WNBA training camps opening. Here's why not every draft pick will make her team's roster

NEW YORK (AP) — WNBA training camps are set to open this weekend and there's no doubt that No. 1 draft pick Paige Bueckers is primed for a pro career in the league.

Not all 38 selections from this year’s draft will have such assurances. The WNBA has potentially 156 coveted roster spots among 13 teams, and other options for pro careers in women’s basketball either in the U.S. or overseas are scarce. Teams can have up to 12 players on their rosters if they fit under the league's salary cap, but most franchises carry only 11.

It’s a sharp contrast from men’s prospects who don’t make NBA rosters. They have other opportunities, including more overseas options and playing in the G League.

The NBA also has 30 teams with 15 players allowed on the regular-season roster, so there are more spots available.

There’s a simple reason why being among those 38 draft picks doesn’t ensure a roster spot: Most of the spots will be taken by returning players.

Last year’s draft class headlined by Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese had 13 players make opening day rosters, which was down two from the previous season and four from 2022. Many teams draft international players to stash them overseas until potentially having them join the franchise at a future date.

Players have tried to carve out a WNBA chance by playing professionally overseas, but those jobs also are at a premium. Brittney Griner’s nine-month incarceration in Moscow along with the war in Ukraine have led to the elimination of dozens of potential jobs in Russia.

Bueckers, the UConn standout, was picked first overall by the Dallas Wings and is poised to be the cornerstone of the franchise. Notre Dame's Sonia Citron (No. 3 Washington), Southern California's Kiki Iriafen (No. 4 Washington) and Kentucky's Georgia Amoore (No. 6 Washington) all are in a good spot to play on teams that are rebuilding this season.

The Connecticut Sun also are in rebuild mode, which gives No. 7 Aneesah Morrow of LSU and No. 8 Saniya Rivers of N.C. State a good chance to contribute.

It will be a lot harder for second- and third-round picks to remain in the WNBA after training camp.

Of course, it’s disappointing for players who come so close to fulfilling their WNBA dreams but get squeezed out because of numbers. However, it also can be a big deal for fans who no longer get to see a favorite college player on the court.

The league is adding two more expansion teams in 2026, with Portland and Toronto being awarded franchises. That will open up potentially two dozen more jobs.

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

North Carolina State's Saniya Rivers, right, poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected eighth overall by the Connecticut Sun during the first round of the WNBA basketball draft, Monday, April 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

LSU's Aneesah Morrow, left, poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected seventh overall by the Connecticut Sun during the first round of the WNBA basketball draft, Monday, April 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Kentucky's Georgia Amoore, left, poses for a photo with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected sixth overall by the Washington Mystics during the first round of the WNBA basketball draft, Monday, April 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Southern California's Kiki Iriafen, right, poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected fourth overall by the Washington Mystics during the first round of the WNBA basketball draft, Monday, April 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Dominique Malonga, left, poses with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected second overall by the Seattle Storm during the first round of the WNBA basketball draft, Monday, April 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

UConn's Paige Bueckers, right, poses for a photo with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert after being selected first overall by the Dallas Wings during the first round of the WNBA basketball draft, Monday, April 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

President Donald Trump on Thursday visits a U.S. base installation at the center of American involvement in the Middle East as he uses his four-day visit to Gulf states to reject the “interventionism” of America’s past in the region.

In other parts of the Middle East violence flared in the West Bank and Gaza, A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.

with a pregnant Israeli woman killed even as the international rights group ,Human Rights Watch ,said that Israel’s plan to seize Gaza, remain in the territory and displace hundreds of thousands of people “inches closer to extermination.”

Trump plans to address troops at Qatar’s al-Udeid Air Base, which was a major staging ground during the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and supported the recent U.S. air campaign against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis. The president has held up Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Qatar as models for economic development in a region plagued by conflict as he works to entice Iran to come to terms with his administration on a deal to curb its nuclear program.

The President also meets business leaders in Qatar and heads to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Trump sat with GE Aerospace’s Larry Culp and Boeing Co.’s Kelly Ortberg on either side of him on Thursday. Both praised Trump for his support for the Qatar Airways order for Boeing aircraft. Ortberg called it one of the largest orders Boeing has ever had.

A hospital in southern Gaza says 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes on the city of Khan Younis.

An Associated Press cameraman in Khan Younis counted 10 airstrikes on the city overnight into Thursday, and saw numerous bodies taken to the morgue in the city’s Nasser Hospital. Some bodies arrived in pieces, with some body bags containing the remains of multiple people. The hospital’s morgue confirmed 54 people had been killed.

It was the second night of heavy bombing, after airstrikes Wednesday on northern and southern Gaza killed at least 70 people, including almost two dozen children.

The strikes come as U.S. President Donald Trump visits the Middle East, visiting Gulf states but not Israel. There had been widespread hope that Trump’s regional visit could usher in a ceasefire deal or renewal of humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli blockade of the territory is now in its third month.

Qatar’s satellite news channel Al Jazeera long has been a powerful force in the Middle East, often taking editorial positions at odds with America’s interests in the region during the wars that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by al-Qaida.

But during President Donald Trump’s visit to the Gulf Arab nation this week, state-funded Al Jazeera muted its typical critiques of American foreign policy.

The channel, which broadcasts in Arabic and English, broadly covered Trump’s visit in a straightforward manner, highlighting it was the first-ever trip to Qatar by a sitting American leader. Mentions of the Israel-Hamas war, which Al Jazeera often has criticized America over for its military support to Israel, did not include any critiques of U.S. policy. Instead, journalists highlighted Qatar’s role as a mediator in the war and aired comments by Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, calling for a ceasefire.

After a morning meeting with top U.S. and Qatari officials and American defense and aerospace business leaders, Trump heads to Al-Udeid Air Base, a U.S. installation at the center of American involvement in the Middle East. There, he will address troops and is expected to view a demonstration of American air capability.

The president then travels to the United Arab Emirates, the final leg of his first major foreign trip. He will head first to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and then to a state visit hosted at Abu Dhabi’s Qasr al-Watan palace.

The international rights group said that Israel’s plan to seize Gaza, remain in the territory and displace hundreds of thousands of people “inches closer to extermination.”

It called on the international community to speak out against the plan. It said that the new plans, coupled with the “systematic destruction” of civilian infrastructure and the block on all imports into Gaza, were cause for signatories to the Genocide Convention to act to prevent Israel’s moves. It said states should halt weapons transfers to Israel and enforce international arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister, as well as review their bilateral agreements with the country.

Israel vehemently denies accusations that it is committing genocide in Gaza.

The group also called on Hamas to free the 58 hostages it still holds in Gaza, 23 of whom are believed to be alive.

A pregnant Israeli woman has died after she was shot and critically wounded in a shooting attack in the occupied West Bank, a hospital said Thursday.

Beilinson Hospital said that doctors succeeded in saving her unborn baby, who was in serious but stable condition after being delivered by caesarean section.

The Israeli military said a Palestinian assailant opened fire on a vehicle late Wednesday, wounded two civilians. Soldiers launched a search for the attacker.

It’s the latest violence in the Palestinian territory, where the Israeli military has launched a major operation that it says is meant to crack down on militancy. The operation has displaced tens of thousands of people.

Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in months of violence that surged there after the start of the war in Gaza.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani welcomes President Donald Trump during an official welcoming ceremony at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)