The 2023 WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) Draft, the WNBA's draft for the 2023 WNBA season and 28th draft in WNBA history, was held following the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The 2023 draft took place at Spring Studios New York on April 10, 2023. It was exclusively televised on ESPN in the United States and on TSN3/5 in Canada at 7:00 p.m. EDT.

Draft lottery The lottery selection to determine the order of the top four picks in the 2023 draft took place on November 11, 2022, and was televised on ESPN leading into ESPN's women's college basketball game that evening featuring defending National Champion South Carolina at Maryland. The four non-playoff teams in 2022 qualified from the lottery drawing: Indiana Fever, Atlanta Dream, Los Angeles Sparks, and the Minnesota Lynx. The Sparks made a trade in February 2022 that allowed their pick to ultimately end up with the Washington Mystics at the time of the drawing. Each team had a representative at the lottery drawing - Kelsey Mitchell for the Fever, Head Coach Tanisha Wright for the Dream, Natasha Cloud for the Mystics, and Napheesa Collier for the Lynx. The Fever won the lottery for the first time in franchise history and were awarded the top pick in the draft. The rest of the order went as the following: Lynx, Dream, and Mystics.

Lottery chances Note: Team selected for No.1 pick noted in bold text Team Combined 2021–22 record Lottery chances Result Indiana Fever 11–57 44.2% 1st pick Atlanta Dream 22–46 27.6% 3rd pick Washington Mystics 25–43 17.8% 4th pick Minnesota Lynx 36–32 10.4% 2nd pick

The lottery odds were based on combined records from the 2021 and 2022 WNBA seasons. In the drawing, 14 balls numbered 1–14 are placed in a lottery machine and mixed. Four balls are drawn to determine a four-digit combination (only 11–12–13–14 is ignored and redrawn). The team to which that four-ball combination is assigned receives the No. 1 pick. The four balls are then placed back into the machine and the process is repeated to determine the second pick. The two teams whose numerical combinations do not come up in the lottery will select in the inverse order of their two-year cumulative record. Ernst & Young knows the discreet results before they are announced.

The order of selection for the remainder of the first round as well as the second and third rounds was determined by inverse order of the teams' respective regular-season records solely from 2022.

Eligibility Under the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the WNBA and its players' union, 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 this draft, the cutoff birth date is December 31, 2001. She has either: completed her college eligibility; received a bachelor's degree, or is scheduled to receive such in the 3 months following the draft; or is at least 4 years removed from high school graduation.

A player who is scheduled to receive her bachelor's degree within 3 months of the draft date, and is younger than the cutoff age, is only eligible if the calendar year of the draft is no earlier than the fourth after her high school graduation.

Players with remaining college eligibility who meet the cutoff age must notify the 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. A separate notification timetable is provided for players involved in postseason tournaments (most notably the NCAA Division I tournament); those players (normally) must declare for the draft within 24 hours of their final game.

"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.

For "international players", the eligibility age is 20, also measured on December 31 of the year of the draft.

Draft invitees On April 7, 2023, the WNBA released the names of the players who would be invited to be in attendance at the draft.

Laeticia Amihere, South Carolina Brea Beal, South Carolina Grace Berger, Indiana Aliyah Boston, South Carolina Zia Cooke, South Carolina Jordan Horston, Tennessee Ashley Joens, Iowa State Haley Jones, Stanford Dorka Juhász, UConn Lou Lopez Sénéchal, UConn Taylor Mikesell, Ohio State Diamond Miller, Maryland Alexis Morris, LSU Maddy Siegrist, Villanova Stephanie Soares, Iowa State

Draft

First round PickPlayerNationalityTeamSchool / club team 1 Aliyah Boston * Indiana Fever South Carolina 2 Diamond Miller Minnesota Lynx Maryland 3 Maddy Siegrist Dallas Wings Villanova 4 Stephanie Soares Washington Mystics Iowa State 5 Lou Lopez Sénéchal Dallas Wings UConn 6 Haley Jones Atlanta Dream Stanford 7 Grace Berger Indiana Fever Indiana 8 Laeticia Amihere Atlanta Dream South Carolina 9 Jordan Horston Seattle Storm Tennessee 10 Zia Cooke Los Angeles Sparks South Carolina 11 Abby Meyers Dallas Wings Maryland 12 Maïa Hirsch# Minnesota Lynx ESB Villeneuve-d'Ascq

Second round PickPlayerNationalityTeamSchool / club team 13 Taylor Mikesell Indiana Fever Ohio State 14 Shaneice Swain# Los Angeles Sparks Cairns Dolphins 15 Leigha Brown Atlanta Dream Michigan 16 Dorka Juhász Minnesota Lynx UConn 17 LaDazhia Williams# Indiana Fever LSU 18 Madi Williams Seattle Storm Oklahoma 19 Ashley Joens Dallas Wings Iowa State 20 Elena Tsineke# Washington Mystics South Florida 21 Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu Seattle Storm South Florida 22 Alexis Morris# Connecticut Sun LSU 23 Kayana Traylor Chicago Sky Virginia Tech 24 Brea Beal# Minnesota Lynx South Carolina

Third round PickPlayerNationalityTeamSchool / club team 25 Victaria Saxton Indiana Fever South Carolina 26 Monika Czinano# Los Angeles Sparks Iowa 27 Destiny Harden# Phoenix Mercury Miami 28 Taylor Soule Minnesota Lynx Virginia Tech 29 Kadi Sissoko Phoenix Mercury USC 30 Okako Adika# New York Liberty USC 31 Paige Robinson# Dallas Wings Illinois State 32 Txell Alarcón# Washington Mystics Araski AES 33 Jade Loville# Seattle Storm Arizona 34 Ashten Prechtel Connecticut Sun Stanford 35 Kseniya Malashka# Chicago Sky Middle Tennessee 36 Brittany Davis# Las Vegas Aces Alabama

Trades

See also List of first overall WNBA draft picks

References