If all the thrill of NCAA March Insanity has you newly invested in ladies’s basketball, you’re not alone. Actually hundreds of thousands of different Individuals have jumped on board too, thanks in no small half to the fervor surrounding the event—and the highlight shining on wonderful athletes like Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese, and others.
The 2024 ladies’s nationwide championship recreation—a showdown between the Iowa Hawkeyes and South Carolina Gamecocks—drew a record-breaking 18.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched ladies’s faculty basketball recreation on report and the most-watched basketball recreation general (yep, together with males’s or ladies’s, faculty or professional) since 2019, in accordance with ESPN.
There’s no denying we’re coming into a reasonably thrilling period for ladies’s basketball. And the very best half is, although March Insanity is over, there’s loads extra pleasure arising: The WNBA draft, which options a number of the most-hyped faculty stars and units the stage for epic professional video games forward, is going on on April 15.
Honest warning: The draft course of is a bit, um, nuanced, and for those who’re befuddled by the way it all works, effectively, that’s completely comprehensible. To demystify issues, we compiled the beneath Q&A that addresses all of your burning b-ball questions in an-easy-to-digest format. Proper this manner for the must-know intel!
First off, when and the place is that this all happening?
Mark your calendar for Monday, April 15 at 7:30 p.m. ET. That’s when the draft festivities—held this yr on the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn—will kick off. For the primary time since 2016, followers will probably be allowed to attend the draft in individual, making for a brilliant thrilling vibe that we’re betting TV viewers will really feel as effectively.
What’s the purpose of the draft?
Glad you requested! Mainly the WNBA holds its draft so groups can choose new gamers from the newest pool of eligible athletes, together with many soon-to-be faculty grads. By a lottery and rating course of that favors groups with less-than-stellar information (extra on that in a minute), the draft goals to deliver parity to the league in order that struggling groups have an opportunity to bolster their rosters with the very best new gamers. The profit for us viewers? Extra thrilling video games!
What number of groups are included?
All 12 groups that kind the WNBA take part within the draft. This consists of: the Phoenix Mercury, Seattle Storm, Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, Washington Mystics, Minnesota Lynx, Atlanta Dream, Dallas Wings, Connecticut Solar, New York Liberty, Las Vegas Aces, and Chicago Sky.
So how are picks chosen?
There are three rounds within the draft, with 12 picks per spherical. The order that groups get to make their picks relies on efficiency from final season, with the worst groups going first and the very best going final.
One important exception: The primary 4 picks within the first spherical are decided by the draft lottery (a weighted drawing among the many 4 groups that didn’t make the 2023 WNBA playoffs: the Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, Phoenix Mercury, and Seattle Storm)—plus any traded picks (principally, groups can resolve to swap choose numbers with one another).
What makes athletes eligible for the draft?
There are three fundamental teams that may take part within the draft: all faculty seniors who’re not eligible to play within the NCAA; any NCAA participant who turns 22 this yr and provides up (or “renounces”) their remaining NCAA eligibility; or any worldwide participant who turns 20 this yr.
What number of rounds are there?
Three! And every spherical options 12 picks.
What number of athletes are within the pool, and what number of will get picked?
The WNBA hasn’t introduced how large the athlete pool is that this yr, however an April 4 press launch from the group named 89 gamers who renounced their faculty eligibility to develop into draft candidates. Every week later, the WNBA issued one other press launch spotlighting some draft headliners who weren’t named in that authentic checklist, together with Caitlin Clark, Aaliyah Edwards, and Kamilla Cardoso. So it’s not clear precisely how large the ultimate pool will probably be, however we do know that in the long run, simply 36 athletes will probably be chosen.
Which groups have first picks this yr?
The Indiana Fever, Los Angeles Sparks, and Chicago Sky—in that order‚ will get first dibs this yr. Notably, the Fever obtained to choose first final yr too. Fortunate them!
Which athletes are draft favorites?
Not surprisingly, Caitlin Clark is extensively predicted to be the highest choose. Because the NCAA’s all-time main scorer and highest-earning NCAA ladies’s basketball participant in historical past (because of NIL allowances), the 22-year-old guard simply wrapped a collegiate profession with some critically spectacular stats, scoring 3,951 complete factors, 1,144 assists, and 990 rebounds throughout her 4 years with the Iowa Hawkeyes, per ESPN.