basketball player

In less than two months, six UCLA women’s basketball players might be working out with WNBA teams. The draft is April 13, a week after the NCAA national championship game, and the season starts less than a month later.

One of the most consequential pieces of the new WNBA collective bargaining agreement for current college players, including the UCLA super senior class, is expanded rosters.

Not only are two new teams — Portland and Toronto — entering the WNBA this season and adding 24 roster spots, but the new CBA will allow each team to have 12 traditional roster spots and two developmental player spots.

The new developmental players will get housing assistance and can practice and travel with their respective WNBA squads.

UCLA’s Charlisse Leger-Walker, left, and Angela Dugalic, back, swarm California Baptist forward Grace Schmidt during an NCAA tournament game at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Across the country during the NCAA tournament, players and coaches have noted how much the new WNBA CBA changes the future for the next generation of players.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley noted to reporters last week that it’s one of the first times many women’s basketball players will be able to accumulate generational wealth. And they can do so without necessarily having to play in other leagues around the world during the WNBA offseason.

“The WNBA will make you make a choice because you have to be on time in training camp.” Staley said. “It’s worth it now. It’s worth it to actually have your body recover and just play in the WNBA season.”

Last season, just 20 rookies made rosters out of training camp. The fight for those spots might get more competitive for some young players now that the league offers higher salaries and some high-end international players might find it more worthwhile to sign in the WNBA.

Teams are now required to roster 12 players, compared with the option to have 11 instead of 12 under the previous CBA, which allowed franchises to spend more on top players and have less of a cap hit by triming their roster size.

But likely, more players who otherwise wouldn’t have gotten looks or would have been cut during past training camps will now have a realistic shot a developmental player spot.

“I just feel a lot of pride,” said UCLA sixth-year forward Angela Dugalic. “Because of them, I’m able to have a lot of things that they maybe weren’t able to have at the start of their career. And some of them, like, they’re either at the end of their career or they’re even finished right now, they’re still fighting for us.”

The entire UCLA starting lineup — Charlisse Leger-Walker, Kiki Rice, Lauren Betts, Gianna Kneepkens and Gabriela Jaquez, plus Dugalic off the bench — project as WNBA picks, most as early as the first round.

Kneepkens or Leger-Walker (though she was recovering from an ACL injury) would have been WNBA draft-eligible after last season. Their rookie salaries would have been around $70,000, depending on where they were selected. This year, the rookie minimum will be $270,000, and top picks, which Betts and Rice are projected to be, will make as much as $500,000.

“Just like the growth we’re even experiencing now in college, we have so many people before us to thank that. [They] fought for better exposure and TV rights … fought for Title IX and resources to be allocated appropriately,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “I think it’s similar right now in terms of the CBA. We need to really thank the people in that room that fought hard.”

UCLA guard Kiki Rice dribbles up the floor under pressure from California Baptist guard Filipa Barros Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA players are understandably locked in on the NCAA tournament, but they haven’t ignored an important moment.

“I think it’s awesome for women’s basketball and the progress going forward,” Leger-Walker said. “I love that we have players who are willing to advocate and really stand on what they believe in. We’re making steps forward.”

Where they all fit on individual teams or in respective mock drafts will all be more clear after free agency begins in the week ahead of the draft. Around 80% of the league are free agents, so there are going to be plenty of new-look teams.

UCLA players will soon get a chance to join those roster makeovers under working conditions past players never enjoyed.

“I’m just grateful for all the women who fought for what they’ve earned,” Kneepkens said. “That’s just super cool for anyone that’s a WNBA fan and anyone that’s part of it. They made this happen.”

Kaleena Smith averaged 31 points, seven assists and four steals a game this season while playing for the No. 1 program in the Southland, but her expanded leadership role is what earns her the honor of The Times’ girls’ basketball player of the year.

