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“This is a integral piece, a core piece," Dallas general manager
Curt Miller said. "In recent draft classes you see what
consecutive No. 1's can do.”
Earlier this month, the Wings hired longtime college coach Jose
Fernandez to lead the franchise.
“Exciting times with our young core and new facilities and new
coach,” Miller said. “Great moment.”
Minnesota, which had the best record in the league last year,
will pick second. The Lynx possessed the Chicago Sky’s
first-round pick after a previous trade. Seattle, Washington and
Chicago rounded out the lottery. This marked the fifth time in
the history of the lottery that the results matched the order of
chances held by the teams — the last came in 2018.
The WNBA is currently negotiating with the players’ union for a
new collective bargaining agreement. The two sides agreed to
extend an Oct. 31 deadline to Nov. 30. Assuming a new CBA can be
negotiated, the draft is normally held in April.
While there's no clear No. 1 pick in the draft like Bueckers
last season, there's a host of draft-eligible players in college
including UCLA's Lauren Betts, UConn's Azzi Fudd, LSU's Flau'jae
Johnson and TCU's Olivia Miles. There's also Spanish player Awa
Fam.
“The great things about this draft is there's a lot of
optionality coming out,” Miller said.
Miller said he had more nerves this year than last year. He also
said he's fielded more calls before the lottery results were
announced from other teams interested in potentially trading
with Dallas than last year.
The Wings sent player Maddy Siegrist to the lottery for the
second year in a row. She recently got married and met the Pope
before heading to Los Angeles for the lottery.
The league is expanding to 15 teams this season with the
addition of the Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo. Details of the
expansion draft for those two new franchises hasn't been
announced yet. The two teams will also pick sixth and seventh in
the draft next April.
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