After conducting a flurry of business before the WNBA draft even got started, the Minnesota Lynx then selected a trio of players in the second and third rounds Monday night.

The team was scheduled to pick No. 11 overall in the first round, but the Lynx traded that selection to the Chicago Sky on Sunday in exchange for Chicago’s first-round pick in 2026.

The Lynx then dealt their own first-round pick in the 2026 draft to the Washington Mystics on Monday in exchange for 6-foot forward Karlie Samuelson, who averaged a career-best 8.4 points per game last season.

That meant Minnesota did not pick until the third selection in the second round (15th overall) when it tabbed 19-year-old Russian small forward Anastasiia Kosu, who has been playing for Russian professional team UMMC Ekaterinburg and was named the Russian Women’s Premier League’s player of the year for the 2023–24 season.

At age 14, she represented Russia at the 2019 FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship, where she averaged 18 points and 15 rebounds per game. The 6-1 Kosu played two professional seasons with the Dynamo Kursk before Russian clubs were suspended from 2021–22 EuroLeague Women play after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Lynx then used their second pick in the second round (24th overall) to select 6-4 Washington forward Dalayah Daniels, who averaged 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Huskies this past season.

That included 29 points and 15 rebounds in her team’s two wins over Minnesota — Feb. 26 at Williams Arena (14 points, 10 rebounds) and March 5 in the Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis (15 points, 5 rebounds).

Her efforts helped lead Washington to its first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2017. The All-Big Ten honorable mention pick played her first two seasons at California before playing three seasons for the Huskies.

Minnesota closed out the draft by picking 6-1 Connecticut guard/forward Aubrey Griffin in the third round with the 37th pick overall. Griffin averaged 4.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in 16 games (1 start) as the Huskies captured a national title this past season.

The teammate of Hopkins graduate and UConn star Paige Bueckers, who was selected with the top overall pick by the Dallas Wings on Monday, averaged nine points and six rebounds per game in 14 matchups (5 starts) in 2023-24.

She missed the 2021-22 season due to injury, but returned in 2022-23 to average 11.3 points and 6.6 rebounds in 35 games (30 starts).