Dawn Staley doesn’t just build champions at South Carolina. She builds professionals. And as the WNBA preseason tips off this weekend, the evidence is on full display in the most emphatic way possible — fourteen former Gamecocks are expected to suit up across nine different franchises and one international program, making this one of the most significant preseason showcases of South Carolina basketball talent in program history.
For fans who want to follow every single one of them, the barrier to entry couldn’t be lower. The WNBA is offering all preseason League Pass games completely free — viewers simply need to create a League Pass login to access the stream. And for anyone ready to commit to the full season, a subscription runs just $39.99 — genuinely one of the best values in professional sports streaming.
Here is everything you need to know about where your former Gamecocks are, what’s at stake for each of them, and how to watch.
Atlanta Dream — Allisha Gray, Madina Okot, Te-Hina Paopao
The Dream field the largest collection of former Gamecocks on a single WNBA roster this preseason, and each player enters camp from a very different position of security.
Allisha Gray is the anchor of the group — a proven, established contributor whose roster spot isn’t a question worth entertaining. Gray has built a durable professional career on the strength of her versatility, competitiveness, and the relentless defensive intensity that South Carolina programs into every player who comes through Columbia. She’s safe, she’s starting, and she’s a reason to watch Atlanta all season.
Te-Hina Paopao and Madina Okot round out the Gamecock presence in Atlanta, and both should feel reasonably comfortable heading into camp. Paopao brings the kind of offensive fluidity and basketball IQ that translates quickly at the professional level, while Okot’s athleticism and length give the Dream options in their frontcourt rotation. Neither faces a serious threat of being cut, making Atlanta one of the safest destinations for former Gamecock talent on this list.
Schedule:
Wednesday, April 29 at Chicago (7:00 ET, League Pass)
Sunday, May 3 vs Washington (3:00 ET, League Pass)
Chicago Sky — Kamilla Cardoso
Few former Gamecocks arrived in the WNBA with more fanfare than Kamilla Cardoso, and the 6-foot-7 center enters preseason as one of the most physically imposing players in the entire league. Her roster spot in Chicago is secure — her presence in the paint is simply too valuable and too rare to put at risk. The more interesting question surrounding Cardoso isn’t whether she makes the team, but how long the Sky hold onto her. Trade conversations have circled the big Brazilian all offseason, and the preseason provides the most current and compelling evidence of her value on the open market.
Until any deal materializes, Cardoso remains a Gamecock the entire country should be watching.
Schedule:
Saturday, April 25 vs Phoenix in Sioux Falls (4:00 ET, League Pass)
Wednesday, April 29 vs Atlanta (7:00 ET, League Pass)
Golden State Valkyries — Laeticia Amihere
This is the storyline of the preseason for former Gamecock fans. Laeticia Amihere was nothing short of a revelation in her first professional season — a player who announced herself to the WNBA with the kind of athleticism, motor, and two-way impact that had fans wondering why it took this long for the league to see what South Carolina already knew. But despite that breakout, Golden State brought Amihere back only on a training camp contract, placing her firmly on the roster bubble heading into the weekend.
That is the cold reality of professional basketball — impressive seasons don’t always translate to guaranteed security, and Amihere will need to use every preseason minute to remind the Valkyries’ front office what they already saw last year. The talent is undeniable. The urgency is real. This is the most compelling individual roster battle among all fourteen Gamecocks on this list.
Schedule:
Saturday, April 25 vs Seattle (8:30 ET, League Pass)
Indiana Fever — Aliya Boston, Tyasha Harris, Raven Johnson
Indiana is the most fascinating Gamecock-heavy situation in the entire preseason, and it presents a genuinely layered competitive dynamic. The Fever are home to three former Gamecocks, each arriving in a very different role — and at least one of those roles carries legitimate uncertainty.
Aliya Boston walks into Fever camp as perhaps the most financially validated player in WNBA history at this moment, having just signed the richest contract in league history. Her roster spot is about as secure as any in professional sports. What makes Boston’s preseason worth watching isn’t survival — it’s the continued evolution of a player who has established herself as the gold standard for the frontcourt in the modern WNBA. Every game is a masterclass in the fundamentals, positioning, and team-first approach that defined her Gamecock career.
Tyasha Harris and Raven Johnson present a far more interesting competitive subplot. Indiana entered the offseason with a clear organizational priority: upgrade the point guard position. The Fever addressed that need by acquiring Harris — a three-point specialist and veteran floor general — and Johnson, whose defensive intensity and relentless energy made her one of South Carolina’s most important players. Indiana likely has room for both, but the preseason could determine which one earns a more defined role heading into the regular season. Watch closely whenever both are on the floor simultaneously.
Schedule:
Saturday, April 25 @ New York (3:00 ET, Ion/League Pass)
Thursday, April 30 vs Dallas (7:00 ET, Ion/League Pass)
Saturday, May 2 vs Nigeria (7:00 ET, League Pass)
Las Vegas Aces — A’ja Wilson
There is very little analysis required here, and that is the point. A’ja Wilson — four-time WNBA MVP, perennial All-Star, the most decorated player of her generation — has a good chance to make the team. That sentence is written with full awareness of its absurdity, offered only because the article demands some acknowledgment of roster security, and Wilson’s is the most comically certain on this list. She doesn’t just make the Aces. She is the Aces.
