Duke women's basketball's Lexie Brown, Rebecca Greenwell selected in WNBA Draft

Following an outstanding senior year for graduate students Lexie Brown and Rebecca Greenwell, both players will join the WNBA next season. 

Brown was taken by the Connecticut Sun in the first round with the ninth overall pick. Brown finished her career as the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-ACC selection, averaging 18.8 PPG during her two-year tenure at Duke. The graduate student point guard will join a Sun squad that has already established itself as one of the premier teams in the WNBA, as it finished second in the Eastern Conference last season. 

“I know that they’re a team that’s on the rise,” Brown said to GoDuke.com.  “A lot of young talent. Super excited, I loved watching them play. They like to play fast. They like to play defense. I’m just excited to be a part of the core they’re building.”

Brown is the first daughter of a former WNBA head coach to be drafted in league history—her father Dee Brown coached the Orlando Miracle and the San Antonio Silver Stars in the 2000s. 

Greenwell’s draft stock took a hit due to back and knee injuries toward the end of her career, and Draftsite’s most recent prediction even projected Greenwell to go undrafted. Luckily for Greenwell, this prognosis did not come to fruition, as the Washington Mystics selected her seventh in the third round and 31st overall. 

Despite Greenwell’s health concerns, she managed to perform well enough when she was healthy to earn a spot on the All-ACC second team. Greenwell’s future WNBA squad is another talented team, as it finished third in the eastern conference last season, right behind Brown’s Sun. 

“We are absolutely thrilled for Becca,” Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie said to GoDuke.com.  “There’s no doubt in my mind that she has the passion, the work ethic and the skillset to be exceptional, and we are very proud of her and excited for her that she was recognized in this way and has been given the opportunity to make her professional dreams come true.”

Brown will join former Blue Devil point guard Jasmine Thomas in the Sun's backcourt, and Greenwell will team up with former Duke stars Monique Currie and Krystal Thomas in Washington.