Indiana Fever win WNBA draft lottery for No. 1 pick for 2nd straight season

Last updated: 2023/12/10 at 11:00 PM

BigP Published December 10, 2023

The Indiana Fever won the WNBA draft lottery for the No. 1 pick for the second consecutive season Sunday.

The Fever took Aliyah Boston last season with the top pick and she earned the league’s Rookie of the Year honors.

“This is tremendous news for our franchise to receive another No.1 overall pick,” Fever GM Lin Dunn said.

Now Indiana will have to wait to see who decides to enter the draft. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, UConn’s Paige Bueckers and LSU’s Angel Reese all could head back to school for another year thanks to the extra season because of the coronavirus.

Indiana, which hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016, had a 44% chance of getting the No. 1 pick. Los Angeles has the No. 2 pick with Phoenix choosing third and Seattle fourth. The Sparks, who had an 18% chance at getting the top pick, have missed the postseason two straight years and last had No. 1 in 2012 when they drafted Nneka Ogwumike.

Phoenix had the worst record in the WNBA last season and was trying to earn the first pick for the first time since the Mercury chose Brittney Griner in 2013. They had a 28% chance of getting the No. 1 pick.

The Storm, who will pick fourth, benefited from back-to-back No. 1 picks in 2015 (Jewell Loyd) and 2016 (Breanna Stewart) to win titles in 2018 and 2020.

Dallas will pick fifth. Washington, Minnesota and Atlanta are next. Dallas, Connecticut, New York and Los Angeles will close out the first round.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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