WNBA draft: Sparks select South Carolina guard Zia Cooke at No. 10

The conference call disconnected. Karen Bryant and Curt Miller looked at each other with wide eyes. Bryant, the Sparks’ general manager, couldn’t help but gush to a family friend later about the South Carolina guard that blew her predraft interview out of the water.

“Whatever organization has a chance to bring in Zia Cooke,” Bryant remembered saying, “whatever coaching staff has a chance to work with her and develop her at the next level is a really lucky staff.”

Bryant is part of that lucky organization as the Sparks selected Cooke 10th overall Monday in the WNBA draft. A 2022 national champion, Cooke won the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award as the nation’s top shooting guard this year while averaging a team-high 15.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists.

“We hit a home run, we believe, with Zia Cooke,” said Miller, the Sparks coach.

The 5-foot-9 guard is one of the best two-way players in the draft, Miller said, as the Sparks tried to address short-term needs and long-term goals in their first draft with Miller and Bryant at the helm. To balance their rebuilding process, the Sparks used the 14th overall pick on 19-year-old Australian point guard Shaneice Swain, who is not expected to join the team this year, and took Iowa forward Monika Czinano with the 26th pick.

Cooke and Czinano dueled in a thrilling Final Four matchup that saw Czinano, an All-Big Ten first-team selection, score 18 points as the Hawkeyes shocked Cooke’s previously undefeated Gamecocks. In the career-ending loss, Cooke led her team with 24 points and eight rebounds.

Cooke’s selection will make for a crowded guard rotation during training camp. In addition to trading for point guard Jasmine Thomas, who came from the Connecticut Sun in a deal that gave the Sparks their first-round pick Monday, the team signed veteran guards Jordin Canada, Layshia Clarendon and Karlie Samuelson to training camp contracts. Sharpshooter Lexie Brown also re-signed as a free agent and the Sparks added Chinese national team guard Yang Liwei.

But the 22-year-old Toledo, Ohio, native isn’t scared of competition.

“I know the hard work won’t be a problem for me,” Cooke said during a news conference. “I’m going to be a rookie but I definitely want to use the vets in the best way possible by learning from them. Asking them to watch film with me, asking them to work out with me and just taking it all in for those two weeks. Of course I want to make the team, but I definitely want to get as much knowledge as I can and hopefully when it’s all over, I can be on the team for sure.”

The Sparks didn’t address the gaping hole at small forward, where they will be without Katie Lou Samuelson, who is pregnant, and Stephanie Talbot, who suffered a torn ACL while playing overseas after the team signed her as a free agent. Instead of drafting a rookie to fill the role, Miller said he anticipates acquisitions like Dearica Hamby and Azurá Stevens to step up.

“Clearly mindful of the need that we have at that position and I think the toggle back and forth these last couple days and certainly today was balancing the short-term need with the long-term build,” Bryant said, noting that Talbot is expected to return next season. “When we got to our picks we did a good job of balancing both sides of that equation.”

Cooke, who received a hug from Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike after hearing her name announced at the draft, was the third player out of South Carolina drafted in the first round. Forward Aliyah Boston led the group as the No. 1 overall selection.

USC had its first draftees since 2016 with forward Kadi Sissoko and guard Okako Adika going 29th and 30th, respectively. Sissoko, who led the Trojans in scoring with 15.4 points as they returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2014, went to the Phoenix Mercury while Adika was selected by the New York Liberty. This is the first time USC had multiple players drafted in the same year since 2012.