WNBA Draft Lottery: Dallas No. 1 again; Seattle gets No. 3
Nov 23, 2025, 4:41 PM
A basketball before a WNBA playoff game between Las Vegas and the Seattle Storm. (Ian Maule/Getty Images)
(Ian Maule/Getty Images)
The Dallas Wings won the WNBA draft lottery for the second consecutive season on Sunday night, while the Seattle Storm landed at No. 3.
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The Wings, who drafted Paige Bueckers No. 1 last year, had a 42% chance to secure the top pick again. Minnesota, which had the best record in the league last year, will pick second. The Lynx possessed the Chicago Sky’s first-round pick after a previous trade.
After the Storm, Washington and Chicago rounded out the lottery.
The Storm are picking high again after using the No. 2 overall pick last year on 6-foot-6 French forward Dominique Malonga. Seattle’s lottery pick for the 2026 draft was acquired in a trade last year that sent Kia Nurse and the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 draft to the Los Angeles Sparks.
The Storm also have the No. 14 pick in the first round, which they acquired from Vegas. Seattle’s original pick, No. 9 overall, belongs to the Washington Mystics as a result of a midseason trade for All-Star Brittney Sykes.
Seattle has the first pick of the second round (No. 16 overall), which was acquired from Dallas, and one pick in the third round (No. 39 overall) for a total of four selections in the 2026 draft.
While there’s no clearcut No. 1 pick in the draft like Bueckers last season, there’s a host of draft-eligible players in college including UCLA’s Lauren Betts, UConn’s Azzi Fudd, LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson and TCU’s Olivia Miles. There’s also Spanish player Awa Fam.
The league is expanding to 15 teams this season with the addition of the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo. Details of the expansion draft for those two new franchises hasn’t been announced yet. The two teams will also pick sixth and seventh in the draft next April.
The WNBA is currently negotiating with the players’ union for a new collective bargaining agreement. The two sides agreed to extend a Oct. 31 deadline to Nov. 30. Assuming a new CBA can get negotiated, the draft is normally held in April.
Seattle Sports staff made additions to this post.
