WNBA Draft Lottery set for Sept. 26 during ESPN’s “SportsCenter”

As announced Monday by ESPN anchor Cindy Brunson during the WNBA’s “Inspiring Women” luncheon, the network will present the 2013 WNBA Draft Lottery on Wednesday, Sept. 26, during the 6 p.m. ET edition of “SportsCenter.”

The winner of the lottery secures the top pick in the league’s draft, held in April. In the 2012 draft, the Los Angeles Sparks used the No. 1 overall pick to select Stanford forward Nneka Ogwumike.

The Phoenix Mercury, Tulsa Shock, and Washington Mystics have been eliminated from playoff contention in 2012 and will participate in the lottery. The fourth lottery team has yet to be determined and will either be the Chicago Sky or the New York Liberty based on current standings.

WNBA officials and a representative from the accounting firm of Ernst & Young will conduct the Draft Lottery. The Lottery will establish the first four picks of the draft. 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 the teams’ respective regular-season records from 2012.

2013 WNBA Draft Lottery Details

Fourteen balls numbered 1-14 will be placed in a lottery machine and mixed. Four balls will then be drawn to the top to determine a four-digit combination. The team that has been assigned that four-ball combination will receive the No. 1 pick. The four balls will then be placed back into the machine and the process will be repeated to determine the second and third picks. The team that does not win one of the top three picks will be slotted fourth.

There are 1,001 possible combinations when four balls are drawn out of 14, without regard to their order of selection. One thousand of those combinations will be assigned to the four non-playoff teams based on their order of finish in the 2012 regular season. The remaining combination will be unassigned. If the one unassigned combination is drawn, the balls will be placed back into the machine and the process will be repeated until an assigned combination is drawn.