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2021 WNBA draft

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2021 WNBA draft

The 2021 WNBA draft was the WNBA's draft for the 2021 WNBA season. A draft lottery was held on December 4, 2020, and the New York Liberty were awarded the first overall pick once again in the draft.[1] The draft was held on April 15, and televised on ESPN in the United States and on TSN2 in Canada at 7:00 p.m. EDT.[2]

Quick Facts General information, Sport ...
2021 WNBA draft
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General information
SportBasketball
Date(s)April 15, 2021
LocationVirtually
Network(s)United States: ESPN
Canada: TSN2
Overview
LeagueWNBA
Teams12
First selectionCharli Collier
Dallas Wings (via trade)
← 2020
2022 →
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Draft lottery

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The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2021 draft took place during halftime of the DePaul Blue Demons game against the Louisville Cardinals on December 4, 2020, and was televised on ESPN in the United States and across the TSN Network in Canada. The same four non-playoff teams in 2020 qualified for the lottery drawing: Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings, New York Liberty and Atlanta Dream.[1]

The lottery was won by the New York Liberty, who had the best chance to win the lottery as they did in 2020. The Dallas Wings were awarded the second pick for the second consecutive year, followed by the Atlanta Dream and finally the Indiana Fever.[1] The Liberty would later trade their first pick to the Seattle Storm, who in turn traded it to the Wings. This marks the first time that one team has held the top two picks in the draft in WNBA history.[3]

Lottery chances

More information Team, Combined 2019–20 record ...
Team Combined 2019–20 record Lottery chances Result
New York Liberty 12–44 44.2% 1st pick
Atlanta Dream 15–41 27.6% 3rd pick
Dallas Wings 18–38 17.8% 2nd pick
Indiana Fever 19–37 10.4% 4th pick
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The lottery odds were based on combined records from the 2019 and 2020 WNBA seasons. In the drawing, 14 balls numbered 1–14 are placed in a lottery machine and mixed. Four balls are drawn to determine a four-digit combination (only 11–12–13–14 is ignored and redrawn). The team to which that four-ball combination is assigned receives the No. 1 pick. The four balls are then placed back into the machine and the process is repeated to determine the second pick. The two teams whose numerical combinations do not come up in the lottery will select in the inverse order of their two-year cumulative record. Ernst & Young knows the discreet results before they are announced.[1]

The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third rounds was determined by inverse order of the teams' respective regular-season records solely from 2020.[1]

Eligibility

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Under the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the WNBA and its players union, draft eligibility for players not defined as "international" requires the following to be true:[4]

  • The player's 22nd birthday falls during the calendar year of the draft. For this draft, the cutoff birth date is December 31, 1999.
  • She has either:
    • completed her college eligibility;
    • received a bachelor's degree, or is scheduled to receive such in the 3 months following the draft; or
    • is at least 4 years removed from high school graduation.

A player who is scheduled to receive her bachelor's degree within 3 months of the draft date, and is younger than the cutoff age, is only eligible if the calendar year of the draft is no earlier than the fourth after her high school graduation.

Players with remaining college eligibility who meet the cutoff age must notify the WNBA headquarters of their intent to enter the draft no later than 10 days before the draft date, and must renounce any remaining college eligibility to do so. A separate notification timetable is provided for players involved in postseason tournaments (most notably the NCAA Division I tournament); those players (normally) must declare for the draft within 24 hours of their final game.

"International players" are defined as those for whom all of the following is true:

  • Born and currently residing outside the U.S.
  • Never "exercised intercollegiate basketball eligibility" in the U.S.

For "international players", the eligibility age is 20, also measured on December 31 of the year of the draft.

