The 1997 WNBA draft was the 1st draft held by the WNBA through which teams could select new players from a talent pool of college and professional women's basketball players. Unlike later drafts, this draft was unique because there were three different stages in which teams built their rosters.
First on January 22, 1997, the Initial Player Allocation draft took place in which 16 players were assigned to each team in no particular order.
The elite draft portion comprised professional women's basketball players who had competed in other leagues, usually international leagues. On February 27, 1997, an elite draft added two more players to each team. Michi Atkins (2nd Round, 11th overall pick) is the only player selected in the elite draft that never played a game in the WNBA.
On April 28, 1997, the four rounds of the regular WNBA draft took place. Racquel Spurlock (3rd Round, 17th overall pick) is the only player selected in the college draft that never played a game in the WNBA.
Draftees Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, and Tina Thompson would become the core pieces of the Houston Comets dynasty.
Initial player allocation
Count Player Position Nationality Team School / club team 1 + ^ C Charlotte Sting Maryland 2 * G Charlotte Sting NC State 3 ^ C Cleveland Rockers Louisiana Tech 4 ^ G Cleveland Rockers Iowa 5 * ^ ! F Houston Comets Texas Tech 6 * ^ ! G Houston Comets USC 7 * ^ ! C Los Angeles Sparks USC 8 G Los Angeles Sparks Long Beach State 9 + ^ C/F New York Liberty Connecticut 10 * ^ ! G New York Liberty Louisiana Tech 11 + ^ ! G Phoenix Mercury WTV Wuppertal (Germany) 12 * ^ C Phoenix Mercury Ole Miss 13 * ^ G Sacramento Monarchs Auburn 14 ^ F Sacramento Monarchs Tennessee 15 + C/F Utah Starzz CSKA Moscow (Russia) 16 G Utah Starzz Georgia Note: 16 players assigned in no particular order.
Elite draft
The elite draft portion was composed of professional women's basketball players who had competed in other leagues, usually international leagues. It was the first time where the teams could draft the players out of a talent pool.
Round 1 Pick Player Position Nationality Team School / club team 1 G Utah Starzz Tennessee 2 C/F Cleveland Rockers Colorado 3 C/F Charlotte Sting NC State 4 + C/F New York Liberty Arizona State 5 F Houston Comets South Florida 6 F Sacramento Monarchs Hawaii 7 F Phoenix Mercury Florida 8 ^ C Los Angeles Sparks Tennessee
Round 2 Pick Player Position Nationality Team School / club team 9 * F Utah Starzz Virginia 10 ^ ! G Cleveland Rockers Kansas 11 F Charlotte Sting Texas Tech 12 + F New York Liberty Louisiana Tech 13 * ^ F Houston Comets Polti (Brazil) 14 G Sacramento Monarchs Japan Energy Griffins (Japan) 15 ^ ! G Phoenix Mercury Old Dominion 16 Zheng Haixia C Los Angeles Sparks China
College draft
Round 1 Pick Player Position Nationality Team School / club team 1 * ^ ! F Houston Comets USC 2 ^ C Sacramento Monarchs USC 3 G Los Angeles Sparks Stanford 4 x G Czechoslovakia Cleveland Rockers Bourges (France) 5 G Utah Starzz Virginia 6 + ^ F New York Liberty Rutgers 7 G Charlotte Sting Virginia 8 F/C Phoenix Mercury Iowa
Round 2 Pick Player Position Nationality Team School / club team 9 G/F Phoenix Mercury Iowa 10 Sharon Manning C/F Charlotte Sting NC State 11 G New York Liberty Florida 12 F/C Utah Starzz Maryland 13 * G/F Cleveland Rockers Florida 14 * G Los Angeles Sparks Kansas 15 C Sacramento Monarchs Howard 16 F/C Houston Comets Florida
Round 3 Pick Player Position Nationality Team School / club team 17 # C Houston Comets Louisiana Tech 18 G Sacramento Monarchs Auburn 19 G Los Angeles Sparks Maryland 20 G Cleveland Rockers Penn State 21 F/C Utah Starzz Colorado 22 F/C New York Liberty NC State 23 G Charlotte Sting Louisiana Tech 24 G/F Phoenix Mercury NC State
Round 4 Pick Player Position Nationality Team School / club team 25 F Phoenix Mercury Arizona State 26 F/C Charlotte Sting Mercer 27 G/F New York Liberty Georgia Tech 28 G Utah Starzz DePaul 29 F Cleveland Rockers New Mexico State 30 C Los Angeles Sparks Lamar 31 C Sacramento Monarchs George Washington 32 F Houston Comets Pool Comense (Italy)
Notable undrafted players These players were not selected in the 1997 WNBA draft but played at least one game for the WNBA. Player Position Nationality School / club teamGOhio StateGVirginiaFFurman F AlabamaG/FLSUFUSCGTexas * G/F Tourbillon Kinshasa (Congo)FOle MissPGSouthwestern LouisianaGTennessee
See also List of first overall WNBA draft picks
References