LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson selected No. 8 in 2026 WNBA Draft, then traded

LSU star and National Champion Flau’jae Johnson is officially headed to the WNBA.

The four-year starter for the Tigers, who was the first McDonald’s All-American to commit to Kim Mulkey during her time as head coach at LSU, was selected by the Golden State Valkyries with the No. 8 overall pick in the first round of Monday’s 2026 WNBA Draft.

After selling out every home game a season ago, and making the WNBA Playoffs, Golden State added one of the most recognizable faces in this year’s draft.

Less than an hour later, Johnson was on the move.

The Seattle Storm acquired the draft rights to Flau’jae Johnson from the Golden State Valkyries.

In exchange, Golden State acquires the draft rights to Marta Suárez and a 2028 second-round pick.

Johnson leaves Baton Rouge for the Pacific Northwest after a decorated career in purple-and-gold that saw her make a lasting impact on and off the court.

With Johnson arriving at LSU at the start of the NIL era, she developed into one of the nation’s top guards and one of the most recognizable stars in women’s college basketball.

At LSU, Johnson emerged as a dynamic two-way playmaker who could impact the game in multiple ways. Now, she gets to test her game at the highest level of women’s basketball.

After winning a National Championship as a freshman, Johnson helped LSU to back-to-back Elite 8 trips before a buzzer beater against Duke knocked the Tigers out in the Sweet 16 of the 2026 NCAA Women’s Tournament.

During her time at LSU, Johnson was a mainstay in head coach Kim Mulkey’s lineups. Johnson started in 139 of the 141 games she appeared in, totaling 4,117 minutes on the floor as a Tiger.

She averaged 11 or more points in all four seasons of her LSU career, finishing with 2,063 points during her time in purple-and-gold. And, Johnson balanced First-Team All-SEC honors across multiple seasons with her successful rap career, which has in turn allowed her to give back to the Baton Rouge community at a level Mulkey said she’s never seen from a collegiate athlete.

This year, Johnson was the inaugural selection for the Kay Yow Servant Leader of the Year.

Johnson joined a pair of former teammates in Angel Reese and Aneesah Morrow as LSU players to make the jump from Baton Rouge to becoming a first-round pick in the WNBA Draft.

Reese and Morrow were both selected with the No. 7 overall pick, with Reese being picked by Chicago in 2024 before Morrow was selected by Connecticut in 2025.