2021 WNBA draft

Last updated
2021 WNBA draft
2021 WNBA Draft Logo.png
General information
SportBasketball
Date(s)April 15, 2021
LocationVirtually
Network(s)United States: ESPN
Canada: TSN2
Overview
LeagueWNBA
Teams12
First selection Charli Collier
Dallas Wings (via trade)
  2020
2022  

The 2021 WNBA draft was the WNBA's draft for the 2021 WNBA season. A draft lottery was held on December 4, 2020, and the New York Liberty were awarded the first overall pick once again in the draft. [1] The draft was held on April 15, and televised on ESPN in the United States and on TSN2 in Canada at 7:00 p.m. EDT. [2]

Contents

Draft lottery

The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2021 draft took place during halftime of the DePaul Blue Demons game against the Louisville Cardinals on December 4, 2020, and was televised on ESPN in the United States and across the TSN Network in Canada. The same four non-playoff teams in 2020 qualified for the lottery drawing: Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, New York Liberty and Atlanta Dream. [1]

Lottery chances

TeamCombined 2019–2020 recordLottery chances (out of 1,000)
New York Liberty 12–44442
Atlanta Dream 15–41276
Dallas Wings 18–38178
Indiana Fever 19–37104

The lottery odds were based on combined records from the 2019 and 2020 WNBA seasons. In the drawing, 14 balls numbered 1–14 are placed in a lottery machine and mixed. Four balls are drawn to determine a four-digit combination (only 11–12–13–14 is ignored and redrawn). The team to which that four-ball combination is assigned receives the No. 1 pick. The four balls are then placed back into the machine and the process is repeated to determine the second pick. The two teams whose numerical combinations do not come up in the lottery will select in the inverse order of their two-year cumulative record. Ernst & Young knows the discreet results before they are announced. [1]

The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third rounds was determined by inverse order of the teams' respective regular-season records solely from 2020. [1]

The lottery was won by the New York Liberty, who had the best chance to win the lottery as they did in 2020. The Dallas Wings were awarded the second pick for the second consecutive year, followed by the Atlanta Dream and finally the Indiana Fever. [1] The Liberty would later trade their first pick to the Seattle Storm, who in turn traded it to the Wings. This marks the first time that one team has held the top two picks in the draft in WNBA history. [3]

Eligibility

Under the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the WNBA and its players union, draft eligibility for players not defined as "international" requires the following to be true: [4]

A player who is scheduled to receive her bachelor's degree within 3 months of the draft date, and is younger than the cutoff age, is only eligible if the calendar year of the draft is no earlier than the fourth after her high school graduation.

Players with remaining college eligibility who meet the cutoff age must notify the WNBA headquarters of their intent to enter the draft no later than 10 days before the draft date, and must renounce any remaining college eligibility to do so. A separate notification timetable is provided for players involved in postseason tournaments (most notably the NCAA Division I tournament); those players (normally) must declare for the draft within 24 hours of their final game.

"International players" are defined as those for whom all of the following is true:

For "international players", the eligibility age is 20, also measured on December 31 of the year of the draft.

For the 2021 draft only, the WNBA and its players union agreed to a modification of the normal eligibility rules. The most significant change is that all otherwise eligible college players who wished to enter the draft, including seniors in 2020–21, had to declare for draft entry. Due to an NCAA ruling that the 2020–21 season, dramatically affected by COVID-19, would not be counted against the college eligibility of any basketball player, every college senior in the 2020–21 season had remaining eligibility. Players who wished to be drafted had to notify the league by email no later than April 1, except for those involved in the 2021 Final Four, who had a 48-hour opt-in window after the completion of their last game instead of the normal 24 hours. [5] Players who had opted in had until midnight on April 10 (0400 UTC, April 11) to opt out. [6] This is similar to special 2021 draft declaration rules announced by the NBA, which also required seniors to opt into the draft. [7]

On April 3, the WNBA announced that 52 college players had opted into the draft. This did not include players from the Final Four teams (Arizona, South Carolina, Stanford, UConn); South Carolina and UConn lost in the semifinals on April 2, while Stanford defeated Arizona in the championship game on April 4. [8] On April 7, the WNBA announced that one of the original 52 players had withdrawn from consideration, and that six additional players had opted into the draft. [9] Four players from the initial list of 52 would opt out by the final deadline of April 11. [6]

Key

+Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game
BoldDenotes player who won Rookie of the Year


Draft

First round

PickPlayerNationalityTeamSchool / Club team
1 Charli Collier Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Dallas Wings (from New York via Seattle) [lower-alpha 1] [lower-alpha 2] Texas
2 Awak Kuier Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Dallas Wings Passalacqua Ragusa (Italy)
3 Aari McDonald Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Atlanta Dream Arizona
4 Kysre Gondrezick Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Indiana Fever West Virginia
5 Chelsea Dungee Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Dallas Wings (from Washington via New York) [lower-alpha 3] Arkansas
6 Michaela Onyenwere Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States New York Liberty (from Connecticut via Phoenix) [lower-alpha 4] [lower-alpha 5] UCLA
7 Jasmine Walker Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Los Angeles Sparks (from Chicago via Dallas) [lower-alpha 6] [lower-alpha 7] Alabama
8 Shyla Heal Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Chicago Sky (from Phoenix via Dallas) [lower-alpha 8] [lower-alpha 9] Townsville Fire (Australia)
9 Rennia Davis Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Minnesota Lynx Tennessee
10 Stephanie Watts Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Los Angeles Sparks North Carolina
11 Aaliyah Wilson Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Seattle Storm Texas A&M
12 Iliana Rupert Flag of France.svg  France Las Vegas Aces Tango Bourges Basket (France)

