Notre Dame's Olivia Miles — a projected top-2 pick — will reportedly enter NCAA transfer portal rather than declare for WNBA draft

Michigan v Notre Dame SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - MARCH 23: Olivia Miles #5 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish dribbles up the court against the Michigan Wolverines during the second half in the second round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center on March 23, 2025 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

By Jason Owens, Yahoo Sports

Notre Dame's Olivia Miles is widely projected as the No. 2 pick in the WNBA draft.

But she won't be this year.

Per ESPN's Shams Charania, Miles is passing on the WNBA draft and will instead enter the NCAA transfer portal.

Miles, 22, has played four seasons at Notre Dame and has one season of NCAA eligibility remaining. It's not clear from the report why she made the decision. But the appeal of NIL opportunities compared to the salaries offered by the WNBA could certainly be in play here.

UConn's Paige Bueckers is widely projected as the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft and Miles was expected to go No. 2. Instead, she'll play one more year in college, perhaps not at Notre Dame.

A 5-10 guard, Miles averaged 15.4 points, 5.8 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.4 steals this season while shooting 48.3% from the field and 40.6% on 5.3 3-point attempts per game. She helped lead Notre Dame to a first-place tie in the ACC with NC State and a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.