Amid an uncertain offseason as the WNBA and its players negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, fans will get some clarity on the 2026 season when the Draft Lottery is held on Nov. 23. Fans can tune into ESPN at 6:30 p.m. ET to find out which teams will get a chance to draft the league’s next group of bright young stars.
The WNBA’s head of operations, Bethany Donaphin, will reveal the 2025 draft lottery results. The lottery odds will be based on the cumulative record of the past two seasons of the five teams that did not make the postseason this season.
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The Dallas Wings, Minnesota Lynx (trade from the Chicago Sky), Seattle Storm (trade from the Los Angeles Sparks), Washington Mystics and Sky (trade from the Connecticut Sun) will be the five teams participating in the lottery.
Per the league, the drawing will work like so:
In the drawing, 14 balls numbered 1-14 will be placed in a lottery machine and mixed. Four balls will be drawn to determine a four-digit combination. The team assigned that four-ball combination will receive the No. 1 pick. The four balls will then be placed back into the machine and the process will be repeated to determine the second pick. Of the three teams not selected in the drawings, the team with the worst cumulative two-year record shall select third; the team with the next worst record will select fourth; and the remaining team shall select fifth.
With the Wings’ combined record of 19-65 over the past two seasons, they have a 420 out of 1,000 chance to win at least a top-three pick. Last year, the Wings selected Paige Bueckers with the No. 1 overall pick out of UConn. They also recently hired former USF women’s basketball coach Jose Fernandez as the new head coach, replacing Chris Koclanes.
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The Lynx possesses the next best odds at 261 out of 1,000 to win the top pick. They are followed by the Storm (167 out of 1,000), Mystics (97 out of 1,000) and the Sky (55 out of 1,000).
The WNBA also needs to hold an expansion draft for its two new teams for 2026, the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire, but that cannot be scheduled until a new CBA is agreed upon. The league and players association agreed to a 30-day extension of the Oct. 31 deadline last week.
