1997 WNBA draft explained

1997 WNBA draft
Sport:	Basketball
Date:	April 28, 1997
League:	WNBA
First:	Tina Thompson Houston Comets
Next:	1998

The 1997 WNBA draft was the 1st draft held by the WNBA through which teams could select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. Unlike later drafts, this draft was unique because there were three different stages in which teams built their rosters.

First on January 22, 1997, the Initial Player Allocation draft took place in which 16 players were assigned to each team in no particular order.

The elite draft portion comprised professional women's basketball players who had competed in other leagues, usually international leagues. On February 27, 1997, an elite draft added two more players to each team.

On April 28, 1997, the four rounds of the regular WNBA draft took place.

Draftees Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson would become the core pieces of the Houston Comets dynasty.

Racquel Spurlock (3rd Round, 17th overall pick) is the only player selected in this draft that ended up never playing a game in the WNBA.

Initial player allocation

Count	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	School / club team
1	^^	C		Charlotte Sting	Maryland
2	^*	G		Charlotte Sting	NC State
3		C		Cleveland Rockers	Louisiana Tech
4		G		Cleveland Rockers	Iowa
5	^*	F		Houston Comets	Texas Tech
6	^*	G		Houston Comets	USC
7	^*	C		Los Angeles Sparks	USC
8		G		Los Angeles Sparks	Long Beach State
9	^+	C/F		New York Liberty	Connecticut
10	^*	G		New York Liberty	Louisiana Tech
11	^^	G		Phoenix Mercury	WTV Wuppertal (Germany)
12	^*	C		Phoenix Mercury	Ole Miss
13	^*	G		Sacramento Monarchs	Auburn
14		F		Sacramento Monarchs	Tennessee
15	^^	C/F		Utah Starzz	CSKA Moscow (Russia)
16		G		Utah Starzz	Georgia

Note: 16 players assigned in no particular order.

Elite draft

See main article: WNBA elite draft. The elite draft portion was composed of professional women's basketball players who had competed in other leagues, usually international leagues. It was the first time where the teams could draft the players out of a talent pool.

Round 1

Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	School / club team
1		G		Utah Starzz	Tennessee
2		C/F		Cleveland Rockers	Colorado
3		C/F		Charlotte Sting	NC State
4	^^	C/F		New York Liberty	Arizona State
5		F		Houston Comets	South Florida
6		F		Sacramento Monarchs	Hawaii
7		F		Phoenix Mercury	Florida
8		C		Los Angeles Sparks	Tennessee

Round 2

Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	School / club team
9	^*	F		Utah Starzz	Virginia
10		G		Cleveland Rockers	Kansas
11		F		Charlotte Sting	Texas Tech
12	^^	F		New York Liberty	Louisiana Tech
13	^*	F		Houston Comets	Polti (Brazil)
14		G		Sacramento Monarchs	Japan Energy Griffins (Japan)
15		G		Phoenix Mercury	Old Dominion
16	Zheng Haixia	C		Los Angeles Sparks	China

College draft

Round 1

Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	School / club team
1	^*	F		Houston Comets	USC
2		C		Sacramento Monarchs	USC
3		G		Los Angeles Sparks	Stanford
4		G	Czechoslovakia	Cleveland Rockers	Bourges (France)
5		G		Utah Starzz	Virginia
6	^^	F		New York Liberty	Rutgers
7		G		Charlotte Sting	Virginia
8		F/C		Phoenix Mercury	Iowa

Round 2

Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	School / club team
9		G/F		Phoenix Mercury	Iowa
10		C/F		Charlotte Sting	NC State
11		G		New York Liberty	Florida
12		F/C		Utah Starzz	Maryland
13	^*	G/F		Cleveland Rockers	Florida
14	^*	G		Los Angeles Sparks	Kansas
15		C		Sacramento Monarchs	Howard
16		F/C		Houston Comets	Florida

Round 3

Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	School / club team
17		C		Houston Comets	Louisiana Tech
18		G		Sacramento Monarchs	Auburn
19		G		Los Angeles Sparks	Maryland
20		G		Cleveland Rockers	Penn State
21		F/C		Utah Starzz	Colorado
22		F/C		New York Liberty	NC State
23		G		Charlotte Sting	Louisiana Tech
24		G/F		Phoenix Mercury	NC State

Round 4

Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	School / club team
25		F		Phoenix Mercury	Arizona State
26		F/C		Charlotte Sting	Mercer
27		G/F		New York Liberty	Georgia Tech
28		G		Utah Starzz	DePaul
29		F		Cleveland Rockers	New Mexico State
30		C		Los Angeles Sparks	Lamar
31		C		Sacramento Monarchs	George Washington
32		F		Houston Comets	Texas

Notable undrafted players

These players were not selected in the 1997 WNBA draft but played at least one game for the WNBA.

Player	Position	Nationality	School / club team
	G		Ohio State
^[1]	G		Virginia
^[2]	F		Furman
^[3]	F		Alabama
^[4]	G/F		LSU
^[5]	F		USC
	G		Texas
	G/F		Tourbillon Kinshasa (Congo)
	F		Ole Miss
	PG		Southwestern Louisiana
	G		Tennessee

See also

• List of first overall WNBA draft picks

References

1. Web site: Jenny Boucek Player File . wnba.com . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20010430030949/http://wnba.com/playerfile/career/jenny_boucek.html . 30 April 2001 . dead.
2. Web site: Rushia Brown Player File: Rockers . wnba.com . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20010415021010/http://wnba.com/playerfile/career/rushia_brown.html . 15 April 2001 . dead.
3. Web site: Linda Burgess Player File: Monarchs . wnba.com . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20010220211709/http://wnba.com/playerfile/career/linda_burgess.html . 20 February 2001 . dead.
4. Web site: Comets Player File: Pietra Gay . www.wnba.com . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/19980208062146/http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/pietra_gay.html . 8 February 1998 . dead.
5. Web site: Sparks Player File: Kim Gessig . www.wnba.com . 12 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20010712172125/http://www.wnba.com/playerfile/kim_gessig.html . 12 July 2001 . dead.

• Web site: All-Time WNBA Draft List . August 6, 2016 . WNBA . https://web.archive.org/web/20080509153954/http://www.wnba.com/history/alltime_draft_list.html . May 9, 2008 . dead .
• Web site: WNBA Elite Draft. WNBA. https://web.archive.org/web/19970416054508/http://www.nba.com/wnba/elite_draft.html. April 16, 1997. August 6, 2016.