After conducting a flurry of business before the WNBA draft even got started, the Minnesota Lynx then selected a trio of players in the second and third rounds Monday night.

The team – which finished 30-10 and fell 3-2 to the New York Liberty in the WNBA finals last season - was scheduled to pick No. 11 overall in the first round, but traded that selection to the Chicago Sky on Sunday in exchange for Chicago’s first-round pick in 2026.

They then dealt their own first-round pick in the 2026 draft to the Washington Mystics on Monday in exchange for 6-foot forward Karlie Samuelson, who averaged a career-best 8.4 points per game in 2024.

“Karlie will be on the roster, not competing for a spot. We made an aggressive trade,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “We just felt like for 2025, the team we want on the floor is putting our best foot forward to get back to the finals.”“We were really, really high on (Samuelson),” she continued. “We’re excited. (She) was a piece we had pursued through a fair amount of the offseason. There was finally an opening timing-wise, and we had the asset to be able to do it.”

The dealing meant the team did not pick until the third selection in the second round (15th overall) when they tabbed 19-year-old Russian small forward Anastasiia Kosu, who has played for Russian professional team UMMC Ekaterinburg and was named the Russian Women’s Premiere League’s player of the year for the 2023–24 season.

At age 14, she represented Russia at the 2019 FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship where she averaged 18 points and 15 rebounds per game. The 6-1 Kosu played two professional seasons with the Dynamo Kursk before Russian clubs were suspended from 2021–22 EuroLeague Women play after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We’ve known that she has been playing for a long time at a high level,” Reeve said. “This is somebody who’s really, really hungry to play in the WNBA.”

Reeve said the plan is for Kosu to be in camp with the team this year, though she said she wasn’t entirely sure of the exact timeline on making that happen.

“We expect her to be here,” she said. “I don’t know how long the immigration part of it will take. It may be a little later in camp. I don’t think we can expect her by the start. But the expectation is that she will be reporting.”

The Lynx then used their second pick in the second round (24th overall) to select 6-4 Washington forward Dalayah Daniels, who averaged 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Huskies this past season.

That included 29 points and 15 rebounds in her team’s two wins over the University of Minnesota -- Feb. 26 at Williams Arena (14 points, 10 rebounds) and March 5 in the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis (15 points, 5 rebounds).

Her efforts helped lead Washington to its first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2017. The All-Big Ten honorable mention pick played her first two seasons at California before playing three seasons for the Huskies.

“What we like a lot is a post who plays away from the basket,” Reeve said. “She does that well. She plays in a system where she’s doing a lot of screening and ball-handling at the top. I like her pursuit of the ball rebounding wise. She’s a very smart player, and she just brings really good energy wherever she’s involved.”

Minnesota closed out the draft by picking 6-1 Connecticut guard/forward Aubrey Griffin in the third round with the 37th pick overall. Griffin averaged 4.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in 16 games as the Huskies captured a national title this past season.

The teammate of Hopkins High School graduate and UConn star Paige Bueckers, who was selected with the top overall pick by the Dallas Wings Monday, averaged nine points and six rebounds per game in 14 matchups in 2023-24.

She missed the 2021-22 season due to injury, but returned in 2022-23 to average 11.3 points and 6.6 rebounds in 35 games.

Reeve on Bueckers

Reeve said Bueckers’ being selected with the top pick is a good thing for girls and women’s basketball in Minnesota. Though she said her hope is that Bueckers’ won’t enjoy visiting her home state much – professionally speaking.

The Wings are scheduled to make two trips to Target Center this season – on May 21 and Sept. 1. The Lynx play at Dallas on May 16 and June 8.

“Obviously, there’s been a number of good Minnesota players, but Paige is the best since (former Gophers and Lynx star and current Lynx assistant coach) Lindsay Whalen,” Reeve said.

“It’s fun for the state. I know Target Center will be filled with fans,” she added with a smile. “We just want to make sure that each time she plays here she learns to hate the Lynx.”