2020 WNBA draft

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2020 WNBA Draft
General information
SportBasketball
Date(s)April 17, 2020
LocationVirtually
Network(s)USA: ESPN
Canada: TSN2/SN1
Overview
LeagueWNBA
Teams12
First selectionSabrina Ionescu
New York Liberty
← 2019
2021 →

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.[1][2] 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;[3] it was the most-watched WNBA draft in 16 years and the second most-watched in ESPN's history.[4]

Draft lottery

The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2020 draft took place during halftime of the Connecticut Sun's semifinal game against the Los Angeles Sparks on September 17, 2019 and was televised on ESPN2. Four non-playoff teams qualified for the lottery drawing: Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, New York Liberty, and Atlanta Dream.[1]

Lottery chances

Team Combined 2018–2019 Record Lottery Chances (out of 1,000)
New York Liberty – WON 17–51 442
Indiana Fever 19–49 276
Dallas Wings 25–43 178
Atlanta Dream 31–37 104

The lottery odds were based on combined records from the 2018 and 2019 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 & redrawn). The team assigned that four-ball combination 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're announced.[1]

The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third rounds is determined by inverse order of the teams' respective regular-season records solely from 2019.[1]

The lottery was won by the New York Liberty, who had the best chance to win the lottery. The Dallas Wings were awarded the second pick, followed by the Indiana Fever and finally the Atlanta Dream.[2]

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:[5]

  • The player's 22nd birthday falls during the calendar year of the draft. For this draft, the cutoff birth date is December 31, 1998.
  • She has either:
    • completed her college eligibility;
    • received a bachelor's degree, or is scheduled to receive such in the 3 months following the draft; or
    • is at least 4 years removed from high school graduation.

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 must declare for the draft within 24 hours of their final game. The latter timetable proved to be moot due to the coronavirus-induced cancellation of the 2020 NCAA tournament.

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

  • Born and currently residing outside the U.S.
  • Never "exercised intercollegiate basketball eligibility" in the U.S.

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

Three players with remaining college eligibility, all of whom were juniors in the 2019–20 college season, declared for the draft. All three were drafted in the first round:

Draft

Sabrina Ionescu was selected 1st overall by the New York Liberty.
Satou Sabally was selected 2nd overall by the Dallas Wings.
Chennedy Carter was selected 4th overall by the Atlanta Dream.
Tyasha Harris was selected 7th overall by the Dallas Wings.
Crystal Dangerfield was selected 16th overall by the Minnesota Lynx. She became the first second-round pick to win the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award.
Leonie Fiebich was selected 22nd overall by the Los Angeles Sparks.
* 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
Bold Denotes player who won Rookie of the Year


Honorary picks

The WNBA honored Alyssa Altobelli, Payton Chester, and Gianna Bryant, daughter of Hall of Fame basketball player Kobe Bryant, who all died in the 2020 Calabasas helicopter crash, with honorary draft picks.[9]

First round

Pick Player Position Nationality Team School / club team
1 Sabrina Ionescu * G  United States New York Liberty Oregon
2 Satou Sabally * F  Germany Dallas Wings Oregon
3 Lauren Cox F/C  United States Indiana Fever Baylor
4 Chennedy Carter G  United States Atlanta Dream Texas A&M
5 Bella Alarie F  United States Dallas Wings (from Phoenix)[a] Princeton
6 Mikiah Herbert Harrigan F  United Kingdom Minnesota Lynx South Carolina
7 Tyasha Harris G  United States Dallas Wings (from Seattle via Connecticut and Phoenix)[a][b][c] South Carolina
8 Ruthy Hebard F  United States Chicago Sky Oregon
9 Megan Walker F  United States New York Liberty (from Las Vegas via Dallas)[d][e] UConn
10 Jocelyn Willoughby F/G  United States Phoenix Mercury (from Los Angeles via Connecticut)[c][f] Virginia
11 Kitija Laksa# F  Latvia Seattle Storm (from Connecticut)[b] South Florida/TTT Riga (Latvia)
12 Jazmine Jones G  United States New York Liberty (from Washington)[e] Louisville

Second round

Pick Player Position Nationality Team School / club team
13 Kylee Shook F  United States New York Liberty (from Atlanta)[g] Louisville
14 Kathleen Doyle G  United States Indiana Fever (from New York via Minnesota)[h][i] Iowa
15 Leaonna Odom F  United States New York Liberty (from Dallas)[e] Duke
16 Crystal Dangerfield G  United States Minnesota Lynx (from Indiana)[i] UConn
17 Brittany Brewer F  United States Atlanta Dream (from Phoenix)[j] Texas Tech
18 Te'a Cooper G  United States Phoenix Mercury (from Minnesota)[k] Baylor
19 Joyner Holmes F  United States Seattle Storm Texas
20 Beatrice Mompremier F  United States Los Angeles Sparks (from Chicago)[l] Miami (FL)
21 Luisa Geiselsöder# C  Germany Dallas Wings (from Las Vegas)[d] Donau-Ries (Germany)
22 Leonie Fiebich F  Germany Los Angeles Sparks Wasserburg (Germany)
23 Kaila Charles G  United States Connecticut Sun Maryland
24 Jaylyn Agnew F  United States Washington Mystics Creighton

Third round

Pick Player Position Nationality Team School / club team
25 Mikayla Pivec# G  United States Atlanta Dream Oregon State
26 Erica Ogwumike# G  United States New York Liberty Rice
27 Kobi Thornton# F  United States Atlanta Dream (from Dallas)[m] Clemson
28 Kamiah Smalls G  United States Indiana Fever James Madison
29 Stella Johnson G  United States Phoenix Mercury Rider
30 Japreece Dean# G  United States Chicago Sky (from Minnesota)[n] UCLA
31 Haley Gorecki G  United States Seattle Storm Duke
32 Kiah Gillespie# F  United States Chicago Sky Florida State
33 Lauren Manis# F  United States Las Vegas Aces Holy Cross
34 Tynice Martin# G  United States Los Angeles Sparks West Virginia
35 Juicy Landrum# G  United States Connecticut Sun Baylor
36 Sug Sutton G  United States Washington Mystics Texas

