2022 WNBA Draft | |
---|---|
General information | |
Sport | Basketball |
Date(s) | April 11, 2022 |
Location | New York City |
Network(s) | United States: ESPN Canada: TSN1/4 |
Overview | |
League | WNBA |
Teams | 12 |
First selection | Rhyne Howard Atlanta Dream |
The 2022 WNBA Draft, the WNBA's draft for the 2022 WNBA season, was held on April 11, 2022, in New York City and aired live on ESPN in the United States and on TSN1/4 in Canada at 7:00 p.m. EDT. [1] The draft was the 27th in WNBA history.
The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2022 draft took place on December 19, 2021 and was televised on ESPN in the United States and on TSN2 in Canada. [2] The four non-playoff teams in 2021 qualified for the lottery drawing: Atlanta Dream, Indiana Fever, Washington Mystics, and the Los Angeles Sparks. With the Sparks having previously traded their 2022 first-round pick, their lottery pick belonged to the Dallas Wings at the time of the lottery. The Mystics won the lottery and had the first pick in the draft. This was the first time that the Mystics won the lottery in franchise history. The next three picks initially belonged to the Fever, Dream, and Wings. [3] However, by the time of the draft, the only one of the top four picks that still belonged to the same team was that of the Fever. In March 2022, the Wings included their lottery pick in a larger trade with the Fever. Less than a week before the draft, the Mystics and Dream would swap their top-three picks, with the Mystics also sending the Dream a 2022 second-round pick and the rights to swap picks with the Sparks in 2023.
Team | Combined 2020–2021 record | Lottery chances (out of 1,000) |
---|---|---|
Indiana Fever | 12–42 | 442 |
Atlanta Dream | 15–39 | 276 |
Washington Mystics | 21–33 | 178 |
Los Angeles Sparks | 27–27 | 104 |
The lottery odds were based on combined records from the 2020 and 2021 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. [4]
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 2021.
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: [5]
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.
+ | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game |
Bold | Denotes player who won Rookie of the Year |
Pick | Player | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Rhyne Howard + | United States | Atlanta Dream (from Washington) [a] | Kentucky |
2 | NaLyssa Smith | United States | Indiana Fever | Baylor |
3 | Shakira Austin | United States | Washington Mystics (from Atlanta) [a] | Ole Miss |
4 | Emily Engstler | United States | Indiana Fever (from Los Angeles via Dallas) [b] [c] | Louisville |
5 | Nyara Sabally | Germany | New York Liberty | Oregon |
6 | Lexie Hull | United States | Indiana Fever (from Dallas) [b] | Stanford |
7 | Veronica Burton | United States | Dallas Wings (from Chicago via Dallas and Indiana) [d] [e] [b] | Northwestern |
8 | Mya Hollingshed | Puerto Rico [11] | Las Vegas Aces (from Minnesota via Phoenix, New York, and Seattle) [f] [g] [h] [i] | Colorado |
9 | Rae Burrell | United States | Los Angeles Sparks (from Seattle) [j] | Tennessee |
10 | Queen Egbo | United States | Indiana Fever (from Minnesota) [k] | Baylor |
11 | Kierstan Bell | United States | Las Vegas Aces | Florida Gulf Coast |
12 | Nia Clouden | United States | Connecticut Sun | Michigan State |
Pick | Player | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
---|---|---|---|---|
13 | Khayla Pointer | United States | Las Vegas Aces (from Minnesota via Indiana) [f] | LSU |
14 | Christyn Williams | United States | Washington Mystics (from Atlanta) [a] | UConn |
15 | Naz Hillmon | United States | Atlanta Dream (from Los Angeles) [l] | Michigan |
16 | Kianna Smith | United States | Los Angeles Sparks (from Washington) [m] | Louisville |
17 | Elissa Cunane | United States | Seattle Storm (from New York) [h] | NC State |
18 | Lorela Cubaj | Italy | Seattle Storm (from Dallas) [n] | Georgia Tech |
19 | Olivia Nelson-Ododa | United States | Los Angeles Sparks (from Chicago via Dallas) [o] [p] | UConn |
20 | Destanni Henderson | United States | Indiana Fever (from Phoenix) [q] | South Carolina |
21 | Evina Westbrook | United States | Seattle Storm | UConn |
22 | Kayla Jones | United States | Minnesota Lynx | NC State |
23 | Aisha Sheppard | United States | Las Vegas Aces | Virginia Tech |
24 | Jordan Lewis | United States | Connecticut Sun | Baylor |
Pick | Player | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
---|---|---|---|---|
25 | Ameshya Williams-Holliday | United States | Indiana Fever | Jackson State |
26 | Maya Dodson | United States | Phoenix Mercury (from Atlanta) [r] | Notre Dame |
27 | Amy Atwell | Australia | Los Angeles Sparks | Hawaii |
28 | Hannah Sjerven | United States | Minnesota Lynx (from Washington) [s] | South Dakota |
29 | Sika Koné | Mali | New York Liberty | CB Islas Canarias (Spain) |
30 | Jasmine Dickey | United States | Dallas Wings | Delaware |
31 | Jazz Bond | United States | Dallas Wings (from Chicago) [d] | North Florida |
32 | Macee Williams | United States | Phoenix Mercury | IUPUI |
33 | Jade Melbourne | Australia | Seattle Storm | Canberra Capitals ( Australia) |
34 | Ali Patberg | United States | Indiana Fever (from Minnesota) [k] | Indiana |
35 | Faustine Aifuwa | United States | Las Vegas Aces | LSU |
36 | Kiara Smith | United States | Connecticut Sun | Florida |
The 2008 WNBA season was the 12th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. It was the first WNBA season with a franchise in Atlanta as the Dream were announced in late 2007.
