With 2025 Donruss WNBA finally dropping, we’re all excited about grabbing rookie cards of the best 2025 WNBA Rookies! Who else should we collect besides Paige “Buckets”?
7 Best 2025 WNBA Rookies: Rookie Card Hunt!
There are many more people wanting to collect WNBA rookie cards of the best 2025 WNBA rookies than there were at this point last year!
If we learned anything from collecting the best 2024 WNBA rookie cards, including Caitlin Clark and Co., it’s that this basketball card market is going to continue exploding.
From Caitlin Clark to Angel Reese, from A’Ja Wilson to Napheesa Collier, the WNBA has some great players – both young and experienced! But some of the best 2025 WNBA rookies are already some of the best players ready to ball in the 2026 season!
We’re really into ranking rookie cards – as evidenced by our “Best Basketball Rookie Cards Ever” article we update every few months. We just posted our 2025 Topps Basketball Rookie Card Rankings, too!
So, ranking the best 2025 WNBA rookies, along with their Donruss rookie card numbers, is a natural thing. We expect to build out a “Best WNBA Rookie Cards Ever” page soon, but until we have that “page” to point to, we’ll point you at another “Paige”!
Why is 2025 Donruss WNBA So Interesting?
Unlike last year, when Caitlin Clark’s first cards came out in Select, Panini was kind enough to bring the Donruss brand back to the W. That means – we get Rated Rookie cards for the best 2025 WNBA rookies! Wouldn’t you kill for a Rated Rookie Caitlin Clark card right now!?!
Also, the 2025 Donruss WNBA set is dainty, with a mere 100 cards on the base checklist. I pre-ordered three mega boxes from Dick’s Sporting Goods, and I have a pretty great chance of filling out the set, considering there are 150 cards per Mega Box! Hot diggety!
In those Mega Boxes, there is one autograph or memorabilia card (on average), and 20 inserts or parallels!
That means I can pull some great Caitlin Clark inserts in her Donruss debut! Am I being greedy if I say I want Caitlin Clark “Crunch Time”, “My House” and “Downtown” inserts? (OK, I’ll just take a Downtown C.C.!)
As far as rookies in those inserts, Bueckers and Sonia Citron are both represented with several inserts, including Downtowns!
There are 15 Rated Rookies to pick up, and nearly half of them are represented in our list below!
7 Best 2025 WNBA Rookies: Targeting 2025 Donruss WNBA Rookie Cards
The WNBA season is one of the shortest in all of pro sports, which means the WNBA offseason is one of the longest! That gives you plenty of time to search out your favorite rookie cards before next season!
1. Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings
“Buckets” was the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year favorite all the way back in 2023-24 when she was recovering from a torn ACL at UConn. While Clark cleared a path for Bueckers to get even more publicity following up C.C.’s great rookie season in 2024-25, it was PB5’s job to play even better than many expected!
No other WNBA rookie came close to Bueckers in points (19.2) and assists (5.4) per game, but then when you toss in her rookie-leading 1.6 steals per game, and you see her as the complete player we all knew her to be.
Getting your hands on 2025 Donruss WNBA Paige Bueckers rookie cards will be on the to-do list of any card collector.
Comparing apples to apples, Clark’s rookie season wasn’t much better than Bueckers, as far as statistics go. Bueckers had 0.7 more points per game, but C.C. blew her away with 3.1 more assists.
They are different players, for sure, as Clark is a much bigger threat from deep, while Bueckers drives the lane better. But both are great leaders, and Clark was surrounded by a much better roster in her first season.
Bueckers scored the third-most total points for a rookie in WNBA league history (just behind Clark and Seimone Augustus in 2006)!
Let’s not forget the Wings have a great shot at getting UCLA center Lauren Betts with the No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft. Betts down low and Bueckers up top is starting to shape up nicely against the Fever’s Clark-Aaliyah Boston pairing.
We’ll see if the Wings can duplicate what the Indiana Fever did for Clark in Year 2, bringing in great free agents to accentuate their new star’s abilities. Either way, this is ramping up to be a nice Magic vs. Bird world for years to come!
