The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the 2026 season was held following the 2025–26 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. This was the first draft for the league's two newest expansion teams, the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo.
Draft lottery In November 2025, the WNBA announced that the 2026 WNBA Draft Lottery would be held on November 23, 2025. The lottery decided the order of the first 5 picks in the 2026 WNBA draft and was televised on ESPN in the United States. The five teams that did not qualify for 2025 WNBA playoffs participated in this draft lottery.
Lottery chances The lottery chances were based on the combined record from the 2024 and 2025 WNBA seasons. In the drawing, 14 balls numbered 1 to 14 were placed in a lottery machine and mixed. Four balls were drawn to determine a four-digit combination. The team assigned that four-ball combination received the No. 1 pick. The four balls were then be placed back into the machine and the process was repeated to determine the second pick. Of the three teams not selected in the drawings, the team with the worst cumulative two-year record was selected third; the team with the next worst record selected fourth; and the remaining team, fifth.
A representative from the league's independent accounting firm, Ernst & Young, was in attendance to oversee the draft lottery process.
Note: The team selected for the No. 1 pick in the lottery is noted below in bold text. TeamCombined 2024–25 recordLottery chancesResult Dallas Wings 19–65 42.0% 1st pickMinnesota Lynx 23–61 26.1% 2nd pickSeattle Storm 29–5516.7%3rd pickWashington Mystics30–549.7%4th pickChicago Sky 39–455.5%5th pick Notes
Eligibility and entrants Under the 2026 collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the WNBA and its players' union, ratified before this draft and mostly unchanged from the previous CBA, draft eligibility for players (not defined as "international") requires the following to be true: The player's 22nd birthday falls during the calendar year of the draft. For the 2026 draft, the cutoff birth date is December 31, 2004. She has either: completed her college eligibility; received a bachelor's degree, or is scheduled to receive such in the three months following the draft; or is at least four years removed from high school graduation.
Early eligibility Players who are younger than the draft's cutoff age and are scheduled to receive their bachelor's degree within three months of the draft date will only be eligible if the calendar year of the draft is no earlier than the fourth year after their high school graduation.
Players with remaining college eligibility but who do meet the cutoff age criteria must notify WNBA headquarters of their intent to enter the draft no later than 10 days before the draft date, and must renounce any remaining college eligibility to do so. For the 2026 draft, the date fell on April 3. A separate notification timetable is provided for players involved in postseason tournaments (i.e. the NCAA Division I tournament); those players (normally) must declare for the draft within 24 hours of their final collegiate game.
International players "International players" are defined as those for whom all of the following is true: Born and currently residing outside the U.S. Never "exercised intercollegiate basketball eligibility" in the U.S. The player's 20th birthday falls during the calendar year of the draft. For this draft, the international cutoff birth date is December 31, 2006.
Draft
First round PickPlayer NationalityTeamSchool / club team 1 Dallas WingsUConn2 + Minnesota Lynx TCU3 / Seattle Storm Valencia 4 Washington MysticsUCLA5 / Chicago Sky UCLA 6 Toronto TempoUCLA 7 Portland FirePerfumerias Avenida 8 Golden State Valkyries LSU 9 / Washington Mystics UCLA 10 Indiana FeverSouth Carolina 11 Washington Mystics Ole Miss 12 Connecticut Sun Basket Lattes Montpellier 13 Atlanta DreamSouth Carolina 14 Seattle Storm Duke 15 Connecticut Sun UCLA
Second round PickPlayer NationalityTeamSchool / club team 16 Seattle Storm TCU 17 Portland Fire Estudiantes 18 Connecticut Sun UCLA 19 Washington Mystics Notre Dame 20 Los Angeles Sparks South Carolina 21 Chicago Sky Ole Miss 22 Toronto Tempo Kentucky 23 Golden State Valkyries Duke 24 Los Angeles Sparks Ohio State 25 Indiana Fever Vanderbilt 26 Toronto Tempo Townsville Fire 27 Phoenix Mercury Tango Bourges 28 Atlanta Dream North Carolina 29 Las Vegas Aces Tennessee 30 Darianna Littlepage-Buggs Washington Mystics Baylor
Third round PickPlayer NationalityTeamSchool / club team 31 Zee Spearman Dallas WingsTennessee 32 Tonie Morgan Chicago Sky Kentucky 33 Serah Williams Connecticut SunUConn 34 Rori Harmon Washington Mystics Texas 35 Amelia Hassett Los Angeles Sparks Kentucky 36 Charlise Dunn Toronto Tempo Davidson 37 Taylor Bigby Portland FireTCU 38 Kokoro Tanaka Golden State Valkyries Eneos Sunflowers 39 Grace VanSlooten Seattle StormMichigan State 40 Jessica Timmons Indiana FeverAlabama 41 Manuela Puoch New York Liberty Southside Melbourne Flyers 42 Eszter Rátkai Phoenix Mercury PEAC 43 Ran Kejia Atlanta Dream Sichuan Yuanda 44 Jordan Obi Las Vegas Aces Kentucky 45 Lani White Minnesota LynxUtah
Sponsorship State Street Investment Management, promoting the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (known by its ticker symbol "SPY"), was the presenting sponsor of the event, replacing previous presenting sponsor State Farm. State Street began a multi-year sponsorship of the league in September 2025.
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