After a career-best season for Notre Dame women’s basketball in 2025-26, Cassandre Prosper has been selected by the Washington Mystics with the 19th overall pick (second round) of the 2026 WNBA Draft. The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Most Improved Player was the youngest prospect in the draft at just 20 years old despite having played four seasons with the Irish.
Prosper’s journey to achieve her dream was not an easy one.
A five-star recruit out of Cairine Wilson Secondary School in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Prosper was ranked as the 16th-best prospect in the Class of 2023, according to the SportsCenter NEXT 100. She came to South Bend in the winter of 2022 at just 17 years old, making her first start with Notre Dame almost immediately after reporting to the team.
However, over her first three seasons, Prosper played in just a combined 61 games and started just seven of them. She achieved success away from the Irish, even representing Team Canada in the 2024 Summer Olympics, but Prosper wanted to finally take the next step with Notre Dame after some disappointment and injuries during her freshman-junior years.
In her senior campaign, Prosper started all 36 games and helped the Irish reach their first NCAA Tournament Elite Eight since 2019. She became one of the best wings in the ACC, averaging 13.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 33.2 minutes per game on 49.2% shooting from the field.
Prosper dropped six double-doubles throughout the season. Her biggest moment came when she scored the final three points in a 67-64 win vs. Vanderbilt in the Sweet Sixteen.
Now, she will join her former Notre Dame teammate and 2025 WNBA All-Star Sonia Citron on the Mystics. Standing at 6-3, Prosper’s length and athleticism ― along with her improved confidence and skill-set ― should bode well in her professional career.
Her older brother, Olivier-Maxence Prosper, is currently on the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. He was selected 24th overall in the 2023 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks.
Who drafted Irish transfer Olivia Miles?
With the second overall pick of the 2026 WNBA Draft, Olivia Miles was selected by the Minnesota Lynx. Miles played 101 games, was a two-time Second Team All-American and a three-time First Team All-ACC honoree with Notre Dame before transferring to TCU for one season, where she was named the 2025-26 Big 12 Player of the Year. She’ll team up with Irish alumna Kayla McBride in Minnesota.
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
Betts was projected to go to Washington in ESPN’s last WNBA mock draft, so to see Betts land with the Mystics isn’t a surprise. The Mystics are fresh off of a 16-28 season, with Washington last making the playoffs in 2023.
Betts scored 14.6 points per game, while adding 7.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks during UCLA’s national championship season. The numbers were a bit down from Betts’ monster junior season but it led to more team success, with the Bruins setting a single-season win record for the second year in a row. In addition to the team’s success, Betts became the program’s all-time leader in blocks despite playing at Stanford for her freshman season.
Last year, the Mystics took forward Kiki Iriafen fourth overall out of USC. A year later, Washington doubled down on frontcourt players from Southern California by selecting Betts. In 2022, the Mystics took 6’5” center/forward Shakira Austin third overall.
Washington Mystics select Lauren Betts with the No. 4 in the WNBA draft 👏
The Kansas City Chiefs‘ offense does have a few holes as we approach the draft.
Receiver and a backup tight end for Travis Kelce are two positions, while the offensive line could also do with some reinforcements, but I doubt that will happen in the first round.
Given that Kelce is likely playing his final NFL season, considering his replacement isn’t a bad idea, as his successor could play under Travis for a year and learn from him before taking over in 2027.
For Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, he’s named the Chiefs as a landing spot for star Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq in the NFL Draft.
“Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq remains the most intriguing player in the draft, in my mind,” Breer wrote. “I think you could argue, too, that if you’ve got a creative offensive coordinator/system, he has the best chance of any of the guys in the class to become the focal point of a team’s passing game. The Chiefs and Ravens would be fun landing spots for him.”
Absolutely, they could, and the best thing for Kansas City is that it has two first-round picks to play with.
Seeing as Sadiq is the best tight end in the draft and is seen as more of a receiver than a tight end, the Chiefs, with Andy Reid calling the plays, could put Sadiq in some great positions.
