| 2024 WNBA Draft | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Date(s) | April 15, 2024 |
| Location | Brooklyn Academy of Music Brooklyn, New York |
| Network(s) | United States:ESPN Canada:TSN1/3/4[a] |
| Overview | |
| League | WNBA |
| Teams | 12 |
| First selection | Caitlin Clark,Indiana Fever |
TheWomen's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the2024 season, following the2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season, was held on April 15, 2024, the29th draft in WNBA history. The draft took place at theBrooklyn Academy of Music inBrooklyn, New York, and allowed fans to be in attendance for the first time since the2016 WNBA Draft. It was exclusively televised onESPN in the United States and onTSN1/3/4[a] in Canada at 7:30 p.m.EDT.[1]
The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2024 draft took place on December 10, 2023, and was televised on ESPN in the United States and on TSN5 in Canada. The four non-playoff teams in 2023 qualified for the lottery drawing:Indiana Fever,Phoenix Mercury,Los Angeles Sparks, and theSeattle Storm. The Fever won the lottery for the second time in franchise history and were awarded the top pick in the draft. The rest of the order went as follows: Sparks, Mercury, Storm.[2]
Note: Team selected for No.1 pick noted inbold text
| Team | Combined 2022–2023 record | Lottery chances |
|---|---|---|
| Indiana Fever | 18–58 | 44.2% |
| Phoenix Mercury | 24–52 | 27.6% |
| Los Angeles Sparks | 30–46 | 17.8% |
| Seattle Storm | 33–43 | 10.4% |
The lottery odds were based on combined records from the 2022 and 2023 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.[3] 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 2023.
Under thecollective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the WNBA and its players' union, draft eligibility for players not defined as "international" requires the following to be true:[4]
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 theNCAA 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:
For "international players", the eligibility age is 20, also measured on December 31 of the year of the draft.
On April 11, 2024, the WNBA released the names of the players who would be invited to be in attendance at the draft.[5]
Cameron Brink,Stanford
Kamilla Cardoso,South CarolinaCaitlin Clark,IowaMarquesha Davis,Ole Miss
Aaliyah Edwards,UConnDyaisha Fair,SyracuseRickea Jackson,TennesseeElizabeth Kitley,Virginia Tech
Nika Mühl, UConnCharisma Osborne,UCLAAlissa Pili,Utah
Nyadiew Puoch,Southside Flyers (Australia)Angel Reese,LSUJacy Sheldon,Ohio StateCeleste Taylor, Ohio State.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
| * | Denotesplayer who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game andAll-WNBA Team |
| + | Denotesplayer who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game |
| # | Denotes player who never played in the WNBA regular season or playoffs |
| Bold | Denotesplayer who won Rookie of the Year |
