When the WNBA draft kicks off Monday night, Alabama guard Zaay Green will be hosting a watch party for her friends and family in Dallas, hoping to hear her name called on TV.

Although the Texas native’s collegiate career included two ACL tears and four different programs, her goal has remained the same throughout: getting a shot at the WNBA.

“I’m hoping that she’s able to stick on a roster and be able to be a real acclimated part of whatever program she’s picked up by and also be able to go stack some bread overseas and learn some things and see the world … whatever her heart desires,” said former University of Central Oklahoma standout Zoderick Green, her father and lifelong basketball trainer.

This season, the 6-foot-2 Green was Alabama’s second-leading scorer, averaging 15.7 points a game, helped propel her team to the second round of the NCAA tournament and boosted her draft stock in the process.

“It’s just [been] interviews, like, being able to talk to general managers and the front office and the coaches, having conversations with them and seeing how they’re interested in me,” she said.

Alabama’s Zaay Green drives to the basket during a game against LSU on Feb. 27, 2025, at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Brandon Sumrall / Getty Images

To prepare for the draft, Green has been working with player development coach Amber Gregg, a former assistant coach at Louisiana-Lafayette and Division I basketball player, over the past year.

“During the Final Four, we got some great work in, especially with adjustments that we felt like she needed to make to showcase that she’s ready to play at the next level and stay in the W,” Gregg said.

Gregg said she doesn’t think people understand how high Green’s IQ is.

“Her ability to fit in any system and make the system work, I think, is one of her best attributes,” Gregg said. “She can really, really shoot the ball and score the ball, but she’s a playmaker, and because her IQ is so high, she’s very good at allowing her teammates to flourish at what they’re good at. I think for her, at the next level she’s going to thrive in that.”

Green’s journey to the WNBA draft has been anything but linear since she started her collegiate career at Tennessee in 2018.

She was no stranger to the transfer portal. After making the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2019, she tore her right ACL during her sophomore year. She played the 2020-21 season at Texas A&M, then spent the next three seasons at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB).

Finishing her career at Alabama was not something she anticipated, but when UAPB head coach Dawn Thornton left in April 2024 for Alabama A&M, Green decided to explore other options, too.

“I had a plan [entering the transfer portal], but I also wanted to see who was gonna take the bait and who was gonna offer, and it was Alabama, Mississippi State and Arkansas. Those were the three,” she said.

However, once she met with Alabama head coach Kristy Curry, Green quickly made a decision, committing on her visit. The Alabama coaching staff recognized Green’s desire to play at the next level, she said.

“Coach Kristy has been watching me since I was in high school, so obviously she really knew that was a big deal for me this year,” Green said. “I just love how they respected that.”

Curry had been familiar with Green for years, following her development as she played at Duncanville High School in Texas and during summer basketball.

“I tried to recruit her the first time. I tried to recruit her the second time, and to some degree, I guess, the third time’s the charm,” Curry said.

Curry sat down with Green to get a solid understanding of what her goals were.

“[Green said] ‘I want to play in the NCAA tournament. I want to have an opportunity to get drafted. I understand that to do that I have to grow my game, and there’s some things I need to work on, but I want to compete at the highest level,’” Curry said. “You know, she’s brought the energy and effort. We just tried to give her the platform.”

Years earlier, Curry recruited Green’s mother, Yolanda Harris, to play basketball at Stephen F. Austin State University when Curry was an assistant coach there in the early ’90s.

“We joke about some of the same similarities [between Green and her mother]. Her mannerisms are very similar. … She plays with a tremendous zest and personality in her game, and her mom was fiery like that,” Curry said.

“As talented as she is, I understand her will to succeed, and it’s been really special to be able to help.”

Green attributes a lot of her success at Alabama to her time at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

After landing at the historically Black university for the 2021-22 season under Thornton and earning Southwestern Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year, another ACL injury sidelined Green for the following season. After returning to play during the 2023-24 season, she averaged 16.7 points a game and was named to the All-SWAC First Team.

“Honestly, those are my best basketball years that I had there on the court, and I think that helped a lot with my draft stock. The coaches and the GMs looked at me there like, ‘Wow, like, she’s really doing that over there at [an] HBCU,” Green said.

Green noted the biggest difference between UAPB and Alabama was the game pace. Curry ran an offense that emphasized scoring on transition and getting up and down the floor. That allowed Green to showcase her skills and ability to play multiple positions, one through four.

“I think that [Alabama] was the best she’s been at college basketball, playing with great people, playing with great players, playing with a great coaching staff, and just watching her develop from all three of those [previous] stops,” Gregg said. “By the time she got to Alabama, she was really polished and really showcased that she was a pro.”

If a WNBA team drafts Green on Monday night, she’ll get a chance to prove that her supporters’ belief in her is warranted.

“Zaay is gonna contribute wherever she goes,” Greggs said. “She’s a winner [and] it’s really, really hard to teach people how to win. … So wherever she lands, they’re absolutely going to be lucky to have a kid like that.”