There are a lot more people looking to collect WNBA rookie cards of the top WNBA rookies of 2025 than there were at this point last year!
If we have learned anything from collecting the best 2024 WNBA rookie cardsincluding Caitlin Clark and Co., this basketball card market will continue to explode.
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 top 2025 WNBA rookies are already among the best players ready to play in the 2026 season!
We really enjoy ranking rookie cards, as evidenced by our “Best Basketball Rookie Cards Ever” article that we update every few months. We also just posted our 2025 Topps Basketball Rookie Card Rankings!
So ranking the top WNBA rookies of 2025, along with their Donruss rookie card numbers, is a natural. We expect to release a “Best WNBA Rookie Cards Ever” page soon, but until we have that “page” to point to, we’ll point you to another “Paige”!
Why is Donruss WNBA 2025 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’re getting Rated Rookie cards for the best WNBA rookies of 2025! Wouldn’t you kill for a Rated Rookie Caitlin Clark card right now!?!
Additionally, the 2025 Donruss WNBA set is graceful, with only 100 cards on the basic checklist. I pre-ordered three mega boxes from Dick’s Sporting Goods, and I have a great chance of filling out the set since there are 150 cards per mega box! Hot diggety!
These Mega Boxes contain (on average) one autograph or memorabilia card, and 20 insert cards or parallels!
That means I can make some great Caitlin Clark inserts in her Donruss debut! Am I being greedy when I say I want Caitlin Clark ‘Crunch Time’, ‘My House’ and ‘Downtown’ inserts? (OK, I’ll just take a Downtown CC!)
As for the rookies in these inserts, Bueckers and Sonia Citron are both represented with various inserts, including Downtowns!
There are 15 Rated Rookies to pick up, and almost half of them are represented in our list below!
7 Best 2025 WNBA Rookies: Focusing on 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 pick out your favorite rookie cards for next season!
1. Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings
‘Buckets’ was the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year favorite in 2023-2024 while recovering from a torn ACL at UConn. While Clark paved the way for Bueckers to get even more publicity after CC’s stellar rookie season in 2024-2025, it was up to PB5 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 you throw in her rookie-leading 1.6 steals per game, and you see her as the complete player we all knew she was.
Obtaining 2025 Donruss WNBA Paige Bueckers rookie cards will be on every card collector’s to-do list.
Comparing apples to apples, Clark’s rookie season wasn’t much better than Bueckers’, as far as the stats indicate. Bueckers had 0.7 more points per game, but CC blew her away with 3.1 more assists.
They are certainly different players, as Clark is a much bigger threat from deep, while Bueckers commands 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 points for a rookie in WNBA league history (just behind Clark and Seimone Augustus in 2006)!
Let’s not forget that the Wings have a great opportunity to land UCLA center Lauren Betts with the No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft. Betts down low and Bueckers up top is starting to take shape 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 top free agents to accentuate the abilities of their new star. Either way, this is going to be a fun Magic vs. Bird world!
2. Sonia Citron, G, Washington Mystique
The rookie out of Notre Dame was deadly from three-point range, leading the league in shooting at 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 playing, you’ll love Citron for the next decade!
Citron was the only other rookie to receive Rookie-of-the-Year votes (two) not named Paige Bueckers.
3. Kiki Iriafen, F, Washington Mystique
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 freshman All-Stars, becoming only the second rookie duo to ever accomplish the feat.
For many young WNBA post players, their biggest problem in transitioning from college to the pro game is that the pros are so much stronger. Iriafen was strong from the jump and held her own on the post.
4. Dominique Malonga, C, Seattle Storm
The collectors who only look at the statistics before starting newbies will ignore this French future phenomenon. At just 19 years old (she turns 20 in November), the youngest member of the French national team, which won the 2024 Olympic silver medal, averaged just 14.3 minutes per match. That was by design, as Seattle spent much of the year fighting for a playoff spot and getting more minutes as the season progressed. She only played 8.8mpg in the first half and 20.3mpg in the second!
While centers aren’t super collectible 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 again by a Game 2 double-double!).
This Cameroon-born center has high upside, just like her rookie cards.
5. Aneesah Morrow, F, Connecticut Sun
Morrow, Angel Reese’s protégé at LSU, has a brighter future offensively while still being a beast on the plate.
Along with fellow rookie Saniya Rivers (below), Morrow is a bright spot in the sun (hey!), but it may be a few years before we see their rookie cards become must-owns.
6. Saniya Rivers, G, Connecticut Sun
Rivers has the ability to do and fill whatever the team needs, which could help her play a much bigger 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 at point guard for Citron and Iriafen. But a torn ACL a week into training camp ended Moore’s season early. The Australian has talent – and a nice team awaits 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 carded in the 2025 WNBA Donruss checklist (she went undrafted in 2023 and went on to play 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 on 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 #91); Hailey Van Lith, G, Chicago Sky (card #88) and Kaitlyn Chen, G, Golden State Valkyries (card #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 on purchasing! Have fun with your hobby!
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