Draft lottery moved to halftime of Western conference finals game one

The 2016 WNBA draft lottery will be televised live on ESPN2 on Thursday, Sept. 24.  The telecast, hosted by anchor Matt Barrie, will air during halftime of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals featuring the Phoenix Mercury at the Minnesota Lynx, which tips off at 8 p.m. ET.  The winner of the Lottery will secure the top pick in the 2016 WNBA draft, to be conducted in April.

The lottery was previously schedule for halftime of the Eastern conference finals (Indiana at New York) on the same day but that game was moved to today due to the visit of Pope Francis to New York City and his scheduled mass at Madison Square Garden this week.

The Seattle Storm, San Antonio Stars, Connecticut Sun, and Atlanta Dream will participate in the lottery after missing the playoffs this season. Seattle, which finished the past two regular seasons with a combined record of 22-46, will have the most chances to land the top pick (442).  San Antonio, which went 24-44 over that same period, has the next most chances (276).  Connecticut has 178 chances after posting a combined record of 28-40 in 2014 and 2015, and Atlanta has 104 chances after compiling a 34-34 mark.