The 5-foot-6 junior point guard marshaled Ontario Christian to the CIF state championships in Sacramento for the first time in the program’s history and along the way her voice spoke almost as loudly as her game — surprising for someone who is not talkative by nature.

“Her numbers speak for themselves but the biggest difference in Kaleena this season has been her leadership,” Knights coach Aundre Cummings, said. “She’s always coming to practice first and leaving last, which teammates respect, but also knowing when to speak up.”

Smith has been nicknamed “Special K” for her talent and charisma, traits that make her one of the top national recruits in the class of 2027. She is garnering attention from multiple college programs. USC women’s coach Lindsay Gottlieb was even on hand to witness Smith score 23 points and contribute six assists in the Southern California regional semifinals against Etiwanda on March 8 and the state championship game against Archbishop Mitty at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

“I’m being more vocal, yes, because I’m gonna have to do that in college,” said Smith, who spent countless hours refining her mid-range jumper this winter. “As captain it’s one of my responsibilities.”

One hundred games into her high school career, Smith is living up to the hype thrust upon her when she was named MaxPreps’ national freshman of the Year in 2024. She passed the 2,000-point plateau when she scored 51 points against Esperanza in November.

Smith paced Ontario Christian to the Southern Section Open Division title as a sophomore and although the Knights were denied a repeat (she had 30 points and five assists in a finals defeat to Sierra Canyon) her stats are better in every significant category. Intertwined with her competitive spirit and winning mindset is the maturity and confidence of an upperclassman.

“Her leadership is what stands out,” sophomore teammate Tatianna Griffin said. “She’s a very quiet person. I’m not sure it comes naturally or not but when she says something we listen.”

Griffin’s own game has blossomed because of Smith’s willingness to give her the ball in clutch situations, and Smith has been a mentor to freshman Chloe Jenkins, who led the team in rebounds (11.3 per game).

Adding leadership to her basketball IQ, court vision, defense, quickness, shooting, passing and dribbling has made Smith a complete player, one who is poised for a senior season worth talking about.

When you’re already an All-American in high school and several new players show up perhaps as talented as you, the challenge is developing chemistry and seeing who’s going to remain humble and unselfish for the good of the team.

Maxi Adams, Sierra Canyon’s 6-foot-8 senior, was the big man on campus until another All-American, Brandon McCoy, showed up this season, along with Brannon Martinsen, a former Trinity League player of the year. Not only did Adams welcome them, he adjusted his game and changed his role.

“Anything for the win,” he said. “Trust the coach’s game plan.”

Maxi Adams of Sierra Canyon rises to deliver a dunk against Harvard-Westlake in Open Division championship game.

(Steve Galluzzo)

Adams continued to contribute as a scorer, rebounder and defender, and when the games got much more important in the playoffs, he asserted himself and delivered, such as a 26-point performance in the Southern Section Open Division final.

The North Carolina-bound Adams has been selected The Times’ boys basketball player of the year for the 2025-26 season.

Sierra Canyon went 30-1 and won the Southern Section Open Division championship and state Open Division title even though Adams was injured in the first quarter of the state final. He averaged 16 points and 7.2 rebounds with 10 double doubles.

“He’s a great player,” said Harvard-Westlake coach David Rebibo, whose team lost three times to Sierra Canyon.

Adams’ development of his skills and maturity over his four years of high school, first at Narbonne, then Gardena Serra and his final two seasons at Sierra Canyon, have been impressive. He went from being uncomfortable as a freshman to being versatile, confident and a leader as a senior.

His willingness to embrace the changes at Sierra Canyon this season were key.

“It wasn’t hard,” he said. “We played well together and spent a lot of time together. At the next level, you’re going to have to be able to play with great players. I just carry that forward.”

His older brother, Marcus, was a standout at Narbonne and played this past season at Arizona State after previously being at Cal State Northridge. For Maxi to handle things this season with his brother far away showed he’s ready to embark on his own journey in college basketball.

As for his mentality, Adams said, “We come to work every single time. We put in the time.”