Second round

PickPlayerNationalityTeamSchool / club team
13 Dana Evans Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Dallas Wings (from New York) [lower-alpha 3] Louisville
14 Destiny Slocum Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Las Vegas Aces (from Indiana) [lower-alpha 10] Arkansas
15 Raquel Carrera Flag of Spain.svg  Spain Atlanta Dream Valencia Basket (Spain)
16 Natasha Mack Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Chicago Sky (from Dallas via Los Angeles) [lower-alpha 11] [lower-alpha 12] [lower-alpha 13] Oklahoma State
17 DiDi Richards Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States New York Liberty (from Washington) [lower-alpha 3] Baylor
18 Kiana Williams Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Seattle Storm (from Connecticut) [lower-alpha 14] Stanford
19 Unique Thompson Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Indiana Fever (from Chicago) [lower-alpha 15] Auburn
20 DiJonai Carrington Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Connecticut Sun (from Phoenix) [lower-alpha 16] Baylor
21 Micaela Kelly Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Connecticut Sun (from Minnesota) [lower-alpha 17] Central Michigan
22 Arella Guirantes Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Los Angeles Sparks Rutgers
23 N'dea Jones Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Seattle Storm Texas A&M
24 Trinity Baptiste Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Indiana Fever (from Las Vegas) [lower-alpha 10] Arizona

Third round

PickPlayerNationalityTeamSchool / club team
25 Valerie Higgins Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States New York Liberty Pacific
26 Chelsey Perry Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Indiana Fever UT Martin
27 Lindsey Pulliam Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Atlanta Dream Northwestern
28 Ivana Raca Flag of Serbia.svg  Serbia Los Angeles Sparks (from Dallas) [lower-alpha 12] Wake Forest
29 Marine Fauthoux Flag of France.svg  France New York Liberty (from Washington) [lower-alpha 3] ASVEL Féminin (France)
30 Aleah Goodman Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Connecticut Sun Oregon State
31 Florencia Chagas  [ es ]Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina Indiana Fever (from Chicago) [lower-alpha 15] Empoli (Italy)
32 Ciera Johnson Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Phoenix Mercury Texas A&M
33 Maya Caldwell Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Indiana Fever (from Minnesota) [lower-alpha 18] Georgia
34 Aina Ayuso Bagur  [ ca ]Flag of Spain.svg  Spain Los Angeles Sparks Casademont Zaragoza (Spain)
35 Natalie Kucowski  [ fr ]Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Seattle Storm Lafayette
36 Kionna Jeter Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States Las Vegas Aces Towson

Footnotes

  1. February 10, 2021: New York to Seattle [11]
    • New York acquired Natasha Howard
    • Seattle acquired 2021 first-round and 2022 second-round picks, and Phoenix's 2022 first-round pick
  2. February 10, 2021: Seattle to Dallas [12]
    • Seattle acquired Katie Lou Samuelson and a 2022 second-round pick
    • Dallas acquired New York's 2021 first-round pick
  3. 1 2 3 4 April 15, 2020: Three-team trade [13]
    • Dallas acquired Washington's 2021 first-round pick and a 2021 second-round pick from New York
    • New York acquired 2021 second- and third-round picks, 2020 first-round picks and second-round pick, and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough from Washington; Las Vegas's 2020 first-round pick, 2020 second-round picks, and Tayler Hill from Dallas
    • Washington acquired Tina Charles from New York
  4. February 11, 2020: Connecticut to Phoenix [14]
    • Phoenix acquired a 2021 first-round pick and two 2020 first-round picks
    • Connecticut acquired DeWanna Bonner
  5. February 10, 2021: Phoenix to New York [11]
    • Phoenix acquired Kia Nurse and Megan Walker
    • New York acquired a 2021 first-round pick and Phoenix's 2022 first-round pick
  6. February 14, 2020: Chicago to Dallas [15]
  7. April 14, 2021: Dallas to Los Angeles [16]
    • Los Angeles acquired a 2021 first-round pick and a 2022 second-round pick
    • Dallas acquired a 2022 first-round pick
  8. February 12, 2020: Phoenix to Dallas [17]
    • Phoenix acquired Skylar Diggins-Smith
    • Dallas acquired a 2021 first-round pick and two 2020 first-round picks
  9. February 12, 2020: Dallas to Chicago [17]
    • Dallas acquired Astou Ndour
    • Chicago acquired Phoenix's 2021 first-round pick
  10. 1 2 February 15, 2021: Indiana to Las Vegas [18]
    • Las Vegas acquired a 2021 second-round pick
    • Indiana acquired Lindsay Allen and a 2021 second-round pick
  11. February 21, 2020: Dallas to Los Angeles [19]
    • Los Angeles acquired a 2021 second-round pick
    • Dallas acquired Marina Mabrey
  12. 1 2 May 26, 2020: Los Angeles to Dallas
    • Dallas reacquired its own original 2021 second-round pick
    • Los Angeles acquired Kristine Anigwe and a 2021 third-round pick
  13. February 9, 2021: Dallas to Chicago [20]
    • Chicago acquired the 2021 second-round pick
    • Dallas acquired a 2022 second-round pick
  14. February 24, 2020: Connecticut to Seattle [21]
  15. 1 2 August 28, 2020: Chicago to Indiana [22]
  16. February 19, 2020: Phoenix to Connecticut (three-team trade with Atlanta) [23]
  17. February 25, 2020: Minnesota to Connecticut [24]
    • Minnesota acquired Rachel Banham
    • Connecticut acquired a 2021 second-round pick
  18. March 6, 2020: Minnesota to Indiana [25]
    • Indiana acquired a 2021 third-round pick and New York's 2020 second-round pick
    • Minnesota acquired Shenise Johnson and a 2020 second-round pick

See also

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