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WNBA Draft 2023: Date, start time, pick order, TV channel & more to know – Sporting News
The NCAA Women’s March Madness spectacle has come to a never-before-seen ending.
The LSU Tigers walked away with heavy and shiny ring fingers after defeating the Caitlin Clark-led Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 in Dallas for their program’s first league title.
Now, with the hype around women’s basketball brewing and bubbling hot, it’s time to turn your attention to the WNBA. With NCAA and NBA in the offseason, who better to support than the W’s 27th season?
In less than a week, the WNBA will draft some of the top players in the country, including projected No. 1 overall pick Aliyah Boston, who declared for the draft after South Carolina was bested in the Final Four by Iowa.
MORE: Everything to know about Aliyah Boston
Other big names who have enlisted themselves to go pro this year include: Diamond Miller (Maryland), Haley Jones (Stanford), Maddy Siegrist (Villanova), Alexis Morris (LSU), Lou Lopez Sénéchal (UConn), Grace Berger (Indiana) and Brea Beal and Zia Cooke (South Carolina), to name a few other potential first-rounders.
MORE: When is Caitlin Clark eligible for the WNBA? | When is Angel Reese eligible for the WNBA?
Here is a complete guide to the 2023 WNBA Draft including the date, start time, pick order, TV channel & more.
The 2023 WNBA Draft will be held on Monday, April 10, at 7 p.m. ET. The draft will be live from Spring Studios in New York City, the same venue as last year.
Prior to the Draft, the prospects invited to attend on-site will get a chance to visit the Empire State Building and participate in a special orange carpet ceremony.
The 2023 WNBA preseason will tipoff on Friday, May 5, and the regular season will follow suit exactly two weeks later on Friday, May 19.
ESPN and the WNBA announced a partnership in early March that laid out the groundwork for availability on the big screen. The broadcast giant will collaborate with the league to present up to 52 possible games, beginning with the regular season. There will be 25 highlighted national broadcasts and the WNBA All-Star Game will be airing live for the first time in primetime on ABC.
MORE: Key dates for the 2023 WNBA season
Fans can watch the 2023 WNBA Draft live on ESPN, and stream it through the ESPN+ app.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert will be announcing the 36 selections live, and ESPN’s lead team will be on the call – Ryan Ruocco (host), Rebecca Lobo and LaChina Robinson (analysts) and Holly Rowe (reporter).
MORE: Watch the WNBA Draft with Sling TV
The Indiana Fever holds the No. 1 overall pick for the first time in franchise history after winning the Draft Lottery in November 2022. Following them are the Minnesota Lynx at No. 2 and the Dallas Wings at No. 3, who traded with the Atlanta Dream and will round out the top three.
The remainder of the first round, as well as the second and third rounds, was determined in an inverse order of the regular-season records from the previous season. All teams will get at least one pick, the Lynx and Wings have the most at five a piece and the Sparks have the least at one.
Per ESPN’s press release, there will be cameras inside seven of the team draft rooms, all of whom have a First Round pick, including:
The Fever and Lynx will also have content shared from their respective watch parties.
Here’s the full order of picks, one through 36:
Here’s the full list of No. 1 overall picks since the WNBA Draft was inaugurated in 1997:
* No longer an official franchise team.
Sara Tidwell is an editorial intern with The Sporting News.