Three former Wildcats make official 2026 WNBA rosters ahead of season-opener

Making a WNBA roster is anything but easy, but a trio of former Kentucky players has pulled it off.

The league’s 2026 season begins on Friday night. With the addition of the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire as expansion teams, there are now 15 WNBA teams. With only 12 roster spots allowed for each team, that puts the highest number of possible players at 180. There are always cases where highly talented prospects do not make the finalized rosters. Kentucky head coach Kenny Brooks saw four of his players from last season get drafted, but only one made a season-opening roster. It’s a cutthroat league.

Below are Kentucky’s three WNBA representatives as we enter the the league’s 30th regular season, which runs from May through September.

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Rhyne Howard (Atlanta Dream)
Teonni Key (Toronto Tempo)
Georgia Amoore (Washington Mystics)

It’s go time for these Cats!!! 🤝

Good luck to our girls in the W this season! 💙 pic.twitter.com/hhUGCaIckV
— Kentucky Women’s Basketball (@KentuckyWBB) May 8, 2026

Howard is no stranger to the W. She was the league’s Rookie of the Year in 2022 and has made the All-Star Team three of her four seasons. Her 2025 campaign was the best yet. Howard averaged 17.5 points, 4.6 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals in 34.9 minutes per game for the Dream last season, which set a franchise record with 30 wins. The former ‘Cat finished ninth in MVP voting and was an All-Defense Second Team member. There are high expectations for both Howard and the Dream this season.

As for Amoore and Key, both are technically entering their rookie campaigns.

Amoore, who was an All-American as a senior at UK, missed all of last season after suffering a torn ACL before the season began. The Mystics picked her with the 6th overall pick in the 2025 draft. She’ll be eligible for the Rookie of the Year award if she performs well enough to be in consideration. As for Key, she was the 22nd overall pick in this year’s draft by the Tempo, one of the new expansion teams. Her former Kentucky teammates — Tonie Morgan (32nd), Amelia Hassett (35th), and Jordan Obi (44th) — were all waived by their teams during the preseason.