Could the Chiefs take him at No. 9? That might be a little high, but what about at No. 29? That might be too far back in the first-round, as other tight end-needy teams could snatch him up.
Sadiq could be the ideal Kelce replacement, which makes what the Chiefs do at No. 9 such a fascinating story.
Phoenix Suns guard Grayson Allen is listed as questionable for the team’s NBA Play-In game on April 14 against the Portland Trail Blazers at Mortgage Matchup Center.
“He’s working to get back,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said after practice on Monday, April 13. “Just more day-to-day.”
Averaging a career-high 16.5 points in just 51 games, Allen experienced left hamstring soreness in the first half of the April 10 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and was ruled out for the second half.
He didn’t play in the final regular-season game on April 12 at defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, which Phoenix won,135-103.
Allen is the only one listed on Phoenix’s injury report for Tuesday’s game.
“We’re in a good place,” Ott said. “It’s all hands on deck.”
The Blazers have ruled out Damian Lillard (left Achilles tendon injury management), who has missed the entire 2025-26 season. They have Jerami Grant (right calf strain) listed as questionable.
Phoenix is the No. 7 team in the West, while Portland is No. 8. The winner will secure the seventh seed in the Western Conference playoffs and begin a first-round series on the road April 19 against the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs.
“We’re in a good place. It’s all hands on deck.”
Jordan Ott on injuries as Grayson Allen (hamstring) was latest to go down Friday at Lakers.
“He’s working to get back. Just more day-to-day.”
On Haywood Highsmith (knee) return Sunday at OKC: “We just trust him when he’s out… pic.twitter.com/MXY3HPDq1z
The loser will face the winner of the 9-10 game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors for the eighth seed in the West on April 17 and a first-round matchup against the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder, the top overall seed in the 2026 playoffs. That first-round matchup also would begin April 19.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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NASCAR released the 2026 AdventHealth 400 and O’Reilly Series entry list for Kansas on Monday afternoon. Kansas is the first 1.5-mile track since Darlington Raceway from March 20 to 22, but it won’t feature the Truck Series. The NASCAR level has an off-weekend.
All 36 full-time drivers are present for the 2026 AdventHealth 400 on Sunday afternoon. This is the second season in the charter system’s history in which all 36 entries have a full-time competitor. Corey Heim (23XI Racing) is the only open entry, making it a 37-driver field.
Below, you can check out the NASCAR entry list for the Cup Series race at Kansas in April 2026!
NASCAR Cup Series entry list, Kansas Speedway (April 2026)
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – APRIL 13: Josh Naylor #12 of the Seattle Mariners reacts after scoring a two-run home run during the third inning against the Houston Astros at T-Mobile Park on April 13, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Maddy Grassy/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Coming out of the All-Star Break in 2025, the Seattle Mariners had some juice. They’d faltered from their scalding April-May surge, ceding the division lead to the Houston Astros at the start of June with a brutal 4-13 stretch from May 24-June 11th featuring multiple losses to Houston and dismal sweeps. A crucial, prescient drubbing of the Detroit Tigers to close the first half set the club on better footing, and with increased health from their rotation the club took two of three from Houston to start the back half. Dropping the third game in an 11-3 drubbing was a disappointment, a presumed pitcher’s duel that got away from Hunter Brown and Bryan Woo but remained uncorralled by the M’s bullpen on July 20th, 2025.
Today’s 6-2 M’s victory ensures that that date will remain the most recent time Seattle lost to Houston until at least mid-May. It buries the Astros where the Mariners found themselves at the outset of this four game series: last place in all of MLB. It solidifies what Three Nights in Houston dared us to believe: the center of gravity in the American League West is rooted in the Pacific Northwest.
