NEW YORK, Dec. 19, 2021 – The Washington Mystics today won the 21st annual WNBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm® and earned the top pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm to be held in April 2022.
The Lottery results were broadcast during a 30-minute WNBA Draft Lottery special on ESPN between games of its women’s college basketball doubleheader featuring Baylor vs. Michigan and Louisville vs. Connecticut.
Washington, which won the WNBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm for the first time in franchise history, entered the Lottery with the third-most chances to land the top pick (178 out of 1,000).
The Indiana Fever, which had the most chances to win the top pick (442 out of 1,000), will have the second selection. The Atlanta Dream will select third after having the second-most chances to land the top pick (276). The Dallas Wings, which had 104 chances to receive the first pick, will choose fourth.
By missing the 2021 WNBA Playoffs, Indiana, Atlanta, Washington, and the Los Angeles Sparks qualified for the Lottery drawing. Dallas, however, had previously acquired Los Angeles’ own 2022 first round pick in a trade on April 14, 2021. Lottery odds were based on the cumulative records of the Fever, Dream, Mystics and Sparks over the two most recent regular seasons (2020 and 2021).
Most recently, the New York Liberty won the Lottery for both the 2020 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm and the 2021 WNBA Draft presented by State Farm. New York used the No. 1 overall pick in 2020 to select Sabrina Ionescu. In February 2021, the Liberty traded the top overall pick ahead of the draft in a move that brought three-time WNBA champion Natasha Howard to New York from the Seattle Storm. Seattle then dealt the No. 1 selection to Dallas in exchange for Katie Lou Samuelson and the Wings’ second round pick in 2022. Dallas used the 2021 top pick to select Charli Collier.
A representative from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young was in attendance to oversee the Lottery process.
The following are results of the 2022 WNBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm.
* Dallas acquired Los Angeles’ own 2022 first round pick in exchange for Dallas’ 2021 first round pick and 2022 second round pick in a trade on Apr. 14, 2021
**Pick exchanged as part of three consecutive trades on Feb. 10, 2021 that included Kia Nurse and Megan Walker moving from New York to Phoenix, Natasha Howard from Seattle to New York, and Mikiah Herbert Harrigan from Minnesota to Seattle
*** Indiana acquired Minnesota’s own 2022 first round pick and Minnesota’s own 2022 third round pick plus the player contract of Odyssey Sims and exclusive negotiating rights to Temi Fagbenle from Minnesota on Feb. 15, 2021 in exchange for Indiana’s own 2022 second round pick