In 1997, the Women's National Basketball Association was created. In order to give new teams reasonable talent, the league decided to have two drafts. There was the normal collegiate draft that most professional sports leagues hold. There was also the WNBA elite draft. The elite draft allowed teams to pick players that have already graduated from college and have gone on to play professionally on other American teams or overseas.
The following is the list of how players were picked in the 1997 WNBA elite draft.[1] After this draft, the normal collegiate draft took place.[2]
| width=100 | Pick | width=300 | Player | width=200 | Nationality | width=350 | WNBA Team | width=300 | School/Club Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dena Head (G) | Utah Starzz | Tennessee | ||||||
| 2 | Isabelle Fijalkowski (C/F) | Cleveland Rockers | Colorado | ||||||
| 3 | Rhonda Mapp (C/F) | 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 |
| width=100 | Pick | width=300 | Player | width=200 | Nationality | width=350 | WNBA Team | width=300 | School/Club Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Wendy Palmer (F) | 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) | Houston Comets | Brazil | ||||||
| 14 | Mikiko Hagiwara (G) |  | Sacramento Monarchs | Japan | |||||
| 15 | Nancy Lieberman-Cline (G) | Phoenix Mercury | Old Dominion | ||||||
| 16 | Zheng Haixia (C) | Los Angeles Sparks | China |