2026 WNBA Draft Lottery: Date and Key Teams
The excitement of the WNBA draft for the year 2026 is just around the corner. The lottery, which will define the selection order of future stars, will take place on November 23rd.
The teams that will participate in the lottery are: Dallas Wings, Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, Washington Mystics, and Chicago Sky.
The lottery will be broadcast at 6:30 p.m. ET.
The lottery odds are based on the accumulated records of the last two regular seasons of the WNBA for the five teams that did not qualify for the playoffs in the most recent season.
Dallas Wings, with a cumulative record of 19-15, has the highest probability of obtaining the first pick (420 out of 1,000) and is guaranteed at least a top-three pick.
Minnesota, thanks to a trade, possesses Chicago’s first-round pick and has 261 chances to win the first selection. Seattle, which possesses Los Angeles Sparks’ first-round pick, has the third-most opportunities (167).
Of the three teams not selected in the lottery, the team with the worst two-year cumulative record will receive the third selection, the team with the next worst record will select fourth, and the last team will pick fifth.
UCLA player Lauren Betts is the projected number one pick in the draft. Players who are eligible to return to school can wait to declare for the draft until after they have completed this college season.
The WNBA has not specified how the selection order will be determined for its two new teams, the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo.
The WNBA draft is scheduled for April 13. An expansion draft for Fire and Tempo will not be scheduled until the league and players reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