For the 2021 draft only, the WNBA and its players union agreed to a modification of the normal eligibility rules. The most significant change is that all otherwise eligible college players who wished to enter the draft, including seniors in 2020–21, had to declare for draft entry. Due to an NCAA ruling that the 2020–21 season, dramatically affected by COVID-19, would not be counted against the college eligibility of any basketball player, every college senior in the 2020–21 season had remaining eligibility. Players who wished to be drafted had to notify the league by email no later than April 1, except for those involved in the 2021 Final Four, who had a 48-hour opt-in window after the completion of their last game instead of the normal 24 hours.[5] Players who had opted in had until midnight on April 10 (0400 UTC, April 11) to opt out.[6] This is similar to special 2021 draft declaration rules announced by the NBA, which also required seniors to opt into the draft.[7]

On April 3, the WNBA announced that 52 college players had opted into the draft. This did not include players from the Final Four teams (Arizona, South Carolina, Stanford, UConn); South Carolina and UConn lost in the semifinals on April 2, while Stanford defeated Arizona in the championship game on April 4.[8] On April 7, the WNBA announced that one of the original 52 players had withdrawn from consideration, and that six additional players had opted into the draft.[9] Four players from the initial list of 52 would opt out by the final deadline of April 11.[6]

Draft

# Denotes player who never played in the WNBA regular season or playoffs
Bold Denotes player who won Rookie of the Year
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Charli Collier was selected 1st overall by the Dallas Wings.
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Awak Kuier was selected 2nd overall by the Dallas Wings.
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Aari McDonald was selected 3rd overall by the Atlanta Dream.
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Michaela Onyenwere was selected 6th overall by the New York Liberty.
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Dana Evans was selected 13th overall by the Dallas Wings.
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DiJonai Carrington was selected 20th overall by the Connecticut Sun.

First round

More information Pick, Player ...
Pick Player Nationality Team School / Club team
1 Charli Collier  United States Dallas Wings (from New York via Seattle)[a][b] Texas
2 Awak Kuier  Finland Dallas Wings Passalacqua Ragusa (Italy)
3 Aari McDonald  United States Atlanta Dream Arizona
4 Kysre Gondrezick  United States Indiana Fever West Virginia
5 Chelsea Dungee  United States Dallas Wings (from Washington via New York)[c] Arkansas
6 Michaela Onyenwere  United States New York Liberty (from Connecticut via Phoenix)[d][e] UCLA
7 Jasmine Walker  United States Los Angeles Sparks (from Chicago via Dallas)[f][g] Alabama
8 Shyla Heal  Australia Chicago Sky (from Phoenix via Dallas)[h][i] Townsville Fire (Australia)
9 Rennia Davis  United States Minnesota Lynx Tennessee
10 Stephanie Watts  United States Los Angeles Sparks North Carolina
11 Aaliyah Wilson  United States Seattle Storm Texas A&M
12 Iliana Rupert  France Las Vegas Aces Tango Bourges Basket (France)
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Second round

More information Pick, Player ...
Pick Player Nationality Team School / club team
13 Dana Evans  United States Dallas Wings (from New York)[c] Louisville
14 Destiny Slocum  United States Las Vegas Aces (from Indiana)[j] Arkansas
15 Raquel Carrera#  Spain Atlanta Dream Valencia Basket (Spain)
16 Natasha Mack  United States Chicago Sky (from Dallas via Los Angeles)[k][l][m] Oklahoma State
17 DiDi Richards  United States New York Liberty (from Washington)[c] Baylor
18 Kiana Williams  United States Seattle Storm (from Connecticut)[n] Stanford
19 Unique Thompson#  United States Indiana Fever (from Chicago)[o] Auburn
20 DiJonai Carrington  United States Connecticut Sun (from Phoenix)[p] Baylor
21 Micaela Kelly#  United States Connecticut Sun (from Minnesota)[q] Central Michigan
22 Arella Guirantes  United States Los Angeles Sparks Rutgers
23 N'dea Jones#  United States Seattle Storm Texas A&M
24 Trinity Baptiste#  United States Indiana Fever (from Las Vegas)[j] Arizona
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Third round

