Washington Mystics, Dallas Wings and Los Angeles Sparks Round Out Top Four Picks
The San Antonio Stars won the 16th annual WNBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm® and earned the top pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm, the WNBA announced today. The Lottery was televised on ESPN2 during halftime of Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals series between the Phoenix Mercury and the Minnesota Lynx.
For San Antonio, which had entered the WNBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm with the most chances to land the top pick (442 out of 1,000), this marks the first time in franchise history the Stars have emerged as the lottery winner. Seattle won the top pick in each of the last two years and used it to select Notre Dame guard Jewell Loyd in 2015 and University of Connecticut forward Breanna Stewart this past April.
Washington, which had the fourth-most chances of landing the No. 1 pick (104 out of 1,000), will have the second pick. The Dallas Wings and Los Angeles Sparks, each of whom had 227 chances to earn the top pick, will select third and fourth, respectively.
By missing the playoffs, Connecticut, Dallas, San Antonio and Washington qualified for the lottery drawing. Connecticut’s spot in the lottery, however, belonged to Los Angeles, the result of a draft-day trade last April.
Lottery odds were based on the cumulative records of the Stars, Sun, Wings and Mystics over the two most recent regular seasons (2015 and 2016).
A representative from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young was in attendance to oversee the lottery process.
The following are results of the 2017 WNBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm:
2017 WNBA DRAFT LOTTERY ORDER
Team • Combined 2015-2016 Record • Chances(out of 1,000)
1. San Antonio • 15-53 • 442
2. Washington • 31-37 • 104
3. Dallas • 29-39 • 227
4. Los Angeles (via Connecticut) • 29-39 • 227
The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third round is in inverse order of the teams’ respective regular-season records solely from 2016.
Following is the remaining order of the first round, as determined by 2016 regular-season records:
REMAINING ORDER FOR FIRST ROUND
Team • Record
5. Phoenix • 16-18
6. Seattle • 16-18
7. Atlanta • 17-17
8. Indiana • 17-17
9. Chicago • 18-16
10. Dallas from New York • 21-13 (Trade of Zahui, B., 5/11/16)
11. Dallas from Los Angeles • 26-8 (Trade of R. Williams. E. Phillips, 3/1/16)
12. Minnesota • 28-6