LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 23: Lauren Betts #51 of the UCLA Bruins reacts during the second half in the second round game of the 2026 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament against the Oklahoma State Cowgirls at UCLA Pauley Pavilion on March 23, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Melina Pizano/Getty Images)
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The WNBA officially agreed to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement last month, meaning the 2026 offseason is now officially underway. Today, teams have started to announce free agent signings, and many more are reportedly coming. That period of the offseason usually comes months before the WNBA Draft, but this year is different due to CBA negotiations delaying the transaction cycle.
Instead, free agency will surround the date in which teams make their 2026 selections. The 2026 WNBA Draft will take place on Monday, April 13 in New York City and will be held in The Shed at Hudson Yards.
The event, which will be exclusively presented by ESPN, will be broadcast beginning at 7 p.m. ET. WNBA Countdown will precede the event on ESPN, then all three rounds will take place.
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The first five picks of the WNBA Draft order were determined by a lottery drawing held on November 23, 2025. The first-round pick that would have been owned by five teams that missed the 2025 WNBA playoffs were included in the lottery – though the Los Angeles Sparks (to the Seattle Storm), Chicago Sky (to the Minnesota Lynx), and Connecticut Suns (to the Sky) traded their top selection.
The lottery revealed that the first overall pick in 2026 will be made by the Dallas Wings, then the Lynx, Storm, Washington Mystics, and Sky will follow. After those five picks, the next two selections will go to the new expansion teams with the Toronto Tempo picking sixth and the Portland Fire selecting seventh. The remainder of the draft picks will be made using the reverse order of the 2025 WNBA standings with the exceptions being the expansion teams, who pick between the non-playoff and playoff teams every round. Portland owns selections seven, 21 (traded to Chicago), and 37 while Toronto holds picks six, 22, and 36.
There are 45 picks in total, with the Lynx holding the final selection.
The WNBA announced that 15 prospects will be at the draft on Monday, and they are expected to be most, if not all, of the top 15 picks.
The headlining players, according to the league, are University of Connecticut guard Azzi Fudd, Texas Christian University guard Olivia Miles, Spain National Team center Awa Fam Thiam, and University of California, Los Angeles center Lauren Betts.
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Olivia Miles #5 of the TCU Horned Frogs reacts against the Virginia Cavaliers during the fourth quarter in the Sweet Sixteen of the 2026 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at Golden 1 Center on March 28, 2026 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
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In a release sent out by the WNBA, the remainder of the prospects who will be in attendance are (in alphabetical order)
“I just think this draft is going to have a lot of really good immediately useful players,” said ESPN’s Ryan Ruocco of the 2026 rookie class.
A few major storylines stand out as it pertains to the 2026 WNBA Draft, and it starts right at the top. Normally, it is clear who the first pick in the draft will be. Just this decade, superstars like Sabrina Ionescu, Rhyne Howard, Aliyah Boston, Caitlin Clark, and Paige Bueckers have been no-brainer selections at the beginning of the draft.
This year, there is more intrigue. Four players, the four highlighted in the league’s announcement for the in-person attendees, have typically been considered the most likely candidates for the top selection in Miles, Fam Thiam, Betts, and Fudd.
Fudd and Betts were each the best player on two of the top NCAA teams this past season, with Betts leading her Bruins to a National Championship. Fam Thiam is young and already talented with professional experience. Miles is a do-it-all forward who wins at every stop.
Dallas will have to consider the talent of all four players but also look at how they fit with Bueckers, who they selected with the first pick in 2025.
In 2025, the Golden State Valkyries were an expansion team that got off to a fast start, reaching the postseason in year one. That has set high expectations for the expansion teams in Portland and Toronto this year.
In the 2025 draft, Golden State selected overseas prospect Justė Jocytė in the first round, then Shyanne Sellers and Kaitlyn Chen in later rounds. Only Chen appeared in games for the Valkyries as the team prioritized adding some more established talent early. Will the Fire and Tempo follow suit? Or will they opt to feature their prospects more as their franchises take off?
When the WNBA announced their new CBA, they shared that two more roster spots will be available to each team for developmental players. They can only be used on players with zero to three years of WNBA service, per reports, and players signed to these roster spots won’t be able to play in more than 12 games in a season without being signed to a different deal at some point.
Will the addition of these contracts increase the value of late-round picks? How many more players will suit up for a game this season? All of this will be learned during the 2026 WNBA Draft on Monday.
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