The Dallas Wings won the No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft for the second straight year. The franchise had the best lottery odds and cashed in again, strengthening a young core that already includes 2024 No. 1 pick and Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers.
“It is great for our franchise to have this opportunity,” said Dallas Wings head coach Jose Fernandez. “We will continue to evaluate the great position we are in for next season and for the future of the organization. Our fans and season ticket members I’m sure are as excited as we are about tonight’s results.”
ESPN revealed the lottery results during a 30-minute special. It’s the 14th straight year the network has aired the event. The drawing followed the exact order of teams’ odds, only the fifth time that’s happened in league history (previous: 2009, 2015, 2016, 2018).
Top 5 picks:
- Dallas Wings — 420 chances; cumulative 19–65 record.
- Minnesota Lynx (via Chicago) — 261 chances.
- Seattle Storm (via L.A.) — 167 chances.
- Washington Mystics — 97 chances.
- Chicago Sky (via Connecticut) — 55 chances.
Lottery odds are based on each team’s combined 2024–25 record; Dallas was guaranteed a top-3 pick.
Multiple picks were impacted by prior trades and swaps involving Chicago, Minnesota, L.A., Phoenix, and Connecticut.
Ernst & Young oversaw the drawing.
Notes from the League on the Lottery Draft
- Chicago and Minnesota extinguished Minnesota’s right to swap its own first round pick for Chicago’s own first round pick and Chicago has traded its own first round pick to Minnesota (Sika Koné, Nikolina Milić, 4/14/24), (Draft picks, 4/13/25)
- Los Angeles had traded its own first round pick to Seattle (Kia Nurse, 1/31/24)
- Phoenix had traded its own first round pick to Chicago (Kahleah Copper, Morgan Bertsch, Michaela Onyenwere, Brianna Turner, 2/6/24) and Chicago had swapped Phoenix’s first round pick for Connecticut’s own first round pick (Marina Mabrey, Rachel Banham, Moriah Jefferson, 7/17/24)