WNBA Rookie Rankings: Flau’jae Johnson catches up with Azzi Fudd, Olivia Miles still on top after career night

5. Awa Fam

Although Fam has had some unproductive games offensively in the past two weeks, she still contributes in other areas, whether it’s with rebounds, assists or steals. She started to shake off her recent shooting struggles — which included four games shooting under 34% from the field — with her performance against the Chicago Sky on Wednesday. Fam scored 14 points on 40% shooting, including two 3-pointers, which is always a dangerous skill set in a center. She also added seven rebounds, three assists, one steal and two blocks to the stat sheet. 

Seattle’s 6-20 overall record is certainly not ideal, but as the Storm’s young roster develops, this team could be a lot more dangerous in the future.

4. Sydney Taylor

Taylor is a dynamic scorer, which was on full display with her 17 points on 50% in the Sky’s 95-90 win over the Storm on Wednesday afternoon. 

Sometimes it is easy to forget that she went undrafted but has been one of the most impressive rookies this year. Taylor has scored at least 15 points in her last four games and her overall efforts this season are helping her make history. Her 12.9 points per contest are the most ever by an undrafted player in their first WNBA season. She has also officially joined Azzi Fudd, Olivia Miles and Flau’jae Johnson as the only rookies to have made 100 field goals so far this season. 

She certainly made an impression on Seattle’s rookies in their matchup. “I was talking to her telling her, ‘Damn, you nice, where’d you go to college?’ I didn’t know she was undrafted,” Johnson stated.

“She’s confident, you know? She came down the left side, went like this with the left between me and [Dominique Malonga] and finished. I stated, ‘Oh yeah, she cold, she got my respect.’ …I didn’t even know she was a rookie. So I was like, wow, Chicago really got a gem.”

2. Flau’jae Johnson

Johnson climbed to No. 2 this week because of the significant role she is playing as a leader for a young roster. She had an outstanding performance on Wednesday with 25 against the Chicago Sky while going 11 for 17 from the field. The Storm lost, but Johnson played a key role in keeping them in the game. 

This was her second 20+ points performance in the last two weeks. Besides her scoring, she also contributed with six rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block on Wednesday. Even in the games she struggles to score, such as going 0-5 against Portland, Johnson locks in for rebounds and however else she can help out her teammates. This week she became the first rookie this season to reach 300+ points, 135+ rebounds and 30+ assists.

2. Azzi Fudd

At this point in the season, Fudd has probably done enough to be considered for one of the All-Defensive teams. She is third across the league in steals with 1.7 per game and is leading all guards in blocks with 0.9 per contest. However, her presence can be felt on both sides of the court. Dallas has one of the top five offenses in the league with 89.5 points per game, and Fudd is a big part of it as she is one of four double-digit scorers with 13.3 points per game. 

She once again showed her impact on both sides of the court in the 96-91 win against the Chicago Sky. She had 16 points and a defensive performance that included two steals and a block against fellow rookie Sydney Taylor.

1. Olivia Miles

Miles set a new career high with 33 points in the 104-100 win against the Mercury. That was her second 30+ point game and 10th with at least 20 points. She did so efficiently as she shot 10 of 16 from the field, as well as 5 of 8 from beyond the arc while adding eight assists.

In the process, Miles became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 400 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists, which she achieved in just 22 games. Miles continues to lead all rookies in scoring while averaging 19.4 points per game. This puts her at No. 8 overall across the league, behind No. 7 Caitlin Clark, who is averaging 20.1 points per contest.