Lottery for the 2022 WNBA Draft set for Dec. 19

The draft lottery for the 2022 WNBA Draft is set for Sunday, Dec. 19, at 3 p.m. ET. ESPN will air a 30-minute draft lottery special between games of a doubleheader that afternoon featuring Baylor vs. Michigan and Louisville vs. Connecticut.

The qualifiers for the draft lottery are the Indiana Fever, the Atlanta Dream, the Washington Mystics, and the Dallas Wings (from the Los Angeles Sparks). The winner gets the top pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft next April.

The lottery odds derive from the cumulative records of the two most recent regular seasons. The Indiana Fever has the worst record over the past two years, 12-42, giving the team the most chances to land the top pick (442 out of 1,000) with a guarantee of at least the third pick.

Dallas obtained its lottery chance via a trade with Los Angeles last April.

Lottery procedure per the WNBA:

In the drawing, 14 balls numbered 1-14 will be placed in a lottery machine and mixed. Four balls will be drawn to determine a four-digit combination. The team 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 pick. The team with the lowest cumulative two-year record whose numerical combinations do not come up in the first two four-ball combinations will select third and the remaining team will select fourth.

The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third rounds is determined by inverse order of the teams’ respective regular-season records solely from 2021. A representative from the independent accounting firm Ernst & Young will be in attendance to oversee the Draft Lottery process.