2022 WNBA draft explained

League:	WNBA
Teams:	12
2022 WNBA Draft
Sport:	Basketball
Date:	April 11, 2022
Location:	New York City
Network:	United States: ESPN Canada: TSN1/4
First:	Rhyne Howard Atlanta Dream
Prev:	2021
Next:	2023

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.

Draft lottery

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.

Lottery chances

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.

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, 2000.
• 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 (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:

• 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.

Draft

First round

width=30	Pick	width=333	Player	width=200	Nationality	width=383	Team	width=333	School / club team
1	Rhyne Howard ^+
2	NaLyssa Smith		Indiana Fever	Baylor
3	Shakira Austin			Ole Miss
4	Emily Engstler			Louisville
5	Nyara Sabally		New York Liberty	Oregon
6	Lexie Hull			Stanford
7	Veronica Burton			Northwestern
8	Mya Hollingshed	^[6]		Colorado
9	Rae Burrell			Tennessee
10	Queen Egbo			Baylor
11	Kierstan Bell		Las Vegas Aces	Florida Gulf Coast
12	Nia Clouden		Connecticut Sun	Michigan State

Second round

width=30	Pick	width=333	Player	width=200	Nationality	width=383	Team	width=333	School / club team
13	Khayla Pointer			LSU
14	Christyn Williams			UConn
15	Naz Hillmon			Michigan
16	Kianna Smith			Louisville
17	Elissa Cunane			NC State
18	Lorela Cubaj			Georgia Tech
19	Olivia Nelson-Ododa			UConn
20		Destanni Henderson			South Carolina
21	Evina Westbrook		Seattle Storm	UConn
22	Kayla Jones		Minnesota Lynx	NC State
23	Aisha Sheppard		Las Vegas Aces	Virginia Tech
24	Jordan Lewis		Connecticut Sun	Baylor

Third round

width=30	Pick	width=333	Player	width=200	Nationality	width=383	Team	width=333	School / club team
25	Ameshya Williams-Holliday		Indiana Fever	Jackson State
26	Maya Dodson			Notre Dame
27	Amy Atwell		Los Angeles Sparks	Hawaii
28	Hannah Sjerven			South Dakota
29	Sika Koné		New York Liberty
30	Jasmine Dickey		Dallas Wings	Delaware
31	Jazz Bond			North Florida
32	Macee Williams		Phoenix Mercury	IUPUI
33	Jade Melbourne		Seattle Storm	Canberra Capitals (
34	Ali Patberg			Indiana
35	Faustine Aifuwa		Las Vegas Aces	LSU
36	Kiara Smith		Connecticut Sun	Florida

See also

• List of first overall WNBA draft picks

Notes and References

1. Web site: Philippou . Alexa . March 10, 2022 . 2022 WNBA draft to be held April 11 in NYC . March 10, 2022 . ESPN.com . en.
2. Web site: WNBA Draft Lottery 2022 presented By State Farm To Take Place Sunday Dec. 19 On ESPN. espn.com. WNBA. December 2, 2021. December 13, 2021.
3. Web site: Washington Mystics Win Top Pick In 2022 WNBA Draft Presented By State Farm. wnba.com. WNBA. December 19, 2021. December 20, 2021.
4. Web site: New York Liberty Wins Top Pick In 2021 WNBA Draft Presented By State Farm. WNBA. December 4, 2020. September 30, 2021. A representative from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young was in attendance to oversee the Lottery process..
5. Web site: Article XIII, Section 1: Player Eligibility . 2020 Women's National Basketball Association Collective Bargaining Agreement . 110–111 . Women's National Basketball Players Association . December 14, 2020.
6. Web site: Programa Nacional Femenino recibe autorización de FIBA para naturalizar a Mya Hollingshed. es. July 8, 2022. FBPUR. puertorico.basketball.