Cotie McMahon will turn her attention to the 2026 WNBA Draft less than a month after Ole Miss ended its women’s basketball season in the NCAA Tournament, and the league has invited her to be in New York when the picks begin. McMahon is one of 15 prospects invited to attend the draft, scheduled for April 13 at The Shed at Hudson Yards at 6 p.m. CT on.
The invitation underscores how quickly McMahon has moved from the college season to pro draft watch. She averaged 19.5 points, 3.0 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game this season while shooting 45.1% from the field and 28.6% from 3-point range, and she also won SEC Newcomer of the Year, made the All-SEC first team and earned All-America honorable mention from, the and the USBWA.
Mock drafts place McMahon in a wide range. projected her at No. 9 to the Washington Mystics, The Athletic projected her at No. 14 to the Seattle Storm, and, CBS Sports, The Sporting News and Sports Illustrated each projected her to the Connecticut Sun at No. 15. Bleacher Report had her going to Connecticut in the second round at No. 18.
That spread reflects the uncertainty that hangs over every draft projection, but the larger picture is clear for Ole Miss. If McMahon is selected, it would make three straight years that an Ole Miss player has been drafted, four players drafted under coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin and nine players taken overall. The run has become part of the program’s identity, and McMahon’s name now sits in the middle of it.
The final call will come on April 13, when McMahon is expected to be at the center of one more moment that tells the story of Ole Miss under McPhee-McCuin: the Rebels keep sending players to the next level, and this one arrives with enough buzz to stretch from the lottery into the second round.
