WNBA Draft

The WNBA Draft is an annual draft held by the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) through which WNBA teams can select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. The first WNBA draft was held in 1997.

Other notable draft picks

Some draft picks were not drafted #1 overall, but made an immediate impact upon the league after being drafted.

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• 2000 - Betty Lennox, from Louisiana Tech University, picked #6 overall by Minnesota Lynx, won the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award was an all-star reserve.
• 2001 - Tamika Catchings, University of Tennessee, picked #3 overall by Indiana Fever - sat out her first season due to injury, but debuted in 2002 to earn the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award and a spot on the WNBA All-Star Team.
• 2002 - Swin Cash, University of Connecticut, picked #2 overall by Detroit Shock - led the Shock to their first WNBA Championship in her second season.
• 2003 - Cheryl Ford, helped the Detroit Shock win a WNBA Championship in her first season.
• 2004 - Lindsay Whalen, University of Minnesota by Connecticut Sun - led the Sun to their first WNBA Finals appearance.
• 2005 - Kristin Haynie - As a member of the Michigan State University's women's team, became the first person to play in the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship game and the WNBA Finals (with the Sacramento Monarchs) in the same calendar year.