Sports

The 2024 WNBA Draft Lottery, explained – For The Win

Published

12 months ago

December 11, 2023

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The course of a franchise could be changed forever with one pick.
On Sunday, December 10, the WNBA will host the 2024 WNBA Draft Lottery. The 30-minute segment will air on ESPN at 4:30 p.m. ET between the last two games of the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase.
With the WNBA Draft scheduled for April 15, teams are vying for the opportunity to select some of the best talent women’s college basketball offers. That means a chance to draft future basketball royalty, as the Phoenix Mercury did in 2004 when they selected UConn’s Diana Taurasi.
It all comes down to how the odds play out, and may they ever be in each team’s favor.
The 2024 WNBA Draft Lottery presented by @StateFarm is almost here 👀
Tune in to ESPN on December 10 at 4:30pm/ET to see who will get the #1 pick! pic.twitter.com/4q8DwJP3oP
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 31, 2023

Here’s how the 2024 WNBA Draft Lottery works:
(Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports)
Modeled after the NBA’s version, the WNBA Draft Lottery began in 2001 and is an annual event where non-playoff teams participate in a randomized drawing that determines the order of the top four picks of the following year’s WNBA Draft.
(Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports)
Before the event, four teams are assigned a four-digit number combination that helps support finalizing the top-four picks in the WNBA Draft. Once the drawing commences, 14 balls, numbered one through 14, are placed in a machine and mixed.
Bethany Donaphin, Head of League Operations, will select the first four balls. That selection process creates a four-digit combination. The team assigned that four-ball number will receive the No. 1 pick.
The process is then repeated to determine the second pick. The team with the lowest cumulative two-year record (2022-2023), whose numerical combinations do not come up in the first two four-ball combinations, will select third, and the final team will select fourth.
The order of the remaining picks in the first round and the picks in the second and third rounds is determined by the inverse order of each team’s 2023 regular season record.
(Trevor Ruszkowski/USA TODAY Sports)
The Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury, and Seattle Storm have all qualified for the 2024 WNBA Draft Lottery.
With a cumulative record of 18-58, the Fever will have the most chances to land the top pick (442 out of 1,000). They are also locked in to receive at least a top-three pick.

(Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
The remaining order of the first round is as follows:
5. Dallas Wings, from Chicago Sky* (18-22)
6. Washington Mystics (19-21)
7. Minnesota Lynx (19-21)
8. Atlanta Dream (19-21)
9. Dallas Wings (22-18)
10. Connecticut Sun (27-13)
11. New York Liberty (32-8)
12. Los Angeles Sparks, from Las Vegas Aces** (34-6)
*On February 11, 2023, Dallas received Chicago’s 2024 first-round pick, the right to swap its own 2025 first-round pick with Chicago’s 2025 first-round pick, Phoenix’s 2023 first-round pick previously acquired by Chicago, and Diamond DeShields from Phoenix in a four-team trade.
**On January 21, 2023, Los Angeles received Las Vegas’ 2024 first-round pick and Dearica Hamby in exchange for the exclusive negotiating rights to Amanda Zahui B. and Los Angeles’ 2024 second-round pick.
(Joseph Cress/USA TODAY Sports)
The 2024 WNBA Draft class is littered with talent, from Caitlin Clark to Angel Reese.
For a complete list of names who should be on your radar, click here.
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