The 2024 NWSL Draft takes place on Friday afternoon starting at 5 PM PT at the Anaheim Convention Center, with the 14 teams making 56 selections over four rounds. Seattle Reign FC currently hold the 27th and 43rd picks, but trades can be made up to and through the draft itself and teams can take timeouts to negotiate deals. The first two hours of the draft will be televised in the U.S. on ION, while the entire draft will be available to stream for free on ION Plus. International fans can watch on the league website.
The Reign are also hosting an official watch party at Rough & Tumble Pub in Ballard for the second straight year. In addition to prize giveaways and games, the team will have information for fans wanting to pre-order new Reign merchandise or become season ticket members.
The Reign traded their 2024 first round pick to Washington last January in exchange for Emily Sonnett, while their 2024 third round pick was sent to Chicago along with some other assets in exchange for moving up four spots in the 2023 draft in order to select Shae Holmes. The Reign also moved up 12 spots in the fourth round of this year’s draft as part of a de facto expansion draft protection trade with Bay FC which saw the California club receive $75,000 in allocation money.
Expansion teams Utah Royals and Bay FC hold the top two picks, with Utah also having acquired the fourth overall pick from Kansas City. Mock drafts have been fairly scattered in predicting the top selections, but some notable names include Savy King (UNC), Maya Doms (Stanford), Croix Bethune (USC), Ally Sentnor (UNC) and Makenna Morris (Clemson).
Areas where the Reign are likely to focus for their two selections are midfield and attacking depth – and this draft has some strong depth in both categories. Current and former Reign players selected in prior drafts in similar positions to where the Reign hold picks this year include Olivia van der Jagt (33rd pick in 2022), Sam Hiatt (33rd pick in 2020), Veronica Latsko (28th pick in 2018), Kristen McNabb (37th pick in 2017) and Dani Weatherholt (31st pick in 2016).
Players in the draft with local connections include Colorado State’s Kaitlin Abrams (Poulsbo/Reign Academy), USC’s Zoe Burns (Issaquah/Crossfire Premier), St. Mary’s Makena Carr (Newcastle/Eastside FC), Seattle U’s Kaylee Coatney (Bonney Lake, Washington Premier), Arkansas’ Bea Franklin (Seattle/Crossfire Premier), EWU’s Madison Kem (Renton/PacNW), Seattle U’s Kacey LaBoda (Granite Falls/Washington Rush), and Pacific Lutheran’s Ella Merte (Auburn/Reign Academy).
The complete list of players registered for the draft is available here.
This is your 2024 NWSL Draft discussion thread, watch with us.
