During the 2025 WNBA Draft, Paige Bueckers went viral after she endorsed her former UConn Huskies teammates, Kaitlyn Chen and Aubrey Griffin, to be drafted.
Sure enough, both Chen and Griffin were eventually selected, with the former taken by the Golden State Valkyries at No. 30 and the latter going No. 37 to the Minnesota Lynx.
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Ahead of the 2025 WNBA season, however, one of Bueckers’ former teammates who was drafted received some unfortunate news. In the announcement that the Lynx made for their training camp roster, Griffin was noticeably absent.
According to Emily Adams of the Hartford Courant, the “Lynx will hold on to Griffin’s rights for a year as an unsigned draftee, so she could presumably opt to report to training camp in 2026.”
It’s certainly a rather disappointing development for Aubrey Griffin, especially since she’s coming off a national championship win with UConn. She also has career averages of 7.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.3 steals through five seasons with the Huskies.
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However, it’s understandable why the Lynx had to make the tough decision not to include Griffin in their training camp roster and just hold on to her rights for now. After all, this is a Minnesota team that just made it to the WNBA Finals in 2024.
Not to mention that the Lynx will have to eventually cut their roster anyway, since there’s a 12-player limit for the season.
Former UConn Huskies players Paige Bueckers (5), forward Aubrey Griffin (44) and guard Kaitlyn Chen (20) talk to media.Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
It remains to be seen what Griffin will opt to do next in her basketball career. As for her WNBA dreams, she will have to be patient for now.
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