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Getting underway on Tuesday morning (AEST), the 2024 WNBA Draft is upon us, with three Australians set to be among the 36 selections. Nyadiew Puoch, Isobel Borlase, and Jaz Shelley have all taken different paths to get the opportunity to play professionally in the US, and all will be watching from different corners of the globe as the eyes of the basketball world fall on New York. 
From the hardwood of Hobart to dress fittings in New York, it's been a whirlwind few days for Nyadiew Puoch. And it's only the beginning for the 19-year-old rising Australian basketball star who will be selected in Tuesday's WNBA draft. The athletic 190cm forward, with an epic wing span, teamed 25 points with 8 rebounds for Dandenong Rangers in the NBL1 competition on Friday night before making the journey to the US with her mother Nyakong, a South Sudanese immigrant and single mum to seven children. Puoch has hit the concrete jungle running with outfit preparations, meetings and the commitments that come with being one of the 15 players invited by the league to the draft. "It's cool, I'm excited to experience everything over the next couple of days. Getting picked up and driven around, this doesn't happen every day especially when you're from Australia so I'm taking it all in," Puoch told ESPN. "When I was at the AIS and looking at the pathways, seeing Australians like Ezi Magbegor get drafted inspired me so to be here now it's very surreal, all the emotions."  Still a teenager, Puoch has two seasons in the WNBL, and a championship with the Southside Flyers last season, under her belt. Training and playing with and against experienced, mature bodies has accelerated her development. "Playing with two of the most experienced players in Lauren Jackson and Leilani Mitchell has helped me on and off the court and great imports like Mercedes Russell. Training with them every day, working on getting better every single day and learning new things has really helped." Agent Sammy Wloszczowski believes the team that selects Puoch is investing in the future. "They're getting one of the highest upside players in the WNBA. Nards combination of athleticism, length, skill, basketball IQ and the fact that she is 19, she projects as having as much upside as anyone in the WNBA draft," he said.
Isobel Borlase has a major city on her mind. It's not New York, Las Vegas or Chicago but Paris. The 19-year-old who will be selected in the first-round won't head to the W until 2025 with her immediate goal making the Opals team for this year's Olympics. Selection in Tuesday's draft will be another big milestone in what's shaping up as a special year. "Making the WNBA hasn't been a goal for a long time but over the last few years seeing Ezi Magbegor and Jade Melbourne go there from the WNBL has shown me what could be possible. Now it's here, I'm excited and nervous, the ball isn't in my court anymore," Borlase says. "Right now, I'm training at home in Adelaide, there's a couple of Opals tours on the cards. I'm hoping to do whatever I can with the Opals, the ultimate goal is to get on the final roster of 12 for the Olympics and I'm trying to do everything I can to be on that plane to Paris."  Like Puoch, Borlase has benefited from two WNBL campaigns and with Steph Talbot sidelined for much of 2023-24, the classy guard was the focal point for Adelaide averaging 15.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Her composure has shone at WNBL level and in the first two games of her Australian career. Borlase says her international debut in February at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Brazil taught her plenty. She hit the court for her first minutes in the second game against Germany, racking up 7 points in her first two and a half minutes, then earned a start the following day against Serbia where she scored 12 points. "Going over to Brazil opened my eyes up to the next level, international level. It's more physical and faster paced but I think WNBL has helped me prepare to play against more physical bodies." Borlase will watch ESPN's draft coverage from Adelaide on Tuesday morning with her family, including mother Jenny who played netball for Australia, agent Bruce Kaider, Adelaide coach Nat Hurst and teammates.
Jaz Shelley considers herself an underdog. ESPN's latest mock draft has the Victorian-born guard New-York bound with pick 17 but the 23-year-old says being drafted period would fulfil a life-long dream. "The WNBA is what I've always aspired to, it's been a dream to get drafted. "I'm very anxious for draft night but also really excited. No matter what opportunity comes I'm excited to tackle that and go in with this underdog mentality and try and prove people wrong, no one is expecting me to make a team. "I'm also really excited for the experience and being able to learn from the best players in the world and see what it's like at that next level, I think I'm going to learn a lot." Out of the three Aussies eligible for the draft, Shelley is the only one to take the US college route. However, as a teen she played for the Melbourne Boomers in the WNBL and won the 2018-19 Rookie of the Year award before heading to college, first at the University of Oregon then for the last three years at the University of Nebraska.  Opting to return to the Cornhuskers for year five, Shelley focused on honing leadership skills and working on her mid-range game and finishing around the rim. "College is one of two pathways for Australian athletes and for me it was something I wanted to try and give my best shot. I've had a really interesting five years and I've learned so much from being here and am super grateful for the experience," she explains. "I've learned so much about myself on and off the court, what it's like to have change and struggle away from home." Shelley will watch the draft from Lincoln, Nebraska with her college team mates and coaches.
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