If all the joy of NCAA March Insanity has you newly invested in girls’s basketball, you’re not alone. Actually tens of millions of different Individuals have jumped on board too, thanks in no small half to the fervor surrounding the event—and the highlight shining on wonderful athletes like Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, and others.
The 2024 girls’s nationwide championship recreation—a showdown between the Iowa Hawkeyes and South Carolina Gamecocks—drew a record-breaking 18.7 million viewers, making it probably the most watched girls’s school basketball recreation on file and the most-watched basketball recreation general (yep, together with males’s or girls’s, school or professional) since 2019, in keeping with ESPN.
There’s no denying we’re coming into a fairly thrilling period for ladies’s basketball. And the perfect half is, although March Insanity is over, there’s a lot extra pleasure arising: The WNBA draft, which options a few of the most-hyped school stars and units the stage for epic professional video games forward, is going on on April 15.
Truthful warning: The draft course of is a bit, um, nuanced, and should you’re befuddled by the way it all works, properly, that’s completely comprehensible. To demystify issues, we compiled the beneath Q&A that addresses all of your burning b-ball questions in an-easy-to-digest format. Proper this manner for the must-know intel!
First off, when and the place is that this all taking place?
Mark your calendar for Monday, April 15 at 7:30 pm ET. That’s when the draft festivities—held this yr on the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn—will kick off. For the primary time since 2016, followers can be allowed to attend the draft in individual, making for a brilliant thrilling vibe that we’re betting TV viewers will really feel as properly.
What’s the purpose of the draft?
Glad you requested! Principally, the WNBA holds its draft so groups can choose new gamers from the newest pool of eligible athletes, together with many soon-to-be school grads. By means of a lottery and rating course of that favors groups with less-than-stellar data (extra on that in a minute), the draft goals to carry parity to the league in order that struggling groups have an opportunity to bolster their rosters with the perfect new gamers. The profit for us viewers? Extra thrilling video games!
What number of groups are included?
All 12 groups that kind the WNBA take part within the draft. This consists of: the Indiana Fever, Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm, Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, Washington Mystics, Minnesota Lynx, Atlanta Dream, Dallas Wings, Connecticut Solar, New York Liberty, Las Vegas Aces, and Chicago Sky.
So, how are picks chosen?
There are three rounds within the draft, with 12 picks per spherical. The order that groups get to make their picks is predicated on efficiency from final season, with the worst groups going first and the perfect going final.
One important exception: The primary 4 picks within the first spherical are decided by the Draft Lottery (a weighted drawing among the many 4 groups that didn’t make the 2023 WNBA playoffs: the Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury, and Seattle Storm)—plus any traded picks (principally, groups can determine to swap choose numbers with one another).
What makes athletes eligible for the draft?
There are three principal teams that may take part within the draft: All school seniors who’re not eligible to play within the NCAA; any NCAA participant who turns 22 this yr and offers up (or “renounces”) their remaining NCAA eligibility; or any worldwide participant who turns 20 this yr.
What number of rounds are there?
Three! And every spherical options 12 picks.
What number of athletes are within the pool, and what number of will get picked?
The WNBA hasn’t introduced how large the athlete pool is that this yr, however an April 4 press launch from the group named 89 gamers who renounced their school eligibility to grow to be draft candidates. Every week later, the WNBA issued one other press launch spotlighting some draft headliners who weren’t named in that authentic listing, together with Caitlin Clark, Aaliyah Edwards, and Kamilla Cardoso. So, it’s not clear precisely how large the ultimate pool can be, however we do know that in the long run, simply 36 athletes can be chosen.
Which groups have first picks this yr?
The Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, and Chicago Sky—in that order‚ will get first dibs this yr. Notably, the Fever obtained to choose first final yr, too. Fortunate them!
Which athletes are draft favorites?
Not surprisingly, Caitlin Clark is broadly predicted to be the highest choose. Because the NCAA’s all-time main scorer and highest-earning NCAA girls’s basketball participant in historical past (because of NIL allowances), the 22-year outdated guard simply wrapped a collegiate profession with some severely spectacular stats, scoring 3,951 whole factors, 1,144 assists and 990 rebounds throughout her 4 years with the Iowa Hawkeyes, per ESPN.
