As the 2025 WNBA season inches closer to the playoffs, several rookies have made significant impact on their teams and showing promise. Compiling a WNBA rookie team is often challenging as there’s often a couple true standouts and then a tier of first year players all in same area.  This year is the same, but after all said and done, the five standout performers making up our WNBA All-Rookie First Team is Dallas Wings’ Paige Bueckers, Sophia Citron and Kiki Irafen for the Washington Mystics, Golden State Valkyrie’s Janelle Salaün and the Seattle Storm’s Dominique Malonga.

We’ll break down the team by backcourt and frontcourt players.

Backcourt: Bueckers and Sophia Citron

Th backcourt of our WNBA All-Rookie team happens to be the two frontrunners for Rookie of the Year. Bueckers will ultimately get the ROTY award, but Citron has adapted to the league just as well. Both guards made the WNBA All-Star Game.

Paige came in as the #1 overall pick and has lived up to the expectations. She not only leads all rookies in points per game, averaging 18.9, which places her in the top 5 scorers in the league alongside MVP candidates A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, and high-scoring guard Kelsey Mitchell. Great company to be in for a first year player. Bueckers court vision and ability to create for herself makes her a natural fit for WNBA. Bueckers is even bringing up conversations  on betting platforms Canada 2025 on whether she is already better than Caitlin Clark. This could be a brewing rivalry when Clark gets back from injury.

Citron is the ultimate complementary star for the Washington Mystics. She is calm, cool and collected -attributes unusual for a rookie. What’s also unusual is that Citron is shooting such high percentages from the field; 47.3% from the field, nearly 44% from three and 88% from the free throw line. All this while averaging 15.1 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.4 assists. Citron has a knack for making the right play under pressure, whether it is finding a cutter in the paint or hitting an open three from the wing. With her ability to balance scoring, distributing, and defending, the 6-1 Citron provides the Mystics with a steady, versatile guard who can adapt to multiple roles and matchups.

Frontcourt: Kiki, Malonga and Salaun

The frontcourt of our All-Rookie team is made up of Iriafen, Salaun and Malonga. We’ll start with Iriafen who is averaging 13.1 and 8.6 rebounds; often putting up double doubles for the Mystics. Her performance was enough for her to be named to the WNBA All-Star roster joining Citron and Bueckers. Kiki brings a physicality not expected from a rookie and it shows.

After a slow start to the season where she received little to no minutes, the 6-6 Malonga has emerged as one of the most versatile centers in the league. Putting up a modest 7.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 0.7 blocks, her averages don’t do justice to her recent play where we’ve seen games of 14 points and 10 rebounds, 22 points 9 rebounds and 3 blocks, and 22 points and 12 rebounds. And Dom Molonga is efficient as she should be as a center shooting majority of her shots at the rim; shooting 55% from the field. That’s good for 3rd in the entire WNBA.

Filling out our WNBA All-Rookie team is French forward Janelle Salaün. As one of the rare NBA brother-WNBA sister duos, the 6-2 Salaun provides not only provides intensity but consistent scoring at 10.8 points and pulling in 4.8 rebounds for the surprise Golden State Valkyries. Watching Salaün play, she is definitely looking for her shot so while she’ll make a few of her step backs, her field goal percentage could be better, but no one in San Francisco is complaining.

The Near-Misses

Not only was Rivers the most difficult omission from this rookie team, she happens to be one of our Interbasket’s favorite rookies. Despite a slow start, Rivers is emerging as an impact player on both ides of the floor; stuffing the stat sheet with points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. Rivers is averaging 8.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.6 steals and leads all rookies with nearly a block per game (0.9). She misses the first team primarily because she has played for the struggling, last place Connecticut Sun in the 2025 standings.

Monique Akoa Makani of the Phoenix Mercury has impressed with her energy and hustle off the bench while showing flashes of defensive versatility. TeHina Pao Pao of the Atlanta Dream has displayed poise as a rookie guard. Leïla Lacan of the Sun has emerged as a reliable floor spacer and defensive presence and knocking down open threes. Lacan’s teammate Aneesah Morrow has made an immediate impact in the paint.

The 2025 WNBA rookie class is already reshaping expectations for first-year players. Paige Bueckers, Sophia Citron, Kiki Irafen, Dom Malonga, and Janelle Salaun form a versatile and dynamic team capable of impacting games on both ends of the court. While Saniya Rivers narrowly missed inclusion due to her team’s performance, her individual contributions remain impressive. These rookies exemplify the depth and talent entering the league, proving that the future of the WNBA is bright and competitive. As teams continue to integrate these young stars, fans can expect even higher levels of play in seasons to come.