Jovana Nogic, Pauline Astier and the WNBA rookies no one saw coming
Pauline Astier has stepped up in a major way as the New York Liberty navigate the absence of Sabrina Ionescu. She not only leads the rookie class in points per game, but she's also sitting in 16th place across the entire league. She's averaging 16.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game. Astier is shooting at 62.5 percent from the floor; no other rookie averaging more than 2.0 shot attempts per game has been that efficient.
After going 0-2 from beyond the arc during her first two appearances, she's hit 5-of-9 from 3-point land. She's seemingly getting more and more comfortable out there. Another dangerous guard might be the one thing other teams don't want to hear about the New York Liberty having. Astier is currently averaging 26.8 minutes per game, but I imagine that even with the return of Ionescu, it will be hard to leave her on the bench......
28-year-old Jovana Nogić has quickly become a fan-favorite in Phoenix. Every time she checks in or throws up a 3-pointer, the crowd erupts. While Astier is leading a lot of the rookie categories, Nogić is just barely behind her. She's averaging 16.0 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.3 steals in 24.3 minutes per game. The Mercury knew exactly what they were doing when they signed Nogić in the offseason. She's played in several countries, most recently Russia, where she led her club to win multiple titles. She was also named Serbia's best female player by the Basketball Federation of Serbia in 2025.
In her first outing, Nogić dropped 19 points, 4 assists and 2 steals against the Las Vegas Aces. She shot 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. People were left wondering if this game was a one-off, maybe fueled by first-game adrenaline — nope. In the very next game, she shot 4-of-5 from 3 again and in Phoenix's most recent matchup, Nogić recorded 27 points, including five 3-pointers. Her 27-piece not only helped the Mercury to a 91-83 victory over the Chicago Sky, but also is a WNBA record for most points scored by an undrafted rookie.
https://fansided.com/jovana-nogic-pauline-astier-and-the-wnba-rookies-no-one-saw-coming