What is worth watching in Las Vegas’s preseason games isn’t whether Wilson survives camp — it’s whether she arrives fully locked in, fully healthy, and fully dangerous headed into what could be another MVP-caliber season. The preseason is a window into her conditioning and sharpness, and on that level alone it’s required viewing for anyone who follows the sport.
Schedule:
Sunday, April 26 vs Japan (8:00 ET, League Pass)
Sunday, May 3 vs Dallas in Austin, TX (7:00 ET, Ion/League Pass)
Los Angeles Sparks — Sania Feagin, Ta’Niya Latson
The Sparks present one of the more intriguing competitive battles for former Gamecock fans to monitor across the full preseason. When Ta’Niya Latson slipped to the second round of the WNBA Draft, Los Angeles moved quickly — and with very obvious excitement — to select her. The talent is first-round caliber. The situation, however, carries the inherent precariousness that comes with every second-round selection. Latson will need to immediately demonstrate that she belongs at this level, and the preseason is her primary audition.
Sania Feagin knows that journey intimately. She navigated it successfully last season, earning her roster spot as a second-round pick in one of the league’s most competitive environments. Now she enters a new preseason defending that spot while a high-profile incoming teammate adds pressure to every single practice and game. Both players are fighting for their professional futures in real time, and that urgency will be evident every time they share a floor.
Schedule:
Saturday, April 25 vs Nigeria in San Diego (3:00 ET, League Pass)
Sunday, May 3 at Portland (7:00 ET, League Pass)
Minnesota Lynx — Sakima Walker
The full honesty of Walker’s situation deserves to be stated plainly: she enters Minnesota camp on a training camp contract as an undrafted free agent, and in all likelihood, this preseason represents a developmental opportunity rather than a legitimate roster competition. Training camp bodies are a necessary part of how professional teams evaluate depth and give their veterans meaningful practice reps against fresh competition.
What Walker does have — and what cannot be taken away from her regardless of how the preseason unfolds — is the South Carolina foundation. If the professional door doesn’t open immediately, it is rarely fully closed for players who were developed in Staley’s program.
Schedule:
Saturday, April 25 at Washington (7:30 ET, League Pass)
Monday, April 27 vs Nigeria in Kansas City (8:00 ET, League Pass)
Friday, May 1 vs Toronto (8:00 ET, League Pass)
Seattle Storm — Zia Cooke
Zia Cooke’s preseason situation is perhaps the most difficult to predict of any former Gamecock on this list, and that ambiguity itself makes it compelling. Seattle is in the middle of a franchise rebuild — a deliberate, structural reimagining of what the Storm will look like in the post-superstar era. In that kind of organizational environment, traditional roster evaluation calculus gets complicated. Veterans compete alongside unproven talent. Priorities shift. Decisions that would be straightforward on a contending roster become genuinely unpredictable.
Cooke enters on a training camp deal with an unguaranteed salary, meaning every preseason minute carries financial and professional weight. Her offensive instincts and scoring ability give her a legitimate argument for a roster spot. Whether Seattle’s rebuild accommodates the kind of player she is remains the open question that the preseason will begin to answer.
Schedule:
Saturday, April 25 at Golden State (8:30 ET, League Pass)
Wednesday, April 29 vs Portland (10:00 ET, League Pass)
Nigerian National Team — Maryam Dauda
The final former Gamecock on this list is competing not for a WNBA roster spot but for a place in international basketball’s most important upcoming tournament. Nigeria is preparing for the Women’s Basketball World Cup in September, and the national team has been playing exhibition games against WNBA franchises as part of their preparation — a format that Japan is also utilizing ahead of the same competition.
Maryam Dauda participated in Nigeria’s recent training camp in San Diego, positioning herself as part of the pool of talent the coaching staff is evaluating. Whether the full camp roster gets trimmed down to the standard twelve-player game roster adds another layer of uncertainty to her situation, but her presence in the program and her visibility on this stage are significant regardless of how the final selections unfold.
Schedule:
Saturday, April 25 vs Los Angeles in San Diego (3:00 ET, League Pass)
Monday, April 27 vs Minnesota in Kansas City (8:00 ET, League Pass)
Saturday, May 2 at Indiana (7:00 ET, League Pass)
The Bigger Picture
Fourteen former Gamecocks. Nine WNBA franchises. One national team. A preseason that spans from San Diego to Kansas City to New York — and every court in between.
This is not a coincidence. It is the direct, measurable output of what Dawn Staley has built in Columbia over the past decade and a half. South Carolina doesn’t just produce winners at the college level. It produces professionals — players who are sought after, competed for, and valued at the highest level the sport offers. From A’ja Wilson’s guaranteed generational stardom to Laeticia Amihere’s fight to hold her spot, every point on that spectrum represents the same program, the same standard, and the same belief that Gamecock basketball belongs everywhere the game is played at its best.
All of it is free to watch this weekend. There has never been a better time to follow where Garnet and Black goes next.
