2025 WNBA draft
| 2025 WNBA Draft | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Date(s) | TBA |
| Location | TBA |
| Overview | |
| League | WNBA |
| Teams | 13 |
The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the 2025 season, will be held following the 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season, and before the 30th draft in WNBA history. This will mark the first draft for the newest expansion team for the league, the Golden State Valkyries. The lottery teams are decided based on the four teams that do not make the playoffs, while the league hasn't stated how the Valkyries will fit in to the draft yet.
Draft lottery
The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2024 draft will take place following the 2024 WNBA season. The four non-playoff teams in 2024 will qualify for the lottery drawing.
Lottery chances
| Team | Combined 2023–2024 record | Lottery chances |
|---|---|---|
| 44.2% | ||
| 27.6% | ||
| 17.8% | ||
| 10.4% |
The lottery odds were based on combined records from the 2023 and 2024 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.[1] 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 2024.
Eligibility
Under the 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:[2]
- The player's 22nd birthday falls during the calendar year of the draft. For this draft, the cutoff birth date is December 31, 2003.
- She has either:
- completed her college eligibility;
- received a bachelor's degree, or is scheduled to receive such in the three months following the draft; or
- is at least four years removed from high school graduation.
A player who is scheduled to receive her bachelor's degree within three 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.
Key
| + | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game |
| Bold | Denotes player who won Rookie of the Year |
Draft
First round
| Pick | Player | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||
| 2 | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| 4 | ||||
| 5 | ||||
| 6 | ||||
| 7 | ||||
| 8 | ||||
| 9 | ||||
| 10 | ||||
| 11 | ||||
| 12 | ||||
| 13 |
Second round
| Pick | Player | Nationality | Team | School / club team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | |||||
| 15 | |||||
| 16 | |||||
| 17 | |||||
| 18 | |||||
| 19 | |||||
| 20 | |||||
| 21 | |||||
| 22 | |||||
| 23 | |||||
| 24 | |||||
| 25 | |||||
| 26 |
Third round
| Pick | Player | Nationality | Team | School / club team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | ||||
| 28 | ||||
| 29 | ||||
| 30 | ||||
| 31 | ||||
| 32 | ||||
| 33 | ||||
| 34 | ||||
| 35 | ||||
| 36 | ||||
| 37 | ||||
| 38 | ||||
| 39 |
Draft Pick Movement
Trades
The following are trades that will have effect on the draft order placements following the 2024 season.
- Phoenix Mercury to Chicago Sky: Chicago received its own 2025 2nd Round Pick back from Phoenix as part of the Kahleah Copper trade in February 2024.[a]
- Phoenix Mercury to New York Liberty: New York has the option to swap 1st Round Picks with Phoenix (depending on how the standings work out)
- Chicago Sky to the Dallas Wings: Dallas also has the option to swap 1st Round Picks with Chicago (depending on how the standing work out)[b]
- Chicago Sky to Minnesota Lynx: Minnesota received a 2nd Round Pick from Chicago[c]
- Washington Mystics to Las Vegas Aces: Las Vegas received a 2nd Round Pick from Washington[d]
- Dallas Wings to Washington Mystics: Washington received a 1st Round Pick (via the Atlanta Dream) from Dallas[e]
- New York Liberty to Chicago Sky: Chicago received New York's 2nd Round Pick from the Rebekah Gardner trade[8]
- Washington Mystics to Seattle Storm: Seattle received Washington's 3rd Round Pick from the Jade Melbourne trade[9]
Loss of Draft Pick
- The Las Vegas Aces lost their own 2025 1st Round Pick because the franchise violated league rules regarding impermissible player benefits and workplace policies.[10]
Footnotes
- ^ February 6, 2024: Phoenix to Chicago[3]
- Phoenix acquired Kahleah Copper and Morgan Bertsch
- Chicago acquired Brianna Turner, Michaela Onyenwere, a 2024 first-round pick (3rd overall), Chicago's own 2025 second-round pick, a 2026 first-round pick, and the right to swap 2026 second-round picks with Phoenix
- ^ February 11, 2023: Four-team trade among Chicago, Dallas, New York, and Phoenix[4]
- Chicago acquired Marina Mabrey and a 2024 second-round pick (from Phoenix)
- New York acquired rights to Leonie Fiebich, a 2024 second-round pick (from Chicago), and the right to swap 2025 first-round picks (from Phoenix)
- Phoenix acquired Michaela Onyenwere, 2024 third-round pick (from Chicago), and 2025 second-round pick (from Chicago)
- Dallas acquired Diamond DeShields, 2023 and 2024 first-round picks (from Chicago), and the right to swap 2025 first-round picks (from Chicago)
- ^ April 14, 2024: Chicago to Minnesota[5]
- Chicago acquired a 2024 first round pick (7th overall), and Nikolina Milić
- Minnesota acquired a 2024 first round pick (8th overall), Sika Koné, a 2025 second-round pick, and right to swap 2026 first-round picks with Chicago.
- ^ February 5, 2023: Las Vegas to Washington[6]
- Las Vegas acquired 2024 and 2025 second-round picks
- Washington acquired the rights to Amanda Zahui B
- ^ April 10, 2023: Washington to Dallas[7]
- Dallas acquired the rights to Stephanie Soares
- Washington acquired 2024 second-round and 2025 first-round picks (via Atlanta)
References
- ^ Dozier, Emily (December 10, 2023). "WNBA Draft Lottery, explained: Updated odds for every team to win the No. 1 overall pick in 2024". The Sporting News.
- ^ "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 December 14, 2020.
- ^ "PHOENIX MERCURY ACQUIRES ALL-STAR AND WNBA CHAMPION KAHLEAH COPPER AND FORWARD MORGAN BERTSCH IN TRADE WITH CHICAGO SKY". WNBA.com. February 6, 2024. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
- ^ "Chicago Sky Acquires Marina Mabrey in Four-Team Trade". WNBA.com. February 12, 2023. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
- ^ "Sky swap 2024 WNBA draft picks, prospects with Lynx in trade". ESPN. Field Level Media. April 14, 2024. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
- ^ "Aces Acquire Pair Of Second Round Picks From Washington". WNBA.com. February 5, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
- ^ DBragaSports (April 10, 2023). "Stephanie Soares selected 4th overall in WNBA Draft". SBNation. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ Costabile, Annie. "Sky acquire two future second-round draft picks from Liberty for rights to Rebekah Gardner". chicago.suntimes.com. Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ "Mystics acquire Jade Melbourne from Storm for 3rd-round pick". ESPN.com. First Level Media. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
- ^ Voepel, Michael. "WNBA suspends Hammon, strips draft pick: What's next for Las Vegas Aces, Dearica Hamby?". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved 19 June 2024.