2. Sonia Citron, G, Washington Mystics
The rookie out of Notre Dame was deadly from 3-point range, leading the league with a 44.4% from behind the arc, and she joined Bueckers as a 2025 WNBA All-Star.
Anyone watching the 2025 WNBA Draft saw a future star in Citron, based on her highlights, her interviews and her marketability. She’s fun to watch and fun to listen to, and if you like Sabrina Ionescu’s game, you’ll love Citron for the next decade!
Citron was the only other rookie who picked up Rookie-of-the-Year votes (two) not named Paige Bueckers.
3. Kiki Iriafen, F, Washington Mystics
While card collectors are licking their lips at the prospect of collecting JuJu Watkins rookie cards in 2027, her former USC teammate is worth picking up in 2025.
Iriafen joined Citron, her Mystics teammate, as first-year All-Stars, becoming just the second rookie duo to ever accomplish that feat.
For many young WNBA post players, their biggest problem in the transition from college to the pro game, is that the pros are just so much stronger. Iriafen was strong from the jump, and held her own in the post.
4. Dominique Malonga, C, Seattle Storm
Those collectors who only check out the stats before looking to load up on rookies will pass up on this French future phenom. At just 19 years old (she turns 20 in November), the youngest member of the French national team, who won the silver Olympic medal in 2024, averaged just 14.3 minutes per game. That was by design, as Seattle was fighting for a playoff spot much of the year, and she got more minutes as the season wore on. She played just 8.8 mpg in the first half, and 20.3 mpg in the second!
While centers aren’t super collectable in the men’s game, Molonga posted a double-double against A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces in her first playoff game (followed by a Game 2 double-double again!).
This Cameroon-born center has high upside, as do her rookie cards.
5. Aneesah Morrow, F, Connecticut Sun
The protégé to Angel Reese at LSU, Morrow has a better future offensively, while still being a beast on the boards.
Teamed with fellow rookie Saniya Rivers (below), Morrow is a bright spot on the Sun (hey!), but it might take a few years before we see their rookie cards become must-owns.
6. Saniya Rivers, G, Connecticut Sun
Rivers has do-it-all ability, filling in whatever the team needs, which could help her carve out a much larger role as she develops in the coming years. One of the best athletes in this rookie class, Rivers ranked seventh in points per game (8.8), and third in steals per game (1.5) last season.
7. Georgia Amoore, G, Washington
The Mystics had three of the top-six picks in the 2025 WNBA Draft, and Amoore was expected to do well as the point guard with Citron and Iriafen. But a torn ACL one week into training camp ended Moore’s season early. The Australian has talent – and a nice team waiting for her next season!
What About Golden State F Janelle Salaün?
Our fifth pick on this list of the best 2025 WNBA rookies would have been Janelle Salaün (23), the Parisian forward for the expansion Golden State Valkyries. But she didn’t get a card in the 2025 WNBA Donruss checklist (she went undrafted in 2023, then played in Italy)! So look for her first rookie cards in another set! Her brother, Tidjane Salaün, was the sixth overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets!
Keep an eye out for the sister’s rookie cards, though, as she was one of the best young rebounders in the league.
Honorable Mentions Whose Cards Are Worth Holding
Te-Hina Paopao, G, Atlanta Dream (Card No. 91); Hailey Van Lith, G, Chicago Sky (Card No. 88) and Kaitlyn Chen, G, Golden State Valkyries (Card No. 90).
Let us know in the comments which of the best 2025 WNBA rookies you like, and which 2025 Donruss WNBA rookie cards you plan to pick up! Have a Happy Hobby!
David Gonos
David Gonos spent 5 years as a CBSSports.com Senior Fantasy Writer and three more years writing with SI.com. Over the past 17 years, his work has been published on NFL.com, MLB.com, FanDuel, FoxSports.com and USA Today. Since 2001, he has been tracking down the Top 50-plus Free Fantasy Football Draft Tools online. You can contact David Gonos here.
