NC State's Rivers chosen No. 8 overall in 2025 WNBA draft; James taken with 12th pick
Rivers and James are two of 16 players invited to this year's draft held in New York City.
NEW YORK (WTVD) -- NC State's Saniya Rivers made history on Monday night as the Wolfpack's highest-ever selection in the WNBA draft.
Rivers was selected eighth overall by Connecticut. Her NC State teammate Aziaha James was taken 12th overall by Dallas, where she'll team up with No. 1 overall pick Paige Bueckers.
Bueckers, the versatile UConn star, is the latest Huskies standout to go No. 1, joining former greats Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart.
"Dallas, I'm so excited, a new city, a new start," Bueckers said. "A fresh start, so let's get it."
Bueckers has had a whirlwind week since helping UConn win its 12th national championship on April 6. She has split her time between New York and Connecticut doing morning and nighttime talk shows. On Sunday, she took part in the Huskies' championship parade.
Her UConn teammates, who have meant so much to her, and coach Geno Auriemma were in attendance at the draft, which was held at The Shed in New York with hundreds of fans in attendance. Bueckers choked up when talking about her former Huskies teammates.
"They mean everything to me. They helped me get through highs and lows," Bueckers said.
Seattle quickly followed Dallas' selection by taking 19-year-old French star Dominique Malonga with the No. 2 pick. The 6-foot-6 Malonga was part of the silver medal-winning French Olympic basketball team. She's the first French player to be drafted this high since 1997, when Isabelle Fijalkowski went second.
"I was so proud to achieve that goal," Malonga said. "It showed that French basketball has evolved as we've seen the past few years on the NBA side. We see Wemby (Victor Wembanyama) and Zaccharie (Risacher) show that French basketball is great."
The Washington Mystics, with a new coach and general manager, then took Notre Dame's Sonia Citron with the third pick, and Southern Cal's Kiki Iriafen with No. 4. They also took Kentucky guard Georgia Amoore with the sixth pick. Amoore was dressed on the WNBA's orange carpet by NBA star Russell Westbrook, who has a clothing brand called Honor The Gift. Amoore said Westbrook designed her outfit and was amazing to work with since they first got together on a Zoom session last November.
The expansion Golden State Valkyries made Juste Jocyte of Lithuania with the first draft choice in franchise history.
Connecticut had consecutive picks and took LSU's Aneesah Morrow seventh and then Rivers eighth.
The first round features 12 picks, with 13 in each of the final two rounds.
Six teams don't have picks in the opening round as New York, Indiana, Minnesota, Phoenix and Atlanta traded away their picks. Las Vegas forfeited its pick following an investigation by the league in 2023 that found the franchise violated league rules regarding impermissible player benefits and workplace policies.
NC State was one of only two schools to have more than one player invited to this year's draft in New York City. The other is South Carolina.
James finished her career with over 1,500 points, which is the 12th highest in school history, and 184 3-pointers, the seventh most in program history. The Virginia native became a two-time all-ACC First Team honoree and All-American Honorable Mention selection by AP, USBWA and WBCA.
Rivers also dominated for the Wolfpack, scoring over 1,100 points. She has the ninth most blocks, 14th most steals, and 15th most assists in school history. Rivers was also named an All-ACC First Team selection and All-Defensive Team choice, as well as earning WBCA All-America Honorable Mention honors.
The Wolfpack finished the 2024-25 season with a 28-7 mark and the top spot in the ACC regular season with a 16-2 league record.
Full list of 2025 WNBA draft invitees
1. Georgia Amoore - Kentucky
2. Sarah Ashlee Barker - Alabama
3. Paige Bueckers - UConn
4. Sonia Citron - Notre Dame
5. Sania Feagin - South Carolina
6. Kiki Iriafen - USC
7. Aziaha James - NC State
8. Dominique Malonga - France
9. Aneesah Morrow - LSU
10. Te-Hina PaoPao - South Carolina
11. Saniya Rivers - NC State
12. Madison Scott - Ole Miss
13. Shyanne Sellers - Maryland
14. Aja Sivka - Slovenia
15. Serena Sundell - Kansas State
16. Hailey Van Lith - TCU
ESPN and The Associated Press contributed.