WNBA elite draft

WNBA elite draft
General information
Sport	Basketball
Date(s)	February 27, 1997
Overview
League	WNBA
First selection	Dena Head, Tennessee
1997 draft  →

In 1997, the Women's National Basketball Association was created. ^[1] In order to give new teams experienced talent, the league decided to have two drafts. An elite draft was held on February 27, 1997 to allow teams to pick players that had already graduated from college and have gone on to play professionally on in the United States or overseas. ^[2]

The standard collegiate draft that most professional sports leagues hold occurred on April 28, 1997, prior to the start of the 1997 WNBA season. ^[3]

Key

Pos.	G	F	C
Position	Guard	Forward	Center

!	Denotes player who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
^	Denotes player who has been inducted to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
*	Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game and All-WNBA Team
+	Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game
#	Denotes player who never played in the WNBA regular season or playoffs

Draft

The following is the list of how players were picked in the 1997 WNBA elite draft: ^[4]

Round 1

Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	WNBA team	Former school/club team
1	Dena Head	G	United States	Utah Starzz	Tennessee
2	Isabelle Fijalkowski	C/F	France	Cleveland Rockers	Colorado
3	Rhonda Mapp	C/F	United States	Charlotte Sting	North Carolina State
4	Kym Hampton +	C/F		New York Liberty	Arizona State
5	Wanda Guyton	F		Houston Comets	South Florida
6	Judy Mosley-McAfee	F		Sacramento Monarchs	Hawaii
7	Bridget Pettis	F		Phoenix Mercury	Florida
8	Daedra Charles ^	C		Los Angeles Sparks	Tennessee

Round 2

Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	WNBA team	Former school/club team
9	Wendy Palmer *	F	United States	Utah Starzz	Virginia
10	Lynette Woodard ^ !	G		Cleveland Rockers	Kansas
11	Michi Atkins #	F		Charlotte Sting	Texas Tech
12	Vickie Johnson +	F		New York Liberty	Louisiana Tech
13	Janeth Arcain * ^	F	Brazil	Houston Comets	Polti
14	Mikiko Hagiwara	G	Japan	Sacramento Monarchs	Japan Energy Griffins
15	Nancy Lieberman-Cline ^ !	G	United States	Phoenix Mercury	Old Dominion
16	Zheng Haixia	C	China	Los Angeles Sparks	China

References

1. "The Formation of the WNBA". WNBA. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
2. Mishra, Pratikshya (April 15, 2025). "Revisiting the WNBA's Historic 1997 Draft: Meet the Players Who Were Part of the Elite Draft". MSN. Retrieved May 27, 2025.
3. "WNBA holds elite draft". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. February 28, 1997. pp. 3C.
4. "WNBA, list". Idaho Spokesman-Review. March 1, 1997. pp. C4. Retrieved February 8, 2024.