Houston got their best start of the series from young righty Mike Burrows, whose line belies a reasonable enough performance given his task. Hell or high water, which at least three Astros pitchers are on the injured list with I believe, Burrows would be working deep into this afternoon’s game to save a beleaguered bullpen further indignity. 11 hits, six runs, all but one of which came on beautiful, Canadian moonshots. This was a tactical retreat of a ballgame from the start by the injury-riddled Astros, and while that’s no source of joy, the wins count the same.
That’s especially true for three stars of tonight’s game, which will not account for three of the five Mariners to secure multiple hits on the afternoon. Brendan Donovan, Cal Raleigh, and Julio Rodríguez each notched a pair of knocks, looked good doing it, and boded well for the Vedder Cup to come. Raleigh even gets an honorable mention for the most Lastros moment of the evening, an infield single where nobody decided to get him out. You can almost see the deflated spirit of this bedraggled, dying empire in this resigned miscommunication.
But they take standing positions on this train to the honored, seated standouts: Josh Naylor, George Kirby, and Luke Raley.
Raley’s day was lizard-brain simple. Hit ball, line drive. Hit ball, line drive. Hit ball, hmm, let me consider the panoply of optio-just kidding obviously it’s line drive. The absence of Raley in 2025 was muted by Randy Arozarena’s early fireworks and Dominic Canzone’s late emergence, but this has been an excellent baseball player when healthy, and right now he’s just that. That the game capped with two deep fly balls in the park’s most treacherous gap, where Raley came up just short of a Yordan Alvarez robbery over the weekend, was an added bonus.
For Kirby, things progressed as close to perfection as imaginable against a still-potent offense. The efficiency the 28 year old carved through Houston’s order with allowed him to work 7.2 frames, yielding two runs in one inning that might’ve been mitigated with a bolder backstop to challenge his two-strike breaking ball to Taylor Trammell, reversing what became a leadoff single into a strikeout. As it was, Kirby hounded and pounded Houston with sliders, forcing the aggressive offense into the ground on pitch after pitch. For a pitcher who still worked the upper half of the zone prominently, it was a third straight performance reminiscent of Logan Webb or prime Marcus Stroman more than the fly-ball dependent walk-avoider we – and the league – have come to expect.
The moment of the game for Kirby was, in many ways, one that went poorly. With two outs and a runner on in the 8th, manager Dan Wilson strolled to the mound, apparently to a call from J.P. Crawford to let Kirby remain in. After counseling Kirby, Wilson allowed Kirby, at 94 pitches, one more hitter. It sadly was a four-pitch walk to Alvarez, yielding to Matt Brash to tidy the mess with an Isaac Paredes lineout. The message was well-received postgame, however, with Kirby lamenting his poor command at the end but effusive in his praise and gratitude for the willingness of his manager to hear and adapt to the feedback from his players in the moment. Might it have been adjudicated differently without a four-run lead? Perhaps, but with the stakes slightly lower than the typical M’s-Stros matchup at that stage, the opportunity to give the bullpen extra rest in an off-day-free marathon was taken by Wilson, and unpunished by Houston.
Like his fellow sluggers in the heart of Seattle’s order, Josh Naylor was seeking results to match increasingly encouraging processes. Through the first two weeks of the year, he has made his usual rash of intriguing swing decisions, as well as scalding and just missing several big flies and big hits. With a soft single and a scorched double ahead of him by Cal and Julio, Naylor’s missed connection was found, with help from an added mechanical tweak:
Incredibly, upon his next plate appearance, Burrows offered him an encore, a belt-high heater with no buffs or damage reduction. This big day has been on the horizon for the pride of Mississauga, but Mariners and Astros should know better than anyone that chasing the horizon isn’t a surefire avenue to imminent success. Monday, it was enough to lift Seattle’s ships and send Houston scurrying deeper into the cellar, far from the light of the stars they once knew.
Women’s basketball’s future will come to the fore at The Shed at Hudson Yards on Monday, dancing atop the orange carpet before hearing their names called one by one at the 2026 WNBA Draft.
