2010 WNBA draft

The 2010 WNBA draft is the league's annual process for determining which teams receive the rights to negotiate with players entering the league. The draft was held on April 8, 2010. The first round was shown on ESPN2 (HD), while the second and third rounds were shown on NBA TV and ESPNU.

2010 WNBA draft
General information
Sport	Basketball
Date(s)	December 14, 2009 – April 8, 2010
Location	Secaucus, New Jersey
Network(s)	ESPN2, NBATV, ESPNU
Overview
League	WNBA
Merging teams	Sacramento Monarchs (folded in 2009)
First selection	Tina Charles Connecticut Sun
← 2009 2011 →

A lottery was held on November 5, 2009. The Minnesota Lynx received the first overall selection of the draft. The Sacramento Monarchs received the number two selection. The Connecticut Sun came up with the third overall selection, followed by the Minnesota Lynx again at four, and the Chicago Sky at number five.

Since the Monarchs folded after the draft lottery took place, their pick was simply eliminated.

Draft lottery

The lottery selection to determine the order of the top five picks in the 2010 Draft occurred on November 5, 2009, the Minnesota Lynx won the first pick, while the Sacramento Monarchs and Connecticut Sun were awarded the second and third picks respectively.^[1] The remaining first-round picks and all the second- and third-round picks were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss records in the previous season.^[1]

Below were the chances for each team to get specific picks in the 2010 draft lottery, rounded to three decimal places^[a]:

Team	2009 record	Lottery chances	Pick
			1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Sacramento Monarchs[b]	12–22	420	.420	.302	.181	.097	.000
Minnesota Lynx (from New York via Los Angeles)[c]	13–21	261	.261	.284	.246	.200	.008
Minnesota Lynx	14–20	167	.167	.207	.263	.315	.048
Connecticut Sun	16–18	78	.076	.103	.155	.388	.278
Chicago Sky	16–18	78	.076	.103	.155	.000	.666

1. Notes:

   • Team selected for the No. 1 pick noted in bold text
   • Shaded block denotes actual lottery result
2. Sacramento Monarchs folded in December 2009, so their No. 2 pick was removed and the subsequent draft picks moved one place up.
3. May 5, 2009: Three-team trade among Los Angeles, Minnesota, and New York^[2]

   • Los Angeles acquired Noelle Quinn (from Minnesota) and a 2010 first-round pick (from New York)
   • New York acquired Sidney Spencer (from Los Angeles)
   • Minnesota acquired exclusive negotiating rights for Raffaella Masciadri and New York's 2010 first-round pick (from Los Angeles)

Transactions

• January 30, 2009: The Washington Mystics receive the second-round pick from the Minnesota Lynx as part of the Lindsey Harding transaction.
• March 26, 2009: The Los Angeles Sparks receive the first-round pick from the Phoenix Mercury as part of the Temeka Johnson transaction.
• May 5, 2009: The Minnesota Lynx receive the first-round pick from the New York Liberty (via L.A.) as part of the Sidney Spencer/Noelle Quinn transaction.
• November 20, 2009: The league announces the folding of the Sacramento Monarchs. The Monarchs' picks in the draft were simply eliminated.
• January 12, 2010: The Connecticut Sun receive the first overall pick in exchange for the second overall pick from the Minnesota Lynx as part of the Lindsay Whalen/Renee Montgomery transaction.

Source^[3]

Key

!	Denotes player who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
^	Denotes player who has been inducted to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame
*	Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game and All-WNBA Team
+	Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game
#	Denotes player who never played in the WNBA regular season or playoffs
Bold	Denotes player who won Rookie of the Year

Dispersal draft

On November 20, 2009, the league announced that the Sacramento Monarchs would no longer operate. Three former Monarchs players, Kara Lawson, Hamchetou Maiga-Ba, and Ticha Penicheiro were free agents and therefore not eligible for this draft.

The dispersal draft was held on December 14, 2009, with teams picking in the following order:

Pick	Player	Nationality	New team	Former team
1	Nicole Powell +	United States	New York Liberty	Sacramento Monarchs
2	Rebekkah Brunson +		Minnesota Lynx
3	DeMya Walker +		Connecticut Sun
4	Courtney Paris		Chicago Sky
5	Laura Harper		San Antonio Silver Stars
6	Kristin Haynie		Washington Mystics
7	Scholanda Robinson		Tulsa Shock
8	No selection	—	Los Angeles Sparks
9		—	Atlanta Dream
10	Chelsea Newton	United States	Seattle Storm
11	No selection	—	Indiana Fever
12		—	Phoenix Mercury

College draft

Round 1

Pick	Player	Nationality	Team	School / club team
1	Tina Charles *	United States	Connecticut Sun (from New York via Los Angeles and Minnesota)	Connecticut
2	Monica Wright		Minnesota Lynx (from Connedcticut)	Virginia
3	Kelsey Griffin (traded to Connecticut)		Minnesota Lynx	Nebraska
4	Epiphanny Prince *		Chicago Sky	Rutgers/Turkey
5	Jayne Appel		San Antonio Silver Stars	Stanford
6	Jacinta Monroe		Washington Mystics	Florida State
7	Danielle McCray		Connecticut Sun from Tulsa)	Kansas
8	Andrea Riley		Los Angeles Sparks	Oklahoma State
9	Chanel Mokango	DR Congo	Atlanta Dream	Mississippi State
10	Alison Lacey	Australia	Seattle Storm	Iowa State
11	Jené Morris	United States	Indiana Fever	San Diego State
12	Bianca Thomas #		Los Angeles Sparks (from Phoenix)	Ole Miss

Round 2

Pick	Player	Nationality	Team	School / club team
13	Kalana Greene	United States	New York Liberty	Connecticut
14	Jenna Smith #		Washington Mystics (from Minnesota)	Illinois
15	Allison Hightower +		Connecticut Sun	LSU
16	Ashley Houts		New York Liberty (from Chicago)	Georgia
17	Alysha Clark	Israel /  United States	San Antonio Silver Stars	Middle Tennessee
18	Shanavia Dowdell #	United States	Washington Mystics	Louisiana Tech
19	Amanda Thompson		Tulsa Shock	Oklahoma
20	Angel Robinson		Los Angeles Sparks	Georgia
21	Brigitte Ardossi #	Australia	Atlanta Dream	Georgia Tech
22	Tanisha Smith #	United States	Seattle Storm	Texas A&M
23	Armelie Lumanu #	DR Congo	Indiana Fever	Mississippi State
24	Tyra Grant #	United States	Phoenix Mercury	Penn State

Round 3

Pick	Player	Nationality	Team	School / club team
25	Cory Montgomery #	United States	New York Liberty	Nebraska
26	Gabriela Marginean	Romania	Minnesota Lynx	Drexel
27	Johannah Leedham #	Great Britain	Connecticut Sun	Franklin Pierce
28	Abi Olajuwon	United States	Chicago Sky	Oklahoma
29	Alexis Rack #		San Antonio Silver Stars	Mississippi State
30	Alexis Gray-Lawson		Washington Mystics	California
31	Vivian Frieson #		Tulsa Shock	Gonzaga
32	Rashidat Junaid #		Los Angeles Sparks	Rutgers
33	Brittainey Raven		Atlanta Dream	Texas
34	Tijana Krivačević #	Serbia /  Hungary	Seattle Storm	MKB Euroleasing Sopron (Hungary)
35	Joy Cheek	United States	Indiana Fever	Duke
36	Nyeshia Stevenson #		Phoenix Mercury	Oklahoma

See also

• List of first overall WNBA draft picks