More information Pick, Player ...
Pick Player Nationality Team School / club team
25 Valerie Higgins#  United States New York Liberty Pacific
26 Chelsey Perry  United States Indiana Fever UT Martin
27 Lindsey Pulliam#  United States Atlanta Dream Northwestern
28 Ivana Raca#  Serbia Los Angeles Sparks (from Dallas)[l] Wake Forest
29 Marine Fauthoux#  France New York Liberty (from Washington)[c] ASVEL Féminin (France)
30 Aleah Goodman  United States Connecticut Sun Oregon State
31 Florencia Chagas [es]#  Argentina Indiana Fever (from Chicago)[o] Empoli (Italy)
32 Ciera Johnson#  United States Phoenix Mercury Texas A&M
33 Maya Caldwell  United States Indiana Fever (from Minnesota)[r] Georgia
34 Aina Ayuso Bagur [ca]#  Spain Los Angeles Sparks Casademont Zaragoza (Spain)
35 Natalie Kucowski [fr]#  United States Seattle Storm Lafayette
36 Kionna Jeter#  United States Las Vegas Aces Towson
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Footnotes

  1. February 10, 2021: New York to Seattle[11]
    • New York acquired Natasha Howard
    • Seattle acquired 2021 first-round and 2022 second-round picks, and Phoenix's 2022 first-round pick
  2. February 10, 2021: Seattle to Dallas[12]
    • Seattle acquired Katie Lou Samuelson and a 2022 second-round pick
    • Dallas acquired New York's 2021 first-round pick
  3. April 15, 2020: Three-team trade[13]
    • Dallas acquired Washington's 2021 first-round pick and a 2021 second-round pick from New York
    • New York acquired 2021 second- and third-round picks, 2020 first-round picks and second-round pick, and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough from Washington; Las Vegas's 2020 first-round pick, 2020 second-round picks, and Tayler Hill from Dallas
    • Washington acquired Tina Charles from New York
  4. February 11, 2020: Connecticut to Phoenix[14]
    • Phoenix acquired a 2021 first-round pick and two 2020 first-round picks
    • Connecticut acquired DeWanna Bonner
  5. February 10, 2021: Phoenix to New York[11]
    • Phoenix acquired Kia Nurse and Megan Walker
    • New York acquired a 2021 first-round pick and Phoenix's 2022 first-round pick
  6. February 14, 2020: Chicago to Dallas[15]
  7. April 14, 2021: Dallas to Los Angeles[16]
    • Los Angeles acquired a 2021 first-round pick and a 2022 second-round pick
    • Dallas acquired a 2022 first-round pick
  8. February 12, 2020: Phoenix to Dallas[17]
    • Phoenix acquired Skylar Diggins-Smith
    • Dallas acquired a 2021 first-round pick and two 2020 first-round picks
  9. February 12, 2020: Dallas to Chicago[17]
    • Dallas acquired Astou Ndour
    • Chicago acquired Phoenix's 2021 first-round pick
  10. February 15, 2021: Indiana to Las Vegas[18]
    • Las Vegas acquired a 2021 second-round pick
    • Indiana acquired Lindsay Allen and a 2021 second-round pick
  11. February 21, 2020: Dallas to Los Angeles[19]
    • Los Angeles acquired a 2021 second-round pick
    • Dallas acquired Marina Mabrey
  12. May 26, 2020: Los Angeles to Dallas
    • Dallas reacquired its own original 2021 second-round pick
    • Los Angeles acquired Kristine Anigwe and a 2021 third-round pick
  13. February 9, 2021: Dallas to Chicago[20]
    • Chicago acquired the 2021 second-round pick
    • Dallas acquired a 2022 second-round pick
  14. February 24, 2020: Connecticut to Seattle[21]
  15. August 28, 2020: Chicago to Indiana[22]
  16. February 19, 2020: Phoenix to Connecticut (three-team trade with Atlanta)[23]
  17. February 25, 2020: Minnesota to Connecticut[24]
    • Minnesota acquired Rachel Banham
    • Connecticut acquired a 2021 second-round pick
  18. March 6, 2020: Minnesota to Indiana[25]
    • Indiana acquired a 2021 third-round pick and New York's 2020 second-round pick
    • Minnesota acquired Shenise Johnson and a 2020 second-round pick

See also

References

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