College and international basketball’s finest young talents are slated to take the stage during the spectacle, which represents the informal start of the WNBA season. It’s unclear who will hear their name called first at the festival; Azzi Fudd and Awa Fam seem the likeliest contenders for the crown, although the Wings have remained tight-lipped throughout the draft process
Regardless, the festival should prove a memorable one. With more teams and more picks on the docket than ever before, fireworks are expected to abound plenty across the three-round sequence.
The Sporting News is tracking live results and highlights from Monday’s WNBA Draft. Follow below for analysis from the 2026 WNBA Draft.
WNBA Draft picks 2026: Updated results from Rounds 1-3
Round 1
Pick
Team
Player
School/Country
1
Dallas Wings
Azzi Fudd
UConn
2
Minnesota Lynx (via Chicago)
Olivia Miles
TCU
3
Seattle Storm (via Los Angeles)
Awa Fam
Spain
4
Washington Mystics
Lauren Betts
UCLA
5
Chicago Sky (via Connecticut)
Gabriela Jaquez
UCLA
6
Toronto Tempo
Kiki Rice
UCLA
7
Portland Fire
Iyana Martin
Spain
8
Golden State Valkyries
Flau’Jae Johnson
LSU
9
Washington Mystics (via Seattle)
Angela Dugalic
UCLA
10
Indiana Fever
Raven Johnson
South Carolina
11
Washington Mystics (via New York)
Cotie McMahon
Ole Miss
12
Connecticut Sun (via Phoenix)
Nell Angloma
France
13
Atlanta Dream
Madina Okot
South Carolina
14
Seattle Storm (via Las Vegas)
Taina Mair
Duke
15
Connecticut Sun (via Minnesota)
Gianna Kneepkens
UCLA
Round 2
Pick
Team
Player
School/Country
16
Seattle Storm (via Dallas)
Marta Suarez
TCU
17
Portland Fire (via Chicago)
Frieda Buhner
Germany
18
Connecticut Sun
Charlisse Leger-Walker
UCLA
19
Washington Mystics
Cassandre Prosper
Notre Dame
20
Los Angeles Sparks
21
Chicago Sky (via Portland)
22
Toronto Tempo
23
Golden State Valkyries
24
Los Angeles Sparks (via Seattle)
25
Indiana Fever
26
Toronto Tempo (via New York)
27
Phoenix Mercury
28
Atlanta Dream
29
Las Vegas Aces
30
Washington Mystics (via Minnesota)
Round 3
Pick
Team
Player
School
31
Dallas Wings
32
Chicago Sky
33
Connecticut Sun
34
Washington Mystics
35
Los Angeles Sparks
36
Toronto Tempo
37
Portland Fire
38
Golden State Valkyries
39
Seattle Storm
40
Indiana Fever
41
New York Liberty
42
Phoenix Mercury
43
Atlanta Dream
44
Las Vegas Aces
45
Minnesota Lynx
WNBA Draft news, updates from Rounds 1-3
(All times Eastern)
8:36 p.m. — The draft rights to Flau’Jae Johnson have been traded from the Valkyries to the Storm in exchange for Marta Suarez’s draft rights and a 2nd round pick in the 2028 WNBA draft.
8:26 p.m. — And it’s a new record for the Bruins! Gianna Kneepkens marks the fifth UCLA player drafted in the first round this year.
8:04 p.m. — Raven Johnson is headed to Indiana to join the likes of Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston.
7:49 p.m. — Iyana Martin Carrion is the second Spanish player off the board in this year’s draft. The 20-year-old point guard is the first draft pick in franchise history for Portland.
With the 7th pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, the Fire selects Iyana Martín from Spain 🔥 pic.twitter.com/1uH0K2k1UG
7:44 p.m. — Kiki Rice is the first pick in franchise history for the Toronto Tempo. That makes three straight UCLA players drafted in the first six picks.
7:32 p.m. — With the fourth pick of the draft, the Washington Mystics chose to add some size with Lauren Betts. She is the first UCLA player of the night to hear her name called.
