Los Angeles Sparks win No.1 pick in 2012 Draft lottery
The WNBA held its lottery to determine the top four picks in the 2012 WNBA Draft today in New York.  Los Angeles won the first pick among the top four contenders followed by the Chicago Sky, the Minnesota Lynx and the Tulsa Shock.
Tulsa ended the season at 3-31, the worst record in the league. Los Angeles had a final record of 15-19 and the Sky was 14-20.
Minnesota, the reigning WNBA champions, had a 27.6 percent chance of landing the top pick because it obtained the first round pick of Washington (6-28) after trading forward/center Nicky Anosike to the Mystics two days prior to the 2011 Draft. The Lynx won the lottery last year and selected Maya Moore, the 2011 No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
WNBA officials and a representative from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young conducted the lottery. The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third round is determined by inverse order of regular-season records from 2011.
Chances of winning the first pick:
| LOTTERY TEAMS FOR 2012 WNBA DRAFT | |||
| Team | Record | Chances (out of 1,000) | |
| 1. | Tulsa | 3-31 | 442 |
| 2. | Minnesota from Washington (Anosike – 4/8/11) | 6-28 | 276 |
| 3. | Chicago | 14-20 | 178 |
| 4. | Los Angeles | 15-19 | 104 |
Remaining Order of the First Round
| Team | Record | |
| 5. | San Antonio | 18-16 |
| 6. | Phoenix | 19-15 |
| 7. | New York | 19-15 |
| 8. | Washington from Atlanta (L. Harding/T Phillips, K. Miller – 4/11/11) | 20-14 |
| 9. | Connecticut | 21-13 |
| 10. | Washington from Seattle (K. Smith, J. Monroe/J. Thomas – 4/29/11) | 21-13 |
| 11. | Indiana | 21-13 |
| 12. | Minnesota | 27-7 |
