Secaucus, N.J. – Each year, four teams are eligible to enter the WNBA’s lottery draft. This year the teams were the Indiana Fever, Las Vegas Aces, Chicago Sky, and New York Liberty.
While you don’t necessarily want your team to be in the lottery – meaning your team is finishing at the bottom of the league standings – winning the lottery has its benefits.
Whoever the winner is will have the rights to the first pick in the 2019 WNBA draft in the spring. The team this year is the Las Vegas Aces. Securing a young talented player in the spring could help them reestablish themselves in the league.
After the Aces select, the order for the first round will be as follows:
2. New York Liberty
3. Indiana Fever
4. Chicago Sky
5. Dallas Wings
6. Minnesota Lynx
7. Los Angeles Sparks
8. Phoenix Mercury
9. Connecticut Sun
10. Washington Mystics
11. Atlanta Dream
12. Seattle Storm
The lottery odds were based on the cumulative records of the two most recent regular seasons. This year, Indiana had the highest chance to pick first in the spring draft. Their overall record the last two seasons was 15-53, giving them a 44.2% chance of winning the lottery.
Las Vegas, winners of the last two lottery picks, had an overall record of 22-46 with a 27.6% of being picked first again. Picking A’ja Wilson back in May paid off greatly for the Aces as she helped lead the team and fell just shy of the playoffs by a game. This is the third straight year the team is picking first in the draft. In 2017, the team was located in San Antonio and Kelsey Plum was selected first overall.
Chicago entered the lottery draft with a 17.8% chance after going 25-43 over the last two seasons. The Liberty also had a low percentage (10.4%) of winning the first pick in the 2019 draft with a cumulative record of 29-39 in 2017 and 2018.
While it might be too early to determine the No. 1 pick right now, there are some talented players who will be available.
Here’s a short list of players who graduate this year:
Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson (both UConn), Teaira McCowan (Mississippi State), Kalani Brown (Baylor), Asia Durr (Louisville), Megan Gustafson (Iowa), Sophie Cunningham (Missouri), Jessica Shepard, Marina Mabrey, and Arike Ogunbowale from Notre Dame.