7:13 p.m. — The Dallas Wings select Azzi Fudd with the first overall selection in the 2026 WNBA Draft.
WITH THE FIRST PICK IN THE 2026 WNBA DRAFT THE DALLAS WINGS SELECT… AZZI FUDD, UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT @geico, the official partner of the Dallas Wings draft ⭐
6:26 p.m. — Just eight days removed from a national title, UCLA has several players who could hear their names tonight. And they’re rolling in the orange carpet.
The Natty Champs are coming in hot 🏆
Check out their fits on the Orange Carpet presented by@Coach#WNBADraft presented by State Street Investment Management SPY
The 2026 WNBA Draft will be televised nationally by ESPN, with live coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ET on Monday, April 13.
Host Ryan Ruocco will be joined live on site with analysts Rebecca Lobo and Andraya Carter and reporter Holly Rowe. Elle Duncan, Chiney Ogwumike and Andraya Carter will be on WNBA Countdown leading into the draft.
Viewers looking to stream the WNBA Draft live can do so with the ESPN app.
Apr 5, 2026; West Sacramento, California, USA; Fans filtering in to the grass berm in center field before the start of the game between the Houston Astros against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images | Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images
Athletics pitcher Luis Severino gets his first home start of the 2026 season tonight against the Texas Rangers. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Fresh off a three-game sweep of the inter-league rival New York Mets, the A’s return home today for a division series matchup with the Texas Rangers. Not only are the two teams tied for the lead in the American League West, but they are tied for the second-best record in the American League, period!
Tonight, Luis Severino returns to the Sutter Health Park mound for the first time in 2026. He’s made three road starts and has a 0-1 record with a 5.40 ERA. He’s struck out seventeen batters in 13.1 innings. His challenges at home last season were well documented. In nearly an identical number of innings his splits were dramatic; a 3.02 away ERA compared to a 6.01 home ERA, and a 2-9 home record compared to a 6-2 road record. He’ll go up against 36-year-old righty Nathan Eovaldi for the Rangers. Eovaldi is 1-2 with a 7.98 ERA so far in this young season.
Eovaldi will face this lineup for the A’s in West Sac tonight:
The Toronto Blue Jays are off to a slow start and were tied for last in the American League East, at 6-9, entering Monday. Amid those struggles, the team is adding a 20-home-run bat to its lineup.
Toronto acquired infielder Lenyn Sosa from the Chicago White Sox on Monday. In exchange, 18-year-old outfielder Jordan Rich — a 17th-round draft pick last year — is going to the South Side along with a player to be named later or cash.
Sosa, 26, had a career-best season last year, hitting 22 home runs with 20 doubles, 75 RBI and a slash line of .264/.293/.434 in 544 plate appearances. It was Sosa’s first full season in MLB, and he played in 140 games.
Sosa has struggled to start the 2026 campaign, hitting .212/.212/.303 with three extra-base hits in 33 PAs.
In his MLB career, Sosa has mostly played second base, but the Blue Jays have Ernie Clement (.311 average, .716 OPS) holding down that position. Sosa also has experience at third, having played 65 games there, and that might be where he fits best in Toronto.
Kazuma Okamoto has a .204/.283/.333 slash line through 60 PAs. Defensively, he’s credited with minus-1 Defensive Run Saved and minus-2 Outs Above Average. Sosa isn’t much better with his glove, but if he finds last season’s form at the plate, he’ll provide an offensive upgrade for the Jays.
Designated hitter is another role Sosa could fill with George Springer going on the injured list due to a fractured left toe. While Springer also started slowly, hitting .185/.290/.370 despite four doubles and two home runs so far this year, he put up MVP-caliber numbers last season, with 32 home runs, 27 doubles, 84 RBI, 18 stolen bases and a triple-slash of .309/.399/.560.
To clear a spot for Sosa on the 40-man roster, the Blue Jays moved pitcher Shane Bieber to the 60-day IL. The 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner isn’t likely to return until at least May while he works his way back from forearm fatigue and elbow inflammation.