The Atlanta Dream are an American professional basketball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Dream compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded for the 2008 WNBA season. The team is owned by real estate investors Larry Gottesdiener, Suzanne Abair, and former Dream player Renee Montgomery. Although the Dream share the Atlanta market with the National Basketball Association's Hawks, the Dream is not affiliated with its NBA counterpart. The Dream play at the Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia.
The WNBA draft is the league's annual process for determining which Women's National Basketball Association teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The 2008 draft was held on April 9.
The 2009 WNBA Season was the 13th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. It is the first WNBA season without a Houston franchise, the Comets having folded in December 2008. The season ended with the Phoenix Mercury winning their second championship in three years.
The 2009 WNBA draft is the league's annual process for determining which teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The draft was held on April 9, 2009. The first round was shown on ESPN2 at 3:00pm ET, while the second and third rounds were shown on ESPNU and NBA TV at 4:00pm.
The 2010 WNBA season was the 14th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. The regular season began with a televised (ESPN2) meeting between the defending champion Phoenix Mercury and the Los Angeles Sparks in Phoenix, Arizona on May 15. The Connecticut Sun hosted the 10th Annual All-Star Game which was broadcast live on ESPN on July 10. This year, it was a contest between Geno Auriemma's USA Basketball team and a single team of WNBA All-Stars. The Finals was a series between the Seattle Storm and the Atlanta Dream which Seattle won 3–0.
The 2012 WNBA season was the 16th season of the Women's National Basketball Association. The regular season began on May 18 and concluded on September 23 and playoffs started on September 27 and concluded on October 21.
The 2012 WNBA draft was the league's annual process for determining which teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The draft was held on April 16, 2012, at the ESPN studios in Bristol, Connecticut. The first round was shown on ESPN2 (HD), with the second and third rounds shown on NBA TV and ESPNU.
The Dallas Wings are an American professional basketball team based in Arlington, Texas. The Wings compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team is owned by a group led by chairman Bill Cameron. Greg Bibb is president and CEO. Brad Hilsabeck joined the Dallas Wings ownership group in March 2019 with the acquisition of Mark Yancey’s interest in the Wings.
The 2016 WNBA season was the 20th season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Its regular season began on May 14 when the Indiana Fever hosted the Dallas Wings and concluded on September 18, with a Seattle Storm defeat of the Chicago Sky.
The 2017 WNBA draft was the league's draft for the 2017 WNBA season. On March 30, the WNBA announced that the draft would take place on April 13 in New York at Samsung 837.
The 2020 WNBA draft was the league's draft for the 2020 WNBA season. A draft lottery was held on September 17, 2019 and the New York Liberty were awarded the first overall pick in the draft. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the draft was held virtually without players, guests, and the media on-site. The draft was televised as planned; it was the most-watched WNBA draft in 16 years and the second most-watched in ESPN's history.
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. 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.
The 2023 WNBA Draft, the WNBA's draft for the 2023 WNBA season and 28th draft in WNBA history, was held following the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The 2023 draft took place at Spring Studios New York on April 10, 2023. It was exclusively televised on ESPN in the United States and on TSN3/5 in Canada at 7:00 p.m. EDT.
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the 2024 season, following the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season, was held on April 15, 2024, the 29th draft in WNBA history. The draft took place at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York, and allowed fans to be in attendance for the first time since the 2016 WNBA Draft. It was exclusively televised on ESPN in the United States and on TSN1/3/4 in Canada at 7:30 p.m. EDT.
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the 2025 season will be held following the 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. This will mark the first draft for the newest expansion team for the league, the Golden State Valkyries. The lottery teams are usually decided based on the four teams that do not make the playoffs.
A representative from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young was in attendance to oversee the Lottery process.