Going pro is the ultimate goal for plenty of college athletes, but it's a surprisingly rare feat. For women's basketball, the estimated probability of women's basketball players moving on from high school to compete in the NCAA is 4.0%. Then, the percentage of that 4% that participates in the NCAA that moves on to play professionally is 0.9%. 

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Is the Answer Abroad?

Unlike football, women's basketball provides more opportunities for their players to play professionally on an international scale. Even though women's basketball players seem to have ample opportunities both abroad and possibly within the WNBA, for years, the players have not entertained the idea of leaving college early to go pro as we see in men's football at the college level as well as men's basketball. In 2016, it was the “second straight season at least one player [was] entering the WNBA draft rather than staying in school.” That year, the player was Michigan State's Aerial Powers. During the previous year, players Jewell Loyd (University of Notre Dame) and Amanda Zauhi B. (Minnesota) were the first players ever to leave their college careers early to prepare for the WNBA draft. 

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Weigh Your Options

So far, we have seen three options for women going pro in basketball: we have women who stay on their college team for the entire time they are there and eligible to play in college. On the other hand, we have those who will play professionally on an international stage. Lastly and more recently, we have seen players declaring for the WNBA Draft and leaving college early. However, there is one more option of a way of going pro in women's basketball that combines these previous options. In 2009, we saw Epiphanny Prince, a third-team all-American guard for Rutgers who once scored 113 points in a high school game leave her senior year to go play in Europe for a year before declaring for the draft. 

With all these given options of viable paths to go pro, the WNBA also requires players either to complete their four-year degree or wait four years after graduating high school to be eligible for the draft. So given the lack of upward mobility offered to professional women's basketball players (the maximum salary cap is just north of $200,000 a year) coupled with the inconvenience of competing abroad (and the risk involved–see Brittany Griner), the vast majority of women's college basketball players are best served getting their degrees rather than declaring for the Draft early and leaving school to take on later. 

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* Originally published on January 17, 2023, by Ashton Royal