TheWomen's National Basketball Association (WNBA) held their firstexpansion draft on February 18, 1998 for theDetroit Shock and theWashington Mystics.^[1] This draft allowed the two new expansion teams to select players from the existing eight WNBA teams to fill their debut rosters prior to the start of the1998 WNBA season.

Prior to the expansion draft, the WNBA allocated four players to theDetroit Shock and theWashington Mystics on January 27, 1998 in no particular order.

Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Team	School / club team	WNBA years[a]	Career with the franchise[b]	Ref.
1	Cindy Brownx	F	United States	Detroit Shock	Seattle Reign(ABL)	0	1998–1999	[2][3]
2	Razija Mujanović	C	Bosnia and Herzegovina		Microcamp Campinas(Brazil)		1998
3	Nikki McCray+ ^	G	United States	Washington Mystics	Columbus Quest(ABL)		1998–2001
4	Alessandra Santos de Oliveira	C	Brazil		Comense(Italy)		1998–1999

The following players were drafted for the rosters of the Shock and Mystics from the league's existing teams:

Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	New team	Former team	WNBA years[a]	Career with the franchise[b]	Ref.
1	Rhonda Blades	G	United States	Detroit Shock	New York Liberty	1	1998	[4]
2	Heidi Burge	F		Washington Mystics	Los Angeles Sparks		1998
3	Tajama Abraham	C		Detroit Shock	Sacramento Monarchs		1998
4	Penny Moore	F		Washington Mystics	Charlotte Sting		1998–1999
5	Tara Williams	G		Detroit Shock	Phoenix Mercury		—
6	Deborah Carter	F		Washington Mystics	Utah Starzz		1998
7	Lynette Woodard ^ !	G		Detroit Shock	Cleveland Rockers		1998
8	Tammy Jackson	F/C		Washington Mystics	Houston Comets		1998

• 1998 WNBA season
• WNBA expansion draft
• Detroit Shock
• Washington Mystics