For the second consecutive year, the Indiana Fever will select first overall after winning the WNBA draft lottery on Sunday.
Indiana, who haven’t had a winning season since 2015, saw the ping pong balls fall their way once again this weekend, only one season removed from selecting South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston in 2023. The club entered the draft lottery with the best odds of earning the 1st overall pick with a 44.2% chance of hearing their name called.
Unlike other leagues, the WNBA takes into account the cumulative record of teams over the past two seasons when determining their draft lottery odds. Which is why despite an 8 win improvement from 2022, Indiana’s 18-58 record remained the worst in the association. Phoenix had the 2nd best odds at 27.6%, followed by Los Angeles at 17.8%, and Seattle at 10.4%.
Reigning WNBA rookie of the year Aliyah Boston represented the club at the draft lottery and was visibly excited at the prospect of her team drafting 1st overall once again. “It’s just gonna be another talented player that we can use to help build us back to the franchise the Fever were,” Boston said.
2024 WNBA Draft order
| Pick | Team |
| 1. | Indiana Fever |
| 2. | Los Angeles Sparks |
| 3. | Phoenix Mercury |
| 4. | Seattle Storm |
| 5. | Dallas Wings (from Chicago Sky) |
| 6. | Washington Mystics |
| 7. | Minnesota Lynx |
| 8. | Atlanta Dream |
| 9. | Dallas Wings |
| 10. | Connecticut Sun |
| 11. | New York Liberty |
| 12. | Los Angeles Sparks (from Las Vegas Aces) |
Assuming that she declares for the draft, most experts project that the Fever will select Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark on April 15th. Pairing her with Boston to form a dynamic pick and roll combination would instantly elevate the Fever from “also ran” to a legitimate contender, and likely one of the hottest tickets in the league in 2024.
However this year’s draft class is arguably one of the deepest in recent memory, with the likes of Clark, Paige Bueckers, Cameron Brink, Kamilla Cardoso, Aaliyah Edwards, and Angel Reese potentially all available.
Chicago and Las Vegas are currently the only teams without a 1st round pick next spring.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: johnmac612. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.