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b February 12, 2020: Phoenix to Dallas[10]
    • Dallas acquired the fifth and seventh picks and a future first-round pick
    • Phoenix acquired Skylar Diggins-Smith
  2. ^ a b February 10, 2020: Connecticut to Seattle[11]
    • Connecticut acquired the seventh pick
    • Seattle acquired the 11th pick and Morgan Tuck
  3. ^ a b February 11, 2020: Connecticut to Phoenix[12]
    • Phoenix acquired the seventh and tenth picks and a 2021 first-round pick
    • Connecticut acquired DeWanna Bonner
  4. ^ a b May 16, 2019: Las Vegas to Dallas[13]
  5. ^ a b c April 15, 2020: Three-team trade[14]
    • New York acquired the 12th pick; Shatori Walker-Kimbrough; and 2021 first, second, and third-round picks from Washington; Las Vegas's first-round pick (ninth overall), the 15th pick, and Tayler Hill from Dallas
    • Washington acquired Tina Charles from New York
    • Dallas acquired Washington's 2021 first-round pick and a 2021 second-round pick from New York
  6. ^ April 27, 2019: Los Angeles to Connecticut[15]
  7. ^ April 11, 2019: Atlanta to New York (three-team trade with Las Vegas)[16]
    • New York acquired the 13th pick from Atlanta
    • Atlanta acquired Nia Coffey from Las Vegas
    • Las Vegas acquired Sugar Rodgers from New York
  8. ^ April 11, 2019: New York to Minnesota[17]
  9. ^ a b March 6, 2020: Minnesota to Indiana[18]
    • Indiana acquired the 14th pick and a 2021 second-round pick
    • Minnesota acquired Shenise Johnson and the 16th pick
  10. ^ February 19, 2020: Phoenix to Atlanta (three-team trade with Connecticut)[19]
  11. ^ May 21, 2019: Minnesota to Phoenix[20]
  12. ^ May 20, 2019: Chicago to Los Angeles[21]
  13. ^ May 16, 2019: Dallas to Atlanta[22]
  14. ^ May 21, 2019: Minnesota to Chicago[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "WNBA Draft Lottery Presented By State Farm To Take Place on Sept. 17 on ESPN2". wnba.com. September 12, 2019. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "New York Liberty Win Top Pick In WNBA Draft 2020 Presented By State Farm®". wnba.com. WNBA. September 17, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
  3. ^ "WNBA Draft 2020 Presented By State Farm To Be Held As Scheduled On April 17". wnba.com. WNBA. March 26, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  4. ^ "WNBA Delivers Most-Watched Draft in 16 Years". wnba.com. WNBA. April 21, 2020. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  5. ^ "Article XIII, Section 1: Player Eligibility" (PDF). 2020 Women's National Basketball Association Collective Bargaining Agreement. Women's National Basketball Players Association. pp. 110–111. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  6. ^ Rowe, Holly (February 20, 2020). "Oregon junior Satou Sabally to enter WNBA draft after season". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  7. ^ "UConn's Walker to forgo senior year, enter WNBA draft". Yahoo Sports. Associated Press. March 14, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  8. ^ Voepel, Mechelle (March 29, 2020). "Texas A&M star Chennedy Carter declares for WNBA draft". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  9. ^ "Gianna Bryant, Alyssa Altobelli, Payton Chester selected as honorary picks at WNBA draft". ESPN.com. 17 April 2020.
  10. ^ "Four-time WNBA All-Star Acquired by Phoenix in Sign and Trade Deal". wnba.com. WNBA. February 12, 2020. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  11. ^ "Seattle Completes Trade With Connecticut, Acquires Morgan Tuck". wnba.com. WNBA. February 10, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  12. ^ Metcalfe, Jeff (February 11, 2020). "Phoenix Mercury All-Star DeWanna Bonner traded to Connecticut Sun". azcentral.com. Arizona Republic. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  13. ^ "Wings trade MVP runner-up Cambage to Aces". espn.com. ESPN. May 16, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  14. ^ "Washington Mystics Acquire 7x All-Star Tina Charles in Three-Team Deal". wnba.com. WNBA. April 15, 2020. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  15. ^ "Sparks Acquire 2014 No. 1 Overall Pick Chiney Ogwumike". wnba.com. WNBA. April 27, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  16. ^ "Atlanta Dream Acquire Nia Coffey in Trade". dream.wnba.com. WNBA. April 11, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  17. ^ "Liberty Acquires Guard Tanisha Wright in Exchange for 2020 Second Round Pick". liberty.wnba.com. WNBA. April 11, 2019. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  18. ^ "Fever Acquire Draft Picks in Trade with Minnesota". fever.wnba.com. WNBA. March 6, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  19. ^ Weinfuss, Josh (February 19, 2020). "Mercury acquire Jessica Breland in 3-team deal with Dream, Sun". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  20. ^ "Mercury Acquire 2020 Second-Round Pick From Minnesota". wnba.com. WNBA. May 21, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
  21. ^ "Los Angeles Sparks Trade Jantel Lavender To Chicago Sky". wnba.com. WNBA. May 20, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  22. ^ "Dream trade center Imani McGee-Stafford to Dallas". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. May 16, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  23. ^ "Sky Acquire 2020 Third-Round Pick From Minnesota Lynx". wnba.com. WNBA. May 21, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.