With the 2023 regular season order and the table set, we now have a general draft order ready: 1. URFC 2. BAY 3. CHI 4. KC 5. HOU 6. LOU 7. DC 8. ORL 9. NJY 10. LA 11. RGN 12. NC 13. POR 14. SD First-round trades already done include NC getting HOU's #5 overall pick, ORL getting LA's #10 overall, and DC getting RGN's #11. For other trades, I expect URFC and particularly BAY to try trading their picks (each round honestly) and lean more into free agency to build their core since that's probably more reliable. That said, even with free agency being active now and the global market heating up and seeing the draft become less and less influential over time, we're still at the point that we get a handful of impact players in their first year and strong players for their teams through the years. Some from recent drafts include: 2021 - Fox, Rodman, Pickett, Ryan, McKeown, Coffey, Pickett, Heilferty 2022 - Girma, Howell, DeMelo, Ordonez, Dickey 2023 - Thompson, Nighswonger, Bright I don't know how deep the upcoming draft class is or which young players will declare before using all their NCAA eligibility.
BAY has received ORL's natural first-round pick in the 2024 college draft (i.e. the earned #8 pick and not the #10 pick ORL got from LA) in exchange for $50K of allocation money and protection in the expansion draft.
Alright, I guess we might as well just fold in expansion draft discussion into this, making it a catch-all draft thread for both the college draft and expansion draft. Because... Two big trades yesterday, with players "returning home" in exchange for expansion draft protection: --ORL sends Mikayla Cluff (BYU alum) to UTA in exchange for $90k in allocation money (and e.d.p.) --KC sends Alex Loera (Santa Clara alum) to BAY in exchange for $175k(!) allocation money (and e.d.p.) ORL now has full protecting in the expansion draft. Also, BAY has shelled out $225k in allocation money to get one player and one mid-first-round college draft pick.
I missed this earlier, a trade affecting both drafts: LOU sends what looks like a whopping $235k in "alternative" allocation money and their natural 3rd-round pick (34th overall) to BAY in exchange for e.d.p. and BAY's natural second-round pick (i.e. 16th overall) A note on "alternative" allocation money: it's not money to use directly, but basically the right to use more, i.e. the allocation money system's version of cap space As I understand it, alternate allocation money is Racing giving Bay the right to purchase allocation money that Racing had previously not used. So Racing isn’t giving them money but the chance to buy more of it. https://t.co/kkTtGvG5cA— Bekki Morgan (@bekki_morgan) November 17, 2023
IF UCLA's Reilyn Turner decides to turn pro early, she would probably be drafted very high. Personally, I would take her over any eligible seniors right now
She has announced she is leaving UCLA on her Instagram. She used all four years of eligibility and she graduated. So I think it is safe to say she is going pro. I don't see her transferring for a three month season for a 5th year when she is so talented.
For those who subscribe to the Athletic, here's their list of 30 players who they think are good prospects for NWSL: https://theathletic.com/5102371/2023/12/01/womens-college-cup-ncaa-nwsl-draft/ 9 of the players made it to the College Cup, and two or three on the list are internationals.