both ends, and started 18 games during her rookie year. However, her collegiate dominance looked like a thing of the past as she averaged just 3.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game as a rookie. Her role shrank even further the following season, as she came off the bench to average 2.0 PPG with 0.6 rebounds. The Wings quickly realized the mistake they made and ended up waiving Collier after 45 career games, as she finished her WNBA career with an average of 2.9 PPG and 2.5 rebounds. Considering the Wings spent the first overall pick on Collier and she was out of the league after two years, it is hard to dispute that Collier was the biggest WNBA draft bust of all-time. 

#2 Chelsea Dungee, No. 5 Overall, 2021

Chelsea Dungee was taken fifth overall in the 2021 WNBA draft by the Dallas Wings, four picks after Charli Collier was selected. Dungee was the third top-five rookie ready to join the Wings, as the optimism was growing in Dallas. However, just as Collier quickly fizzled out, Dungee had an even shorter WNBA career. 

Dungee looked like one of the safest scorers available in the 2021 WNBA draft, averaging 20.5 and 22.3 PPG across her final two collegiate seasons. The Oklahoma native began her career at home before transferring to Arkansas, where she quickly became one of the best scorers in the nation. She had no fear of driving into the lane where big bodies waited, and had a knack for getting even better against ranked opponents. Dungee looked like the perfect star to instantly impact a WNBA franchise, but that was far from the case. 

Dungee appeared in just 14 games as a rookie without getting a start before being waived prior to the 2022 season. She scored just eight points in her entire WNBA career, an incredibly low total for a top-five draft pick. She was unable to find success in the paint, rarely got to the free throw line, and shot an abysmal 17.6% from the field. For a player with high hopes of leading a franchise, it doesn’t get much worse than the brief and unsuccessful career of Chelsea Dungee. 

#3 Kysre Gondrezick, No. 4 Overall, 2021

The Dallas Wings swung and missed on both Collier and Dungee, but they weren’t the only franchise to make a costly mistake in the 2021 WNBA Draft. The Indiana Fever had the fourth overall pick, and made one of the biggest draft reaches of all-time when they took Kysre Gondrezick fourth overall. 

Gondrezick came from a basketball family as her father, Grant Gondrezick, played in the NBA while her mother, Lisa Harvey, won a national championship at Louisiana Tech. Kysre Gondrezick was always expected to become a basketball star, and it looked as though she was taking that path after averaging 40.5 PPG as a high school senior. Her scoring didn’t stop when she went to college, scoring 16.3 PPG across her entire college career with 19.5 PPG and 4.5 assists in her senior year. The draft hype around Gondrezick was there, but most experts still had her as an early third-round pick. 

The Fever had other ideas, as they used the fourth overall pick to bring Gondrezick to Indiana. It was a massive reach that instantly backfired, as Gondrezick played only 19 games as a rookie, scoring 36 total points on 28.3% from the field. The Fever only gave her one season before waiving her, and she went unclaimed by the rest of the league. After two years on the sidelines, Gondrezick came back to play five games with the Chicago Sky, but failed to make an impact. Gondrezick never lived up to her last name, and fell well short of the expectations for a lottery pick. 

#4 Kendra Wecker, No. 4 Overall, 2005

Kendra Wecker had plenty of hype around her heading into the 2005 WNBA Draft with one of the strongest resumes in the class. She spent all four years of her collegiate career with the Kansas State Wildcats, and is still one of the best in the program’s history. As a senior, she averaged a double double with 21 PPG and 10.1 rebounds, winning Big 12 Player of the Year and earning First-Team All-American honors. Not only did she compete in college basketball, but she also finished 6th in the javelin while competing on the track and field team. It was clear Wecker had the combination of physical talent and on-court skill to become a real star, and she was an incredibly hyped prospect in 2005. 

The San Antonio Stars selected Wecker with the fourth overall pick, but her WNBA career was derailed almost immediately. Wecker tore her left ACL during the first game of her rookie WNBA season, and missed the entire year. She returned the following season, but was unable to get her career back on the level of a top-five draft pick. She ultimately played only 58 games, averaging 3.7 PPG and 1.8 rebounds, ending her career in Washington at the age of 25. The injury played a huge role in Wecker not developing into a premier talent, and things get even worse in hindsight when you look at who went next in the 2005 draft. Sancho Lyttle went fifth overall and became a two-time All-Star with 14 seasons in the WNBA as one of the best defensive forwards. Temeka Johnson went sixth overall, won Rookie of the Year, lasted a decade in the league, and won a championship in 2009. Tanisha Wright, an All-Defensive Team mainstay, was also taken 12th overall, making Wecker’s short and unsuccessful career sting even more for San Antonio. 

#5 Chantelle Anderson, No. 2 Overall, 2003

There are few players who had a better collegiate career in the post than Chantelle Anderson. The 6-foot-6 center was a dominant force in the paint, and once she got into an isolated post, it almost always resulted in a score. She is still one of the most decorated players in Vanderbilt history, averaging 21.6 PPG and 7.3 rebounds while shooting more than 65% from the field. She left college as the program’s all-time leading scorer with a deep run to the Elite Eight on her resume, and was ready to take on the WNBA. Her combination of size, efficiency, and a polished low-post game made her a seemingly risk-free prospect. 

The Sacramento Monarchs took Anderson second overall, but her WNBA career never came close to matching those expectations. She spent time with Sacramento and San Antonio before being out of the league five years later, averaging 4.1 PPG and 2.0 rebounds across 124 games. She was unable to translate her college dominance to the WNBA, and the pick aged even worse due to who was taken next. Cheryl Ford went third overall and became a four-time All-Star, WNBA champion, and won Rookie of the Year. Anderson had a longer career than some of the others on this list, but she was still the worst second overall pick of all-time. 

#6 Sandora Irvin, No. 3 Overall, 2005

Sandora Irvin entered the 2005 WNBA Draft as one of the most dominant defensive players in college basketball. Defensive skills are often easier to translate from college to the WNBA, but that was not the case for Irvin. After finishing her college career with 480 blocks including an NCAA-record 16 in a single game, Irvin was a menace in the paint. She more than chipped in on offense with 19.9 PPG and 11.8 rebounds, making her look like a potential franchise frontcourt player. 

The Phoenix Mercury bought into the hype by taking Irvin third overall, but she never came close to matching her college stats. She played only 12 games as a rookie and spent most of her career as a reserve player. She did suit up for 111 games in her career, but averaged just 1.7 PPG and never averaged more than 3.8 PPG in a single season. She was unable to make an impact on the defensive end, and her offense was never the selling point of her game. She did spend 6 seasons in the league, but bounced around on four different teams, and only started two games in her career. From a third overall selection, this is certainly a bust. 

#7 Mya Hollingshed, No. 8 Overall, 2022

Mya Hollingshed built an impressive resume during five seasons at Colorado, going from a rotational player to one of the most reliable forwards in the conference. She led the team in scoring in each of her final three seasons, racking up 1,681 points and 911 rebounds in her college career. She was always in the running for All-American honors, and looked ready for the WNBA heading into the 2022 draft. Was she? We will probably never know.

The Las Vegas Aces took Hollingshed with the eighth overall pick, but she never played a single game for the franchise. She was waived before the season began, giving her an unusually fast exit for a top-end draft pick. Hollingshed tried to continue her career overseas, and earned tryouts with Phoenix and Connecticut in 2024 and 2025. They were also not impressed with what they saw, and Hollingshed has still not played a game in the league. The fact that Hollingshed went from a top-eight pick to never playing a game and being sent overseas, gives her one of the strangest draft stories in league history. 

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