Rhyne Howard separating herself as No. 1 pick in 2022 WNBA Draft

Following a blockbuster trade earlier in the week, Rhyne Howard is now widely considered the favorite to hear her name called with the first overall pick in next week’s WNBA Draft.

On Wednesday, the Washington Mystics traded away the No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft — which is set for Monday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN — to the Atlanta Dream for the No. 3 and No. 14 picks in the upcoming draft, along with the right to swap a 2023 first-rounder. Howard has long been considered a projected top-two pick in the draft, falling to either the Mystics at No. 1 or the Indiana Fever at No. 2.

However, following Wednesday’s trade, the consensus is that the Dream will now take Howard with the top pick. How do we know this? Well, two of ESPN’s women’s basketball experts, Rebecca Lobo and LaChina Robinson, said as such.

During a pre-draft media conference call on Thursday afternoon, both Lobo and Robinson answered various questions regarding players in the upcoming draft, including plenty of questions revolving around Howard. The two analysts were confident that the top three prospects, in order, are Howard, Baylor’s NaLyssa Smith, and Ole Miss’ Shakira Austin.

Poking around various mock drafts, that feeling is shared across the board. Three high-profile mocks from ESPN, The Athletic, and SB Nation have been updated since Wednesday’s trade, with all of them slotting Howard at No. 1 overall to the Dream.

As part of Thursday’s conference call, four different high-ranking members of the Dream, Fever, Mystics, and Seattle Storm also answered questions from the media. One of those people was Fever interim general manager Lin Dunn, who Wildcat fans might remember from her time as the special assistant to the head coach for Kentucky WBB beginning in 2018.

Dunn was initially hired at UK back in 2016 under then-head coach Matthew Mitchell as an assistant. But the Hall of Famer returned to the pro ranks back in February with the Fever, where she was the head coach from 2008-14, even winning the 2012 WNBA Finals. During the call, KSR asked Dunn for her thoughts on Howard’s game and potential as someone who has been particularly close to her throughout the majority of her college career.

“Rhyne is uniquely prepared for the next level,” Dunn said. “I think there were a couple of players, two or three players in this draft that I think are going to have smooth transitions into the pros and are not only going to play, but they’re going to have an impact. And I think Rhyne Howard is one of those players. Any time you can play four positions — the one, two, three, four, and play them well — then you’re special.”

The lone knock on Howard’s game throughout the pre-draft process (and really over her final two seasons in Lexington) has been her motor. Whether that criticism is fair or not is an entirely different argument, but it’s certainly been a talking point.

Some have pointed to Kentucky’s lack of complementary talent next to Howard over her career, which hindered her individual production. On top of that, the ups-and-downs of the 2021-22 season, culminating with three potential starters all putting their names in the transfer portal — as The Athletic’s Chantel Jennings points out — surely didn’t help her consistency either.

Put her next to WNBA-caliber players and the season-long rhythm might come easier.

Dunn went on to say that Howard being surrounded by better talent will boost her game, which sounds simple to say, but what she meant is that more talent will allow Howard to unlock aspects of her game she couldn’t at Kentucky. During Howard’s four seasons as a Wildcat, she played alongside just one teammate who made an All-SEC team: Maci Morris during the 2018-19 season, which was Howard’s rookie campaign. UK never had a team talented enough to reach the Sweet 16 in any of Howard’s four years.

“I think Rhyne — everybody talks about her motor and I think she played on a team this year where she had to conserve her motor in order to play 40 minutes every game and carry a team. She has the motor, she uses it when it’s needed. She is exceptional when she’s playing with better players around her and if anybody wants to see her at her best go watch her games in USA Basketball, where she won gold medals every time she participated and was MVP of every one of those competitions. So I think Rhyne is going to have a huge impact on the league.”

Howard has been a projected top pick in the WNBA Draft since the end of her freshman season. In just a few days’ time, she’ll make her dream a reality and finally take her first